How-to set up a saltwater fish tank Part 1

 Hi friends!

So you may be interested in starting up a fish tank. That is wonderful! I would like to help give you some information to get started in your journey.

After reading this, you should have a good understanding of the basics. I strongly recommend using this as a jumping point for more research. One of the great things about this hobby is there are a lot of ways to get something done. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And one last note before I start, everything in the tank is a living animal. Fish, coral, anemone, snails, etc. Please do research on the animals you will be caring for and take proper care of them. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A short and simple run down of the basics you need to know about: Water parameters, Lighting, Flow,  Filtration, and Temperature. 

 

Water Parameters:

We need water parameters consistent. This means controlling things such as water evaporation (it leaves the salt behind making the water more brine), calcium levels, and phosphate/nitrate levels. 

While not required, I STRONGLY urge everyone to save up money to buy an auto top off. It helped me go to the next level in my reef keeping skills. It fills the tank with new fresh water when it's sensor detects the water level has dropped too much. Always top off reef tanks with fresh water and not salt water.

Water changes are also very important to keep healthy parameters. If you use the same salt mix and bring it up to proper salinity, it should almost always help you get back to ideal tank conditions. It also serves the purpose of removing nutrients from the water (decaying fish food, poop, etc). This goes hand in hand with filtration.

Finally, I would also urge everyone to use RODI water and a trusted reef tank salt mix.

Lighting:

Most coral are photosynthetic. This means they get most of their energy from light. Sun lit tanks are possible, but are typically much harder to manage for a beginner and intermediate reefer. 

Reef tank lighting has seen a lot of really nice updates in the last 5+ years. LED lighting is now one of the main light fixtures sold. In my opinion, they are now one of the best options. They are customizable, compact, sleek, use very little power, and they are easy to set up with little maintenance. LED lighting is able to grow everything from softies to the harder to care for SPS coral. Overall, it is a very good bang for your buck.

Another option is T5HO florescent lighting. This is something I used up until two years ago. It is a very solid way to grow coral. It has a few aspects that eventually made it hard for me to not switch over to LED.

First, bulbs need to be replaced roughly once a year. 

Two, it gets more expensive with continued maintenance. 

Something that is nice for beginners is there is minimal customization. This limits how much you can change and mess up! Reef tank bulbs are pre set to the right growing wavelengths. You can purchase your favorite combination of bulbs and not have to worry about if it is ideal for the coral. 

There are a few other options... But most of them have been phased out (such as metal halide). Another thing that some hobbiest love is a combination of different light sources. For example, a T5/LED hybrid set up.

Flow:

Flow is one of the most over looked care requirements for coral and fish. It helps keep water temperature and parameters stable. Part of the reason is because there is more oxygen in the water when the surface of water breaks. Another benefit is that it breaks up the oils that collect at the top of the water and allow it to be filtered out. Another benefit of proper flow is to help corals remove waste and feed. 

There is no one size fits all answer to flow. But general guidelines tend to agree 10-30x tank volume turnover per hour is ideal. Flow comes in a lot of different ways. All in one tanks have built in overflows and a pump to circulate water. Typically this is not enough but it does help as a secondary source. 

Wavemakers are extremely popular in the hobby. Single power heads can function similar to a wavemaker if they are programmable. Otherwise two pumps will cycle on and off simulating a more natural reef environment.

Filtration:

Filtration will more than likely need its own landing page! It is really hard to say enough about filtration. The main types are mechanical, biological, and chemical filtration. There is no one size fits all filtration also. It depends on things such as tank stocking, feeding habits, and overall age and health of the tank. 

The main form of filtration in most reef tanks should be in the form of live rock and live sand. This means that there is a healthy population of bacteria living in the rock to help promote the nitrogen cycle more efficiently. Because of this, it is very important to cycle your tank. 

Other forms of filtration include hang on the back filters, protein skimmers, roller mats, filter socks, sponge filters, GFO, carbon, and etc. Each has their pros and cons but each are proven and effective. There can be too much filtration also, so do not buy one of everything and expect the best. 

Honorable mention goes to refugiums that grow macro algae.

Temperature:

Temperature control is vital to keep everything healthy and happy. Most reef tanks are tropical and prefer to stay between 76-82 degrees F. I keep my tanks at 78 all year. There are cold water coral reef tanks that require a chiller. So overall, research will be needed to care for your tank. 

Temperature control is typically simple and cheap. A heater helps keep the temperature stable (we always strive for stable parameters) and recently apps and controllers help us keep an eye on this parameter. If the water is to hot it will turn the heater off for you, and vice versa. If a heater breaks (its fairly common... and why its important to get a controller) it can save you thousands of dollars. It will also alert you through the app or controller itself.