Salt Water Fish Tanks For Beginners

Keeping a salt water fish tank really isn't that much different than a freshwater tank but there are a few things you need to do differently. One of the big things to keep in mind is that salt water fish are very delicate so your tank conditions must be optimal at all times. Here are 10 rules for salt water fish tanks for beginners that every beginner should be aware of:

1. Make sure you keep the PH steady. Marine fish are very sensitive to the PH of the water and you don't want any drastic changes so you don't want the PH to vary more than 0.2 a day. PH should range between 8.0 and 8.4.

2. Keep your temperature between 75F and 80F. Tropical fish need warm water but, again, you want to make sure the temperature does not vary too much so you want to keep it at a steady temp.

3. Keep the salinity steady. Of course, one of the differences between salt water tanks and fresh water tanks is the salinity or salt. Salinity is measured by gravity and you want to keep yours around 1.022. As water evaporates the tank will become more saline so you need to test this every couple of days. The thing to remember here is to not have any drastic changes in gravity.

4. Larger tanks are better. Since marine fish are very sensitive to changes in water quality, you want to go with the biggest tank you can manage. 55 Gallons is good for starting. A bigger tank will give you more leeway for mistakes since there is more water in it. Smaller tanks can go south quickly simply because there is less water.

5. Keep the nitrates down. Test the nitrates every week - make sure they are lower than 20 ppm. If you have a reef tank with invertebrates then you will need to keep it less than 5 ppm.

6. Adding supplements. If you keep invertebrates, you will probably need to add calcium to the water as this is critical for them to survive. You may also need to add trace elements and iodine for some of the other "non fish" inhabitants of your tank like shrimp. Most salt water fish tanks use a protein skimmer and this takes out some of the elements so you need to add more back in in the form of supplements.

7. No overcrowding! Marine fish are very sensitive so you can't cram a lot of them into the tank because they won't be as forgiving as fresh water fish and can die easily. Since marine fish are so much more expensive, you really want to be careful. The general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish for 5 gallons of water. That's another reason for buying a bigger tank because you can fit more fish!

Marine fish add color and beauty that you just can't find in fresh water fish so keeping a saltwater tank is a natural progression for the avid aquarist. Just keep some of these rules in mind and your tank should be perfectly beautiful and teeming with healthy fish!