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Saltwater Fish Aquariums - Saltwater Fish Tanks

A salt water fish tank is an aquarium that mimics an ocean environment and houses fish, corals, plants that lives in the ocean.

Salt water fish tanks are considered more difficult to keep than freshwater tanks because salt water fish have less tolerance for fluctuations that can occur quickly within the closed environment of an aquarium.

However, it is a rewarding experience to recreate the ocean environment in your home. An aquarium helps you to destress and lower blood pressure. No wonder aquariums are a common sight in hospitals and clinics.

Before buying a fish tank, measure the space so that you buy the size that will fit into the space. The bes place to put the fish tank is in the living room where it is easily seem.  Do avoid direct sunlight

Briefly, here are the steps to build a fish tank.

1. Install the aquarium equipment such as the filtration system, protein skimmer, powerheads, aquarium heater.

2. Check for any leaks in the fish tank. Tighten all host connections. Fill up the aquarium with freshwater and wipe the exterior of the tank dry. If there is no leak, shut the system and remove some water.

3. Install the substrate, sea salts and live rock.  Put the plants in and anchor them to the bottoms in the substrate.

4. Fill it with water. Fill a large bucket with clean, dechlorinated water. Fill your tank with the saltwater, leaving about an inch at the top.

5. Install the Lighting.

6. Start the filter system. Maintain the temperature between 75 and 80 degrees. Let everything run for at least 72 hours.

7. When the chemical levels are all okay and the tank temperature is within suggested limits, add the fish. Start with one or two first. Add a few safe tank janitors such as snails and hermit crabs to control the waste in the aquarium.

Now that the tank is setup, let's talk about the fish.

Nevery buy a new fish on impulse at first sight. Before you select any new addition for your aquarium, take some study to learn more about the fish such as its characteristics, compatibility with other fishes, its dietary requirements and eating habits.

Select fish that are healthy. How do you know if they are healthy?  Here is a telltale sign: Sick fish don't eat. Ask the vendor to feed the fish in your presence.

Observe their appearance. The eyes should be bright and clear.A sick fish has misty eyes or sunken eyes. The mouth should be uninjured. The skin should be smooth and well-colored without missing scales. A healthy fish should have a well rounded and slightly convex (curved out) stomach. Do not select a fish with a sunken stomach.  

Observe the movement A sick fish breath shallowly and move very little.It is lethargic and remain at the bottom of the tank.

How many fish should you put in your tank?. The rule of thumb is "One inch of fish per 5 gallons of system saltwater".

You need to acclimatize the new fish to your aquarium because a sudden chang in temperature or water quality can shock the fish to death.  The most common method is the floating bag method. If you use this method, do not dump the bag water into your tank! If you do, you risk exposing your tank to any parasites or diseases that were in the shop's tanks.

Here is a s imple way to acclimatize the new fish. Put the bag inside a clean  bucket. Open the top of the bag and remove about 25% of the water from the bag. Replace this water with the same amount of water from your tank. Every 10 minutes add about 1 cup of water to the bag. Repeat this process for about an hour. After an hour has passed use a small net to get the fish out of the bag and gently place the fish into your tank.

How often do you feed the fish? The best frequency is to  feed them twice a day. Do not overfeed the fish. Put enough for 2 minutes because theywill eat for about 2 minutes and then ignore the food forhours.   

Now that the fish and tank are in place, monitor the water quality and the health of the fish.  Have a scheduled tank maintenance program

Having a bit of the ocean in the comfort of your home is worth the effort.  Enjoy your new saltwater aquarium!.

About the Author

Kurt Rorbakken has more than one interesting site - checkout his Aquariums Saltwater Blog site and also his Saltwater Aquarium Guide. You may reprint this article, as long as you include all of the above text, About the Author box and all the links are working.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 12:19 am and is filed under Trains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.