Saltwater aquarium fish

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Saltwater Fish Tanks

by Vlad

There is need for harmony and therefore for decorations everywhere, which is why you can usually see different plant ornaments, souvenir boards or aquariums in people’s offices or homes. Not only do these decorations make the place a whole lot more attractive and stylish, but they also increase the comfort. There are lots of options when it comes to this aspect, among which are also fish tanks, which is actually one of the most attractive decoration option of them all. Saltwater aquariums are not really cheap if you want to do everything right and if you want them to be unique and perfect, but they are very easy to arrange and maintain.

How do you have to work with a saltwater aquarium for it to be perfect? That is quite simple. There would be a few steps you would have to take, so let’s check them out a little, one by one. The first thing you have to do is to put the equipment together and to prepare it, which means that before using any equipment, you have to wash every component very carefully, with hot water and a piece of soft cloth, because they might have all been exposed to different pollutants - dust or chemical substances -, which, of course, can do so much harm to your aquarium fish.



After you have done this, you put all the components in the aquarium, except for the decorative ones, after which you pour saltwater in it until it reaches the fill line. That fill line is usually measured to two or three inches from the top, for the water not to come out of the aquarium when cleaning it or feeding the aquarium fish in the tank. The testing period of all the components requires 24 hours of letting them all on.

What kind of water should you pour in the tank after all? Well, the best water is ocean water, but in case you do not have that, then you can make saltwater on your very own. You can also use saltwater solutions. However, the saltwater you are making has to be clean, without any impurities, so you should use sea salt mixtures and not the ordinary salt you have in the kitchen, also because they are closer to the natural water which makes the perfect habitat for your fish and the best underwater aquarium for them.

After taking care of the equipment and the saltwater, here comes the best part of fish tank decorations: decorating and organizing your saltwater aquarium. In order to have a better-looking aquarium, you should use organic or live substances because of more than one reason only. First of all, they look much better than the plastic substances, giving your underwater aquarium a more special and pleasant touch. Also, these organic substances are also preferred by your aquarium fish. In other words, organic substances are a better solution both for your eye and your fish. Another important aspect is that you have to choose the right components for your fish, taking in considerations the fact that fish associate them with the shelter they usually have when out there in the ocean, so you should probably create a habitat as close to their natural one as possible.

When it comes to fish plants, there are a lot of options for you out there. You have green algae, red ones or brown one, which are the favourite of most fish tank decoration amateurs. Some of the first two algae seem to be considered plants, while some others are considered protozoans or protistas. Apart from looking very good, they are also good for the fish in your fish tank. They reduce the amount of nitrates and phosphates and the ones of ammonia, too. Also, they remove heavy metals, annul toxins in the saltwater, produce chemical substances and regulate the pH level, helping to the better functioning of the fish’s organs. Other species of these sorts of plants can work as food for the fish, while some others do not, such as the fish plants known as the maiden’s hair or the painter’s brush, which can also be used to help the reproduction of amphipods and not only, introduced in the underwater aquarium habitat. The costs of these plants you can find on the Internet and in aquarium shops can also be a good aspect to look at, because they are not very cheap, according to species and to their size.

Besides the fish plants you introduce in the saltwater aquarium, you have live rocks, too, which are both aesthetical and practical. Having micro-organisms and macro-organisms on them, they have an important role in the digestion of the waste left by the fish, but this also means that have to be maintained in a special way. For ammonia not to be in excess in the aquarium, you have to treat the live rocks before putting them in the aquarium. Their treatment consists of put the live rocks in a plastic container filled with saltwater, after which you put a heater and a pump in to create optimal conditions. When there, you remove those two and pout out half of the saltwater and then wash the rocks in separate water, introduce them in the first one again and let them there for a while before introducing them in the fish tank.

After completing the first three steps, it is time to also refer to the cycling process, a process which lasts for thirty days and which supposes a continuous verification of the ammonia at any time. It does not matter if you have introduced the fish in the tank or not. This is also an extremely important step in creating the perfect environment for your fish and having the saltwater fish tanks you have always wanted to have. It is decisive to the balance of the environment or ecosystem developed in every of your saltwater aquariums. If you have advances chemistry knowledge, it will be very easy for you to understand the exact thirty-day cycling process, if not you might have some problems with it, but you should not treat this process with indifference if you do not want to harm your entire work and to have wasted time with all the previous considerations, especially when you have specialists working continuously in order to provide an understandable sequence of steps and aspects of this nitrogen cycling process.

You should be very attentive if you use fish to stimulate this process. There may be no ammonia in the aquarium in the first day, but you should remember that usually the third day is nearly toxic from this point of view. You must keep an eye on your fish at this moment. Or, you can regulate the ammonia by using an artificial source, which will help with the balance of the underwater aquarium without exposing the fish to any damages. Bacteria also grow proportionally with the amount of ammonia. On the fifth day of the cycle, the bacteria start to transform it into nitrite up to the seventh day. After fourteen days, the ammonia will no longer harm the fish and nitrites will reach their top levels. Until the twenty-seventh day, the nitrites are being transformed into nitrates, while at the end of the cycling process nitrates should reach their top levels and the bacteria should be able to control the balance of the saltwater.

As already mentioned, artificial ammonia sources are so much more indicated than throwing your fish into the fire, in which situation you have to examine them carefully at every step, for them not to be exposed to ammonia and nitrites for very long and have serious problems afterwards. In this case, you can dilute the saltwater for its concentration to decrease.

As you can see, setting up the perfect saltwater fish tank is not all that difficult, but you have to be attentive every step of the way, to take all options into consideration and to never do things in a rush. But, as long as you love this kind of things and you are really interested in the domain and you are a fish person, you will totally put all your mind and time into it, in order to have an admirable result in the end. It would be such a shame to waste resources and harm your aquarium fish given the beautiful things you can create with them. If everything works just fine, you will be surprised by the saltwater aquarium habitat you will have just created.
Document modified on Sat Dec 8 22:03:39 UTC 2018
Document created on Tue Oct 20 3:37:51 UTC 2009
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