Water
Type of water
To avoid nuisance algae’s growing in your tank, it is recommended to get Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized water. You can often times buy this kind of water at the fish store where you found your saltwater pet. You can also buy RO water at your supermarket, as well as distilled water. What you don’t want to use is tap water from the sink. It contains elements that are detrimental to your saltwater tank. Chlorine, Phosphate, Nitrate, Fluoride and more are readily detectable in tap water, but your saltwater tank needs pure water to keep your fish healthy.
Testing your water
Most important of all, saltwater tanks must be tested weekly to make sure your water is healthy so your fish will remain healthy. For a simple fish only tank, you’ll want to test pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. Your pH should test around 8.0 to 8.3. Ammonia should read 0 before adding any fish, and so should your Nitrite. Nitrate should be 20 ppm or less, and the best way to keep these down is regular water changes. Another important test is Alkalinity, which tests your water hardness. This should be between 8 and 11 dKH. Also, be sure to double check your salinity weekly to make sure it has remained stable at 1.026ppm.
Salt
Marine salt is readily available at most pet supplies, and Instant Ocean is very popular and easy to find. When you are setting up your tank, or when you do water changes, you always mix the salt in your water before you add it to your tank. You’ll need a hydrometer, which gives you a salinity reading to mix the salt to the correct level. To gauge your mixing, use ½ cup of salt per gallon of water, but test it with the hydrometer. You want your salt level at 1.026 sg (specific gravity), and your water’s temperature at that reading should be 78 degrees. As water evaporates from your tank, you only need to add new RO or distilled water, because only water is evaporating from your tank. The salt is still there. Adding saltwater would only increase the salinity of your tank and cause problems for your fish.
Heating/Cooling
Heater. Your tank needs to have a stable temperature. 76° F to 84° F is your allowable tolerance. Keeping it between 78-82° F is the ideal. A small reliable heater will keep the tank from cooling too much at night (especially this winter). A small fan blowing across the top of your tank will avoid overheating during the summer months.
Cooler. On the contrary, If you live in a much hotter area, you may want to consider a cooler for your tank. It is imperative that these types of aquariums stay at static temperatures. Water has a high heat capacity, meaning that it retains heat very efficiently. As you probably know, the water at the beach never changes temperature drastically – therefore, fish are used to the temperature always being the same, aside from when the seasons change. When your temperature fluctuates a lot, this can cause stress on your fish and corals, eventually causing death.
