Setting Up Your Salt Water Aquarium for Success

by catwomanseven


The most important set up tip you can get is to gain as much information as you can concerning the proper PH levels for marine salt-water aquariums. No matter how pretty your set up is, if your water levels are out of control your marine life will not be alive for long. In general the larger the tank the less likely you are to have spikes in PH levels. The minimum suggested size for a marine tank is 30 gallons and preferably higher. Anything less than 30 gallons and you'll spend as much time checking water quality as you do watching your fish. Maintaining proper salt levels will help to ensure you maintain a healthy environment for your under water world.

Lighting is also a major key in maintaining a healthy living environment for your marine life. Most people who want a well-balanced salt-water tank want some level of a coral reef. This is needed to sustain that balance. If you don't want a reef then lighting is not as essential but if you do, then going with high bay lights as the systems will help you maintain the correct levels of UV for your aquarium. You can buy commercial hoods complete with lower quality ballasts and brackets or you can buy lighting systems designed to light! Most experienced reef owners will tell you that sit on top hoods pale in comparison to open tanks with high bay lighting that is suspended above the tank. It causes less heating issues and also acts more like the sun (in the fact that it's farther above the water, not right on top of it.) Most suppliers can also help you with setting up daytime lighting and nighttime lighting. It's been proven that marine life get just as much benefit from moonlight as they do sunlight. For some reefs, moonlight is even more important than sunlight.

Once you have your reef, lighting and PH in place you'll need to focus on filtering. Freshwater aquariums require much less filtration than well balanced marine set ups need. Bacteria tanks are often employed to ensure the fish are getting the right amounts of bacteria. Skimmer filters and salt filters are also commonly used to ensure the conditions in the water are properly balanced. This is one of the largest costs of owning a salt-water set up and will also be one of the most labor-intensive projects for your tank. However as tedious as it may seem, proper filtration of the water is key to success.

Maintaining a marine tank will always be more labor intensive then a fresh water tank but you'll rarely see anything in fresh water nature that compares to the majestic flow of marine life and coral reefs. The benefits out weigh the work involved in maintaining a reef tank.

K. Green has much experience with fish tanks and using high bay lights to maintain a healthy living environment for all her marine life.

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