Starting Your First Saltwater Tank

Saltwater fish are beautiful, lively, vibrant and extremely entertaining. They are filled with volumes of color and their habitats are nature's works of art. These sentiments are held by aquarists all over the world. However, there is a stigma that saltwater tanks are difficult to maintain and must be large to ensure survival. This is a farce.

The first thing an aspiring marine aquarist should know is that you should keep it cheap in the beginning. Saltwater can be expensive, but if you do everything the way this guide says you should be able to keep your costs to a minimum. This guide is an outline of how I have set up fish tanks in the past, and it has been very successful

A few basic tips for tank survival:

Rinse EVERYTHING. Heaters, nets, gravel, filter spouts, decorations, shells, and stones. Anything (except food and chemicals) that you will be putting in the tank must be rinsed. Nets should be rinses before and after each use, no exceptions. If something leaves the tank it must be rinsed before being returned to the tank . . . it is just good sense to keep foreign objects out of your fish's digestive tracks.

Starting a marine tank:

Day 01:

You will need to buy:

1. A ten gallon starter kit (make sure it's mostly plastic . . . salt will corrode metal). Starter kits usually come with the tank, hood, light and filter.
2. A heater.
3. Carnivore and herbivore fish food (formula one and formula two is what I use).
4. Tank Decorations (Fish need to hide to sleep. . . fake plants and live rock work great for hiding places so you don't need to go crazy looking for decorations)
5. 1 bag of Live Sand
6. Aquarium Salt (I recommend Instant Ocean)
7. Master Test Kit (ESSENTIAL. . . it's the only way to know if your tank has cycled)
8. A hydrometer (measures your salt level). I recommend Instant Ocean.
9. Chlorine and Chloramine remover. All tap water has chlorine in it. Many fish shops say aquarium salt takes care of this, but why take the chance? Aquarium Pharmaceuticals has a number of products that take care of this job. I recommend Stress Coat+. It removes chlorine, chloramines and detoxifies other heavy metals that may be in your water. It also has aloe Vera in it which is phenomenal for your fish and their coats. It's a great way to ready your tank for marine life. This one product takes care of several things with one capful.
10. 8.3 pH Marine Buffer. This will keep your water at a safe pH for your marine life. It brings the water up to the appropriate pH and acts as a buffer in the water to hold it there (increases alkalinity).
11. An aquarium thermometer
12. A nice background to put on the back of your tank

Set Up

1. Fill your tank half way with water at a moderately warm temperature. (I find that if I turn the hot and the cold water all the way up, I get the optimal temperature for this).
2. Place the live sand bag into the tank and cut open the plastic. Slowly lift the bag out of the tank releasing the sand into the water. The water is probably now very murky. Don't worry, sand is not soluble and in about an hour it will all precipitate to the bottom. I find waiting until this happens works best as the tank is only half full and there is less water for the sand to float around in.
3. Once most of the sand has settled (once you can make out the background on the tank) start placing the decorations where you would like them. It is easier to do this with the tank only half full so that you don't knock water out when adding the decorations. Remember to rinse them before you put them in.
4. Once you have the decorations as you want them rinse the thermometer and the heater with moderately warm water. Wet their suction cups (with water not your tongue!) and stick them to the side of the tank. Heater works best in a back corner opposite the filter. Don't plug your heater in yet. Stick the thermometer in a front corner somewhere so that it can be easily read.
5. Rinse and assemble the filter. Remember carbon filters NEED their cartridges rinsed to eliminate debris (like detached pieces of carbon). If you have a sponge in your filter I recommend letting the tank water run through it when the filter is activated as your means of wetting it. Sponges are meant to hold bacteria, but if you rinse with tap water it will hold chlorine instead. Leave it dry until metal free tank water is running through it. Don't plug your filter in yet.
6. Fill your tank the rest of the way.
7. Add the aquarium salt. If it is Instant Ocean add ½ cup for every gallon of water.
8. Add the pH 8.3 buffer (one teaspoon for every 10 gallons) and the dechlorinating solution (if it is Stress Coat+ add one capful).
9. Plug in your light, your filter and your heater and turn them on. Set your heater for the 72-80 degree Fahrenheit range. Let your tank sit until tomorrow. This will allow the filter to process the dechlorinating solution, loose sand and aquarium salt. Your heater will set the water to the proper temperature as well.

Day 02:

You will need to buy:

1. Live rock
2. 2 or 3 fish (Damsels are cheap and easy to find)
3. A couple of bottom feeders (I have two hermit crabs and a snail).
4. BIO Spira - This introduces concentrated levels of beneficial bacteria into your tank. These bacteria convert dangerous ammonia to less dangerous nitrite. They then convert nitrite into nitrate, which unless in very high levels (60+ppm) is harmless to marine life. Should be added only with ammonia sources, otherwise it's wasted (fish and decaying food are excellent ammonia sources).

Set Up:

1. Check your temperature. It should be between 72 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. If it is not you will need to adjust your heater.
2. Check your salt level. Dip the hydrometer into the water and then place it on a flat and even surface (kitchen counters tend to work best). Count to five and then read the needle. It should be between 1.020 and 1.024. If its not you will need to adjust the water. If there is not enough salt mix more in by the table spoon, measure as you go. Chances are though, you have too much salt. If this is the case remove water from the tank. I use a water bottle for this (regular Poland Spring drinking size). After removing two bottles' worth replace with dechlorinated tap water. This will dilute the salt concentration. Wait ten minutes and then retest. Once your salt level is safe you are good to go get some fish.
3. Place the live rock strategically so it gets light but also allows fish to hide.
4. Your bottom feeders and your fish will need to be acclimated. GO SLOW. They are coming from a cycled mature tank, to a bacteria free tank in its infancy. I recommend cutting a hole in the side of their bag and then placing it into the tank for 30 minutes. Osmosis will allow the tank water and the bag water to mix and will slowly acclimate your fish to the change. After 30 minutes release them into the tank and add the Bio Spira. The smaller bottle supports up to 30 gallons, so if that is the one you have, empty the whole bottle into your tank. If you have the larger bottle, read the directions.
5. Feed your fish. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is purely chemical. When fish eat they create waste. Fish waste acts as food to the biological filter you started when you added the Bio Spira to the tank. Any food your fish don't eat will decay and also act as food for the filter. The second reason is that it is my observation that feeding fish when they are entering a new environment minimizes the stress they endure. If they won't eat, don't be alarmed . . . it could take up to five days for them to come around. Whether they are eating or not you should still feed them twice a day every day, that cycle is very important. Remember to always feed a little extra if you have bottom feeders in the tank. Until your live rocks have an algae bloom, the scraps that the big fish missed are all the bottom feeders will have to eat.

Maintenance:

1. Test regularly with the master test kit. Follow the instructions carefully, you don't want inaccurate readings. You should see high levels of ammonia and nitrite in the first week or two, but don't be alarmed your fish are fine. After about two to three weeks those levels should come down and your nitrate will be high. When this happens do a 25% to 50% water change using the same rules as the one's you followed when you first filled the tank. Dechlorinate, buffer and salt.
2. You will probably find that your water evaporates rather quickly. I add about an eighth to a quarter of a gallon of buffered, dechlorinated and aged water to the tank about once a week. I then refill the bottle from tap, add pH buffer, dechlorinator and Cycle (beneficial bacteria) and put it away until the following week.
3. Remember not to over or underfeed your fish.

Source: Personal Experience