# Sticky  Interested in a Salt Water Tank?



## funlad3

When many think of a saltwater tank, they think of phrases such as "hard to maintain" and "expensive". These two stereotypes are only partially correct. This type of tank, if properly setup should be able to almost pilot itself, in a way. As far as expensive goes, the equipment itself is more expensive, but the fauna is exponentially more colorful and interesting, demanding a higher price.

Salt water tanks are extremely similar to freshwater tanks. There are a few obvious differences though.


*Tank*: Preferably 55 gallons or larger. Tanks smaller than 55 gallons are prone to wide swings in the concentrations of everything from salinity to temperature during the course of the day due to evaporation. If you don't have a whole lot of room, look into a cube tank, as they have the most volume for their footprint.

*Filtration*: HOB filters, like those used for fresh water tanks, can also be used in most salt water tanks. There are also other types of filtration that are more effective than these simplistic filters. They naturally demand a higher price, but are much more productive per dollar.

*Lights*: The exact same lights can be used on a fresh water tank can also be used on a fish only (FO) tank. If you were to add corals or an anemone, you would need more powerful lighting. If you have a power compact (PC) or T-5 setup on a freshwater planted tank, you may be able to use it on your new reef tank! Otherwise, prepare for this to be the largest initial investment in equipment.

*Water*: The water used in a salt water tank obviously has salt, but it needs to be slightly more pure than tap water. Not only does tap water contain extra nutrients that easily spur algae outbreaks, but it also contains many chemicals that have a much larger effect on saltwater fish than they do to their fresh water counterparts. Reverse Osmosis (RO) water is strongly recommended.

*Decoration*: Though it is possible for you to have a salt water tank with multicolored gravel, decorative bubblers, and plastic novelty decorations, this will only create more work for you. With a more "Natural" looking tank, (real sand, live rock, etc.) your water's chemical levels will be nearly kept in balance. The live rock and sand chemically influence the pH and alkalinity of the water, constantly pushing them to that of natural sea water.

*Stocking*: Salt water tanks must be stocked to a lesser amount than fresh water tanks. This can be attributed to many factors. Natural seawater is extremely stable due to the sheer volume of the ocean. In our tanks, small fluctuations in chemical levels such as ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, salinity, and oxygen can shock and kill the inhabitants of our tanks. With a lower stocking level, it is just as easy to keep these levels in check as it is in a fresh water tank.


Now that you understand some of the basic differences between salt and fresh water aquaria, it is important to understand the different equipment that is commonly used in a salt water tank.


*Chiller*: In some tanks, the lights will be so strong that a chiller is needed to keep the water at the desired temperature, usually around 80º. Just because a chiller is needed during the day doesn't mean a heater won't be needed during the night. 

*Filter Sock*: The filter sock is a basically a net with extremely fine holes that essentially allows water through without letting particulate matter pass on. These are often placed right under the outlet tube of the overflow; the water overflows out of thank, down a tube, and through the filter sock into the rest of the sump. Though this tool can be effective, they are easily clogged and need to be washed or replaced weekly. They are not necessary, but are a very useful tool for clearing water that has been clouded with sand. 

*Heater*: A reliable, shatter-proof, heater is an important investment. If a heater were to break, everything in the tank could either freeze or be shocked to death. Thus, a reliable and high quality heater is a must. Do not skimp on this item. 

*Hydrometer*: A tool that allows for you to easily measure the density of your water by using specific gravity units. Salinity is the main level that influences water's density, so specific gravity is the short cut to salinity. It is also the unit in which salinity is most often measured. Density varies from temperature to temperature, so this cheap piece of equipment is often very inaccurate. The better version of this is the refractometer. 

*Lighting*: Different types of lights are used on reef tanks. They are so different that they have their own section below. For now, suffice it to say that reef tanks need a very large amount of light that can only be provided by advanced lighting systems. Fish only (FO) tanks can thrive with a simple fluorescent light setup. 

*Live Rock*: Though live rock is largely decorative, it provides an immense amount of biological filtration. Due to its porosity, it provides a large surface area for beneficial bacteria, as well as other microbes, to live in and upon . Though advanced lighting isn't needed to maintain the live rock or its bacteria, much of its flora and fauna will. (corraline algae, sponges, etc.) Live rock always experiences die off during any length of transportation. It must be "cured" before it is added into a cycled tank. This means all of the dead organisms need to decompose off of the rock and be converted into nutrients before you add it. Most stores sell cured rock, though it is possible to get uncured rock for a much lower price and cure it yourself. It is a long and odorous process however. 

*Live Sand*: Live sand is commonly found for sale in fish stores. Most of this sand is just damp sand found near natural reefs in the oceans. For the most part, it is sand with bacteria. If you can find high quality live sand, there will be types of crabs, segmented worms, micro fauna, bacteria, and even sea stars in it. The latter is more expensive. Sand serves the same biological purpose as live rock. All the same, normal sand becomes live sand after being in the same water system as live rock after a few weeks. 

*Power Head*: A power head is type of in tank water pump. In both a Fish Only (FO) and reef tank, flow is very important. There are currents everywhere in the ocean and it is thus important to mimic that flow. Most sessile (non-moving) invertebrates will quickly die without flow. Flow is also needed to blow any detritus (waste or particles) to a location where it can be removed. 

*Protein Skimmer*: A protein skimmer is often the backbone of the filtration in a salt water tank. It removes nutrients and other organics at a microscopic level, as well as larger protein molecules. By combining microbubbles with tank water in a reaction chamber, organics are attracted to the naturally charged bubbles. The bubbles float to the top of the reaction chamber and overflow into the collection cup. This is a separate and removable chamber that is rinsed out weekly depending on the productiveness of the skimmer. A good skimmer can easily remove ounces of black sludge (Skimmate) from the tank every week.

*Refractometer*: The accurate version of the hydrometer works on an entirely different principle. Instead of measuring the density of the water, it measures the actual amount of dissolved salts. By putting a small sample of water on a lens, light is refracted, causing a number or color, corresponding to a salinity in Parts Per Thousand, to be illuminated. Though this tool is more expensive than a hydrometer, refractometers are by far more accurate and helpful than their entry level counterparts. 

*Quarantine Tank*: This is a small setup of at least ten gallons in which you *will* quarantine any new fish additions. This is required in salt water because once a disease is added to the display tank, it will quickly spread and can kill all of your fish. Even after this, it can survive in your tank for months. In the quarantine tank, you can observe the fish for a period of 2-8 weeks for any signs of sickness and medicate accordingly. This time also proves to be a good time to make sure your new addition eats the types of food you feed your tank. A quarantine tank can save you hundreds of dollars in stock and greatly improves the chances of your fish's long term health. Corals can also be quarantined.

*Refugium*: An small attached container or tank that holds some type of natural filtration such as live rock rubble, marine mud, macro algae, or mangroves. This area serves as a shelter for small invertebrate life, (copepods/amphipods) adds to the total system volume, and is another way to help filter out unwanted nutrients. For example, plants in a refugium will out-compete nuisance algae for the nutrients it needs to survive. As the wanted algae grows, the nuisance algae (often a result of cycling a new tank) will die. Macro algaes can then be trimmed, removing the nutrients form the algae in a natural way. Refugiums are not necessary, but present a fair amount of benefits.

*Sea Salt*: This is obviously a necessary component to any salt water tank! It is important to buy a salt that is clearly labeled and marketed for use in a salt water aquarium, as it will have essential trace elements found in salt water. It is also important to make sure that your salt doesn't have any added phosphates, for even .05 ppm of phosphates can trigger an outbreak of hair algae.


These are the main key items that you must associate yourself with. Now it is important to know the three main classifications of salt water tanks so that you can decide which you want in the future.


Before you can begin to gather your equipment and set up your tank, you need to decide what kind of tank yours will be. Will it have a dazzling selection of corals? How about larger predatory fish? Smaller schools of orange and red Anthias? Clearly, there are some very different styles of salt water tanks that you can create within the confines of your home. The three basic types of tank are as follows:

*Fish Only*: This type of tank is probably the closest to a fresh water tank. In a Fish Only (FO) tank, there is no live rock. There are no large invertebrates, no corals, no anemones, etc. The only living macrofauna in this type of tank will be fish. In a FO tank, there isn't any Live Rock. As has already been stated, the use of Live Rock is probably the best way to cycle a tank and house a large enough population of beneficial bacteria to sustain life. Due to the lack of it, FO tanks are, in my opinion, the hardest type of tank for an individual to have. Stocking has to be kept to a minimum, water changes must be large and frequent, and the environment is unnatural for most fish. Although the FO tank is indisputably the cheapest tank to set up, I actually reccomend against beginning with this type of tank. If, however, you do decide to try and create this kind of tank, a protein skimmer is absolutely required. With no other major forms of filtration, the skimmer will have to bear the brunt of the bio-load and process the bulk of the waste from the tank's inhabitants. Because of this added responsibility, it is not unwise to purchase a skimmer rated for twice the gallonage of the system, as it will provide more room for error if you overfeed, if a fish dies, or something else goes wrong. In this type of tank, the six most important parameters are pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Salinity, and Temperature. Because there are no inverts in this type of tank, the pH can be a little lower than it could normally be, although this will be addressed later.

*Fish Only With Live Rock*: This type of system is infinitely easier to maintain than a FO tank. A Fish Only With Live Rock (FOWLR) tank obviously has the Live Rock, the main filtration component, that the FO tank lacks. A FOWLR tank is more likely to have a clean up crew (CUC) than a FO tank, as the Live Rock will help to keep the water chemically stable. In a FOWLR tank, there is obviously quite a deal of filtration capacity, as all of the rock and sand is technically filter media. Flow, though important in all types of SW tanks, is extremely important in a tank with live rock, as it tends to hang onto particular matter and other detritus. Although the Live Rock does in fact process large amounts of waste, the protein skimmer should be the item to remove the particulate matter, as it removes it from the system itself. The Live Rock, on the other hand, merely converts this waste into Ammonia, the Ammonia into Nitrites, and the Nitrites into Nitrates. You want as little of these three nutrients in your tank as possible. In fact, just as in FW, any amount of the first two are extremely toxic to all of the tank's inhabitants. This is why effective protein skimming is a must for all tanks, it prevents the bulk of these compounds from even forming. Now, because there still aren't any corals in the FOWLR tank, nitrates are allowed to get comparably high, up to 20PPM. This means that, because there is more tolerance for nutrients, more fish can be added in a FOWLR than in a Reef Tank. Furthermore, because there is Live Rock in a FOWLR tank, as opposed to a FO tank, there is increased filtration capacity. This too means that more fish can be added. Looking at these two facts, more fish can be added in a FOWLR tank than any other type of SW tank

*Reef*: Reef tanks model the most beautiful environment in the world: the reefs. Full of colorful fish, now increasingly threatened coral, and some of the coolest invertebrates in the world, a reef is truly a thing to be marveled at. The largest difference between a FOWLR and Reef tank is simple; a reef tank has corals, anemones, and a larger variety of mobile invertebrates. Whereas a FOWLR tank will only have a few snails, hermits, and maybe a few shrimp, a reef will have dozens of corals, different types of decorative shrimp, an astounding array of detrivores, anemones, worms, and a much larger array of microfauna. The largest, and most expensive, difference between a Reef and FOWLR tank is by far the lighting. In a FOWLR tank, if there's enough light for the fish to see their food, then the lighting is sufficient. In a Reef tank, there's often so much light that looking at the source of it can often blind you. The lighting needs to be so intense for one primary reason; most corals and anemones are photosynthetic, meaning that the produce their energy (sort of) by using sunlight. Obviously, our tanks are inside, so we need to bring replicated sunlight to our tanks. I won't get into how much light is sufficient for each specific tank size and depth, but suffice it to say that T-5s, Metal Halides, or High Powered LEDs are just about the only types of light sources that can successfully grow all types of coral. Even then though, they need to be used in great enough numbers, but I digress. In a Reef tank, you can, unfortunately, have fewer fish than in a FOWLR tank. Corals and other invertebrates can be extremely sensitive to both nitrates and phosphates. Unfortunately, Live Rock and Protein Skimmers can only remove so much, so stocking does have to be slightly restrained. As a rule of thumb, if hair algae can grow (and this is after the cycle), you're either feeding too much or you have too many fish. Reef Tanks need the most flow of any type of SW tank, as if any detritus settles on a coral for too long, it kills that section of the coral's living tissue; never a good thing. 


Now that you hopefully understand the main differences between Freshwater and Saltwater tanks, as well as the differences between the different types of SW tanks, it is important to know how to set one up correctly. The next few steps are actually extremely similar to setting up a fresh water or planted tank, so some of your FW experience may apply.

*COMING AT A LATER DATE​*


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## grogan

hmmm tempting. The whole "buy the biggest tank you can afford" rule is the best way to go with them. A lesson that cannot be stressed enough


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## Danio king

thank you funlad!


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## Mr. fish

What if I wanted to start a 10 gallon salt water tank just to get my feet wet with the whole SW leap? Do you think it would work out? Or be expensive to start? I just changed the substrate today to Sand so I kinda got 20% done lol...

But, I'm pretty sure I'm limited on stock...


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## funlad3

I'll get there! I'd still try for a larger tank. You'll be hard pressed to fit much, if any, aquascaping in there.


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## funlad3

Update done!


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