If you are considering setting up a Marine aquarium, it may be more difficult than you might think. Rather than simply purchasing an aquarium and a filter and throwing plants objects and fish into the tank, it’s much better to follow some steps and produce a functioning ecosystem both for the quality of life for your new pets and to save you expenses down the road. Here are some steps to guide you in setting up a Marine aquarium.
1. Pick a good spot: setting up your aquarium in a good spot is absolutely crucial. Try to pick a spot that doesn’t have. Temperatures or direct sunlight as this can cause issues with the ecosystem and make the environment unhealthy for fish to live in.
2. By the largest aquarium you can fit into a space and afford: if you can buy a larger aquarium you can create a much more stable ecosystem. With more water in the tank it can be much easier to maintain and a much more livable environment for plant life and fish. You also need to pick attack between acrylic and glass. Acrylic is easy to scratch but it’s also much lighter glass on the other hand is much more long-lasting but can be very heavy if you want to move your tank.
3. Set up lighting and filtration: if you don’t plan on having live plants inside your tank you will simply need a bulb that illuminates the area enough so that you can see inside. If you do plan on having live plants or you might need to get power compact bulbs or high-intensity fluorescent bulbs to provide enough light for the plants to grow. A proper filter is an absolute requirement for any fish tank and if you have a larger tank you may want to consider getting a protein skimmer as well.
4. Calibrate your heater and pump: when you are setting up your tank put a little bit of water into the main tank and adjust the flow to make sure that it is constantly circulating through stagnant area of the tanks. You may need several pumps for a large tank as a constant flow may be needed if you have coral or delicate plants. In order to get the right temperature in your tank you need to place heaters in the rear chambers or in the sum of your tank. If your tank is too hot you can also add an aquarium chiller to counteract heat that you might get in your environment or from high-intensity aquarium lights.
5: fill the tank and prepare artificial seawater: at this point you can fill the tank entirely and get the temperature just right. Check for any leaks during this time and then consider using different water for preparing a salt water aquarium. In most cases you will want to fill the tank with purified water and aquarium sea salt. Regular tap water can be harmful to certain corals and sea life because of its chemicals and additives.
6. Leave your pump and skimmer off: let the water stand for a day before you turn on your pump again before adding sand, rocks or any features to your tank.
7: Cycle the tank: let your tank cycle through the filter for a while until you can complete the water tested negative for ammonia nitrate. You can add frozen fish food in the sand bed to help neutralize the tank and prepare it for sea life.
8. Add the creatures: it’s usually a good idea to buy a few inexpensive fish until the ecosystem is more established. You can start by adding a few snails or hermit crabs to the tank so that they can start cleaning it for reef fish. After the smaller fish have been in your tank for a few weeks and haven’t overloaded the filter you can start to add some larger creatures but be sure not to overload the tank with too much at once. If you want to include coral in your tank it’s usually a good idea to wait a few months until your tank is fully matured and the ecosystem is more established.
For more information on setting up a Marine aquarium visit Perry’s Aquatics Center in Lincoln.
Photo: Nuno Gomes via Compfight
Perrys Aquatic Centre, The Bungalow 6 Market Rasen Rd. Dunholme, Lincolnshire LN2 3QR, Phone: 01673860727
How to Set Up a Marine Aquarium
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