What are the basics I should know before starting a saltwater aquarium?
- Sunday Nov 29,2009 02:00 AM
- By diddy
- In Others
I have been keeping freshwater fish for about 3 years and would like to branch out into marine aquariums. I’m looking for advice on what to start out with and what I will need.
3 Years, Advice, Freshwater Fish, Marine Aquariums, Starting A Saltwater Aquarium
One Comment
do you have water quality tests? nitrite, ammonia, nitrate, etc?
other than that all you really need to know for a basic SW tank is how to read salinity, of which there are two ways.
the most accurate way is a refractometer.
the cheapest way is a swim-arm hydrometer, or a floating hydrometer, the swing arm is a little less accurate, but cheaper and easier to read.
for about $40 you can get a good refractometer, which i suggest you do.
you look through it like a telescope and there’s a little bar on the inside which indicates where your salinity is, pretty simple. you’ll want it somewhere between 1.020 and 1.025 SG ( approx 28 and 31ppm)
other than that actually keeping the fish is much the same as freshwater, you need to feed them, pick out healthy ones at the store, pick COMPATABLE fish for the same tank, not overcrowd the tank, do water changes, etc…
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