salt water aquariums

[madzooom]

i would like to start a salt water aquarium  :oops: but i dont no want i need to do that please help  

[saltydog]

Your only basic requirement is marine salt mix & a hydrometer which measures salinity. What you may need apart from this is dependent on what animals you wish to keep.

If you wish to keep fish only then you really don't need anything more than one has in a typical tropical  fish aquarium. In this case, however, you must have a filter with excellent biological filtration & you should remove all driftwood from the tank.

If you wish to keep anemones, soft corals, & some other invertebrates you will need some "live" rock which is actually "dead" coral with organisms living in & on the rock. You will also want some power-heads to ensure lots of water circulation to bring food to these animals (which are anchored like plants) & some more powerful lights as many of these animals derive some of their food from light.

If you wish to have invertebrates such as stoney corals then you will need very powerful lights, a tank overflow, a sump, & a protein skimmer. In this case, you will NOT have any use for a conventional aquarium filter.

I strongly suggest that you start by reading several books on the subject. OVAS has some in our library. Do not rely solely on information in the literature which is more than about 8 years old.  Aspects of the  marine aquarium hobby have been simplified in recent years. Reef keepers rely more on 'live' rock & 'live' sand than on some of the expensive hardware which was prevalent in the past.

Hope this helps. Go slow!

[vpilieci]

Good post... but I would highly suggest that you (no matter what species you decide to go with) get a protein skimmer they are invaluable.

Also you can learn a lot at this site (I love these guys) www.garf.org  they are super knowledgable and always glad to help. They are also a scientific charity based organisation so they really have no slant.. just helping aquarists.

good luck

VP