| This is for any beginner wanting to start up a | | | | have fish and fake corals or other decorations. |
| saltwater aquarium. You really don't have to know | | | | Second is a Fish Only With Live Rock (FOWLR) |
| a whole lot about saltwater tanks or their | | | | where you will have fish only with "live rock" from |
| inhabitants to get one going for yourself. What I | | | | the ocean with all of its built in natural biological |
| did was just focused on the basics at first and | | | | filtration. Last is a full fledged reef tank where you |
| from there everything else fell into place. | | | | focus on coral more than fish. |
| First you're going to start with tank size. You | | | | Once you have an aquarium, the only thing left is |
| may have heard "The larger the saltwater | | | | to fill it up with water and buy some salt. Buy |
| aquarium is, the easier it is to maintain." Well, that | | | | your "dry" salt from your local fish store along |
| was my first problem. I was not making a whole | | | | with a measuring tool to find your specific gravity. |
| lot of money at the time and was able to find a | | | | Specific gravity means you water weight plus the |
| 100 gallon tank for relatively cheap. When it was | | | | salt in the water, that's how we know what our |
| all said and done I wished had picked a smaller | | | | aquariums salt content level is close to what the |
| size because I did not have to spend as much on | | | | ocean is. Easiest thing you can do now is get your |
| lighting or live rock for filtration. I started realizing | | | | live rock or other forms of filtration and cycle |
| all this when I helped a friend of mine setup a 15 | | | | your tank. Cycling your tank will take about 30 |
| gallon nano-reef tank. He did not spend nearly as | | | | days. The easiest way to cycle your aquarium is |
| much as me but had to do more water changes. | | | | to put some live rock in your tank and let it sit |
| You will need to decide whether or not you're | | | | for thirty days. |
| going to go with a tropical fish tank or a tropical | | | | After cycling your tank you're ready to add your |
| reef tank. Either way you're going to need some | | | | first fish. If you want to start a reef tank from |
| type of filtration for your fish tank. There are | | | | here, you're going to need to get some lights. |
| mainly three types of saltwater aquariums. First | | | | Their almost like the lights you would find in a |
| one is a fish only tank (FO) where you will just | | | | greenhouse only their meant for corals. |