Saltwater Aquarium Advice

Hey fellow Saltwater Aquarium fans,

Basically as im sure you have realised you almost need a dictionary and a marine biology text book to cope with all the terms and jargon in this hobby! I actually find this pretty cool as I love to confuse my wife and friends

Today im going to introduce to you a couple of unique aquarium filtration options you may or may not of heard of and explain what they are and what they do.

1. The Plenum: Sounds weird but can actually be amazingly helpful for an aquarium. A Plenum system is a type of Biological filter that uses a deep bed of live sand (micro and macro organism packed sand from the sea) suspended an inch or so off the aquarium bottom as the biological filter that contains both aerobic (removes ammonia and nitrite) and anaerobic (removes nitrates) areas in its depth which is traditionally about 5 inches.

The Plenum system (also known as a Deep Sand Bed or “DSB” filter) was developed by a very smart Dr Jaubert (and so is also known as the Jaubert system, argh so many names for this one thing!!!!) for keeping his reef aquarium healthy. The plenum itself is the oxygen free lower level of sand/gravel suspended by a plastic grid on supports above the aquarium base so that warm water (generated from the anaerobic conversion of nitrates into nitrogen gas) can drift up through the filter and removes any harmful hydrogen sulphide build up in the sand bed.

The surface of the plenum system will be packed with sand stirring filter feeders aerating and cleaning the top layers of Live Sand that contain the aerobic bacteria, sand sifting Gobies and Wrasses add to this effect.

When a Plenum filter is used in conjunction with a protein skimmer it is a very effective bio filter especially because of its nitrate reduction. It works best when the reef is suspended above the plenum using glue or epoxy resin for maximum water flow and so filtration. A possible downside is a buildup of harmful hydrogen sulphide if there isnt sufficient water movement upwards or sand sifting at the top.

2. The Refugium: A place to harbour refugees under your aquarium! No really it is; a ‘fuge is a tank  separate from the main aquarium with (usually) shared filtration and its own lighting either beside (hang on style) or beneath the display tank (like a sump) to put delicate, sensitive species so they can be free of predation at the hands (or fins) of fish, that would occur if they were in the display tank. In fact the refugium has many possible uses:

1. A quarantine tank for new arrivals.
2. A treatment tank for medications (treatment has to be safe for the main tank or have seperate filtration though).
3. A quiet place for the bullied or bullies (naughty corner!) to go.
4. A system to raise shrimp (algae, amphipods, copepods) to feed the display tank or just as additional pets.
5. A place to keep live sand, grow some plants to help with water quality.
6. A place to add gear without messing with the display tank.

As well as having all these possible uses the refugium increases the total water volume which is good for making the water stable, increasing buffering capacity and dilution of nasties in the water, obviously the bigger volume of your refugium the better.

3. Berlin system: If you are thinking this has got something to do with German saltwater tanks you are right! Some clever Germans in Berlin came up with a new take on filtration also known as the “natural system” that is based around the use of large amounts of live rock as your biological filter. The Berlin system remains the filtration system of choice for reef aquarium purists as it is very natural, after all Live Rock is the biological filter of the worlds coral reefs.

The Berlin system uses Live Rock as the aquarium’s biological filter as it is packed with beneficial bacteria that will convert ammonia into nitrite, then nitrite into nitrate and even has oxygen free zones (anaerobic) within it containing  bacteria which convert nitrate into harmless nitrogen gas. This is the Berlin systems natural nitrate reduction (NNR) system.

Along with the Live Rock (housed in the aquarium itself or in the sump) there is a big ol protein skimmer which aids filtration by removing much of the marine life’s waste and uneaten food at the source before its converted into ammonia making the bacteria’s job easier. There is also no substrate, to help the protein skimmer suck out all the detritus unhindered.  And thats about it, very simple, natural and highly effective. I have run a system like this before and it ran like a dream!

The advantages of a system like this is the fact that it looks appealing and is letting nature do its job, its also relatively simple, cheap to set up and looks really good (I absolutely love Live Rock!). The only real downside is the bioload a system like this can sustain; you can only put so much livestock in for the amount of Live rock you have because there is only limited surface area for the bacteria to grow to deal with this waste.

I hope this article helped to shed some light on some different biological filtration options available to the saltwater hobbyist.

Your marine aquarium maestro.

For excellent saltwater aquarium advice and salt water aquarium products check out www.SaltwaterAquariumAdvice.com or click “home” on the menu bar.
Saltwater Aquarium Advice

Promote Your Page Too

??

Stocking your saltwater aquarium is one of the most exciting times for a marine hobbyist. Introducing new additions to your colourful marine aquarium to watch and wonder over is awesome fun. For everything to go to plan and your new pets to thrive means that you will need to take things very seriously here in regards to compatibility, stocking levels and choosing healthy specimens.

Incorrect stocking of marine aquariums is a very common mistake; this usually arises from people moving too fast, picking unhealthy specimens and not doing enough research on their desired pets leading to compatibility issues. This can lead to stress in your aquarium (mostly the new inhabitants) and even death. Stocking a marine aquarium is the biggest variable to success in the set up process, if you do it wrong it can make the whole exercise a disaster, but if you do this right and take your time marine aquarium ownership will be smooth sailing for you. Any thoughtless purchases at this point can bring compatibility issues later which can be very hard to solve.

The best place to start with stocking is to make a saltwater aquarium plan, really know what it is you want in terms of marine life. Start with one or two “must have” species that will be the focal point of your aquarium. This is especially a good idea for small to medium aquariums, with larger aquariums you would go for a type of fish you want such as Tangs, Butterflyfish or Angels. Once you decide on your favourite fish, find out their exact requirements and set up the aquarium and choose other marine life centred around your tank “stars”. This keeps stocking very simple and as long as no one fish will compete closely with your favourites for a specific food type that is not readily available you are onto a winning strategy.

Adding invertebrates to the mixture can make things slightly trickier; if you have a fish only with live rock (FOWLR) set up try to use hardier invertebrate species (such as those commonly associated with live rock) that can tolerate a bit more nitrate in the water. This will make your life easier trying to cater to Invertebrate water quality needs.

As I have mentioned before the key to answering the compatibility question is diligent research on your chosen species in regard to behaviour/temperament, diet, size, preferred water conditions (light and water circulation) and growth rates, but ultimately fish have very individual personalities like us people, so it can be common for individuals of the same species to behave slightly differently.  Another factor that affects compatibility is the size of your tank and how much rockwork there is, generally the bigger the tank is and the more likely that fish can get out of the line of each others site for a while the better they will get on. A good way to ensure new additions settle in well is to rearrange the aquarium (and the residents established territories) when someone new is added, also keeping a light on at night seems to take the focus off the newcomer and can greatly help with any bullying.

Keeping fish well fed will keep them happy too; a hungry fish is a grumpy fish. When adding new fish to an established aquarium a great strategy is to put about 500mL of display aquarium water into the quarantine tank and visa versa so the newbies and the established fish can become familiar with the scent of each other before they meet. Another good idea is to put the quarantine tank next to the display tank so the fish can see each other.

This brings me to stocking levels; as a general rule of thumb a fish only aquarium should aim for less than 8 inches (20cm) of total fish length (nose to base of tail, not counting tail fin rays) per 22 gallons (100L) of water. A FOWLR set up with a few invertebrates should have a bit less fish at 6 inches (15cm) per 22 gallons (100L). Finally a reef set up should have no more than 4 inches (10cm) per 22 gallons (100L) this is because of the very low tolerances of corals and other invertebrates for slow nitrate build up in the water. The above estimates allows for room for error, but I warn you if these limits are exceeded by much the bioload will put too much strain on your biological filtration system and all it will take is one lost, dead fish or a bunch of uneaten food over a few days to cause the system to completely crash. When in doubt under-stock; this allows room for error and also takes into consideration your growing marine life.

When stocking your aquarium start with the more hardy, less aggressive fish first. This will give your aquarium water valuable time to stabilise after cycling before more sensitive species are introduced and will also help keep more aggressive, territorial species under control if they are not the first additions. Take the addition of fish very slowly waiting a month or so before adding one or two more, this gives the biological filtration system time to adjust to increasing waste levels.

The final aspect of stocking to get right is choosing healthy specimens, this can be very easy to do with careful visual inspections of the fish you intend to buy, checking every part of the fish for parasites, disease or other damage. Make sure the aquarium it is housed in is healthy and clean also. Pay attention to the fish’s behaviour to make sure it is acting normally. The golden rule here is to watch it eat (more than once if you can) make sure it has a good appetite, is alert and competitive with the other fish for food. The final thing you want to avoid is a brand new fish into the store; give it a week or so to see how it adjusts to captive life and copes with the stress of being removed from the reef environment. It is worth a mention again that where possible buy captive reared marine life, as they are much hardier and happier than their wild-caught relatives. Captive bred species also reduces pressure on species harvested from reef ecosystems, which should be very important to any marine life lover.

So the keys to successful marine life stocking are research, planning and lots of patience. Carefully planned out and executed saltwater aquarium stocking will provide years of happiness for marine life and marine aquarists alike.

For top saltwater aquarium advice and information as well as the hottest aquarium products in the world go to: www.SaltwaterAquariumAdvice.com

Saltwater Aquarium Advice

Promote Your Page Too

Saltwater aquariums are almost always stocked with tropical marine life (you can also have cold water marine set ups, but these are relatively uncommon), which by definition is marine fish and invertebrates that come from tropical regions of the world where water temperatures are a constant, balmy 77-80°F (25-27°C).  This marine life can only tolerate small and gradual changes in water temperature.

This universal characteristic of our favourite marine pets makes temperature (heating and cooling) a vitally important aspect in any marine aquarium. The importance of heating is often under-estimated by new marine aquarists, which can lead to heating disasters, the easiest way to wipe out your entire tank results from heater malfunctions, such as a heater being “stuck on” or not heating at all. A heater being stuck on and causing all the inhabitants to perish is the source of many a sad email to me.

The best thing you can do to prevent heating disasters is to buy a quality heater. Cheap, poorly made heaters can and do often get stuck on or fail to heat; they can also be a fire risk in your home. You need to look at vital saltwater aquarium equipment heater as a life support system for your marine life; choosing the cheap and cheerful option can often cost so much more in the long run.

A good heater is fully submersible as opposed to hang on. This is because if the water level drops the hang on model can overheat and burn out. Another important feature of a quality heater is being made of shatterproof material and is also corrosion resistant. New titanium heaters are an excellent investment in my opinion, these heaters are accurate, conduct heat brilliantly and mostly have a built in temperature sensor which shuts off the unit if it comes into contact with the air which would otherwise cause the heater to overheat and break.

A temperature controller unit is advisable to use with heating and cooling units, this does all the leg work for you and keeps fluctuations to a minimum, which is very good news for marine life. I also advise a thermometer with an audible alarm as an extra measure.

Another good practise is to go for 2 smaller heaters as opposed to one big one; this will make it harder for one to overheat the tank before you realise and if one stops heating the tank temperature wont drop severely.

Remember to handle all heaters with care and set-up as per manufacturers instructions, turn units off when exposing to air or performing maintenance and keep them clean, especially so you can see the indicator light is on. Always plug them into a GFI.

If you live in a hot climate, prefer your home a little warmer or have an intense lighting set-up (such as VHO fluorescent lights for a reef aquarium) chances are you will need an aquarium chiller, which will keep your marine aquarium water below a particular temperature. This is especially important when you keep corals because the lighting requirements they have cause a lot of heat generation from the bulbs, often times this can cause a water temperature increase of around 7°F! These lighting set ups can often mean you wont need your heater turned on, however it is advisable to have one as a back up. Once again as the correct temperature is so important it is my advice to purchase a quality chilling unit.

When both a chiller and a heater are hooked up to a temperature controller this is ideal to keep the temperature in your saltwater aquarium constant no matter what else maybe happening and you marine life will love you for it.

For more vital saltwater aquarium information and to see what my best selling ebook can offer you go to www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com

So, by now you have added Live rock to your aquarium and are letting that cycle the water from ammonium spike to nitrite spike to nitrate (which is then reduced by anaerobic bacterial denitrification or absorbtion by marine plants or partial water changes) , you can also cycle your tank in other ways such as using Live sand, but Live rock is by far the best way in my experience. Some people even use hardy fish to add the vital ammonium to kick start the reaction but this is very mean. The entire cycling process should take around 30 days, but can take up to 6 weeks.

When the tank is cycling you do not want to remove any water or mess with it all all, just let the bacteria do their thing and be patient. DO NOT attempt to put in any marine life at this time, if they dont die outright they will get very stressed out. If there is a lot of organic matter gathering at the bottom of the tank you can carefully remove this with a siphon.

A good use of your time at this point is to set up a quaratene tank as a secondary medication/new addition acclimation tank if you intend to use one. This is a very good idea and is a vital way at stopping the spread of disease in your display tank and gently acclimating your new pets in a stress free environment, if can be small and doesnt have to have much in it at all other than a few PVC pipes and a bit of live rock for the fish to hide out in.

You will now need to test your water parameters to see what stage of the cycle your aquarium is in. If it is nearing the final phase nitrite levels should have dropped to zero and increasing nitrate levels may co-inside with an increase in algal growth. Now simply conduct partial water changes or initiate anaerobic bacterial denitrification using specific filters to get rid of excess nitrate, if you have a good quality stock of live rock it should naturally provide the bacterial growing environment for this to happen. It is a good idea to do a partial water change (20%) right after the ammonium and nitrite levels drop to zero to help get the nitrate levels down.

You will also want to do a bit of a clean up, siphoning organic matter from the substrate and getting rid of excessive algae that has popped up. Any final aquascaping changes can now be done before you add marine life. If you have any mechanical filtering devices as they would have go clogged up during the cycling you should clean out or replace and media or sponges from them. Now you should restart all you equipment and give the tank a few days for the water to settle, then make any adjustments to temperature or water quality (salinity may need a tweak). Also keep an eye on the nitrate levels at this time and conduct a partial water change and siphon more debris out if neccessary. You will need to bring nitrate down to acceptible levels for your intended set up (ideally less than 20ppm for reef and fish only).

Now for the fun part add one or two species from your plan into the aquarium. You need to move very slow giving the bacteria time to adjust to the increased bio-load. One of the biggest mistakes made at this point is putting to much in too fast. Over the next week or so test water levels and when you get a zero reading for ammonia and nitrite you can add more pets one or two at a time, but remember the slower the better!

And finally your new saltwater aquarium is complete!

Time for part 2 of how to set up your saltwater aquarium the right way. So, by now you have decided exactly how you want you aquarium to look, whats going inside it and what equipment you will be needing (the more detail, the better). You have put together the stand, tank and all the equipment. What you need to do now is put a layer of the substrate you intend to use on the bottom of the tank, fill the tank with freshwater (not from the tap! Either buy distilled water, pre prepared saltwater or treat your own tap water) and put it through a “wet run” to ensure every piece of equipment is working as it should be and you have no leaks (not a good look when you have fish inside!). You should run it for around 1 day; making sure the water is getting warmer from your heater, pumps are going, bubbles are coming out, adding salt if you need to to hit your specific gravity (1.02-1.024 for a fish only set up).

The next part is the creative stage; aquascaping your aquarium! To do this turn off all running equipment and remove and save say about half the water (to give you room for adding stuff without overflowing the tank). Now simply place and arrange all your items how you have planned them previously. Now to combine aquascaping and initiating the cycling of your aquarium with live rock. Live rock is porous rock taken from the rubble zones of ocean reefs it contains many tiny invertebrates and microorganisms essential to biological cycling (converts animal waste ammonium into much less toxic nitrate which is either absorbed by plants or removed by partial water changes). Live rock is awesome because it looks so natural in your aquarium, keeps the water healthy, provides places for marine life to hide and helps the fish feel at home. You can arrange it into cool shapes and even dill holes in it and stick bits together to make a cool playground for your marine life.

Before you add you live rock to the tank it is my recommendation to inspect it for undesirable hitchhikers (bristle worms, mantis shrimps etc) and clean it in saltwater. Then you can cure it (preferably in a separate tank) for a few days, where most of the decaying organic matter goes through the decomposition process which would other wise overload your system and making your new aquarium water disgusting! When you add the live rock to your water there will be a brief period of die-off of the encrusting organisms, which will cause ammonia to be released into the system, in a while populations of bacteria inhabiting the rock will multiply feeding on the ammonia and converting it into nitrite. Next, a new population of different bacteria will multiply converting the nitrite into the less harmful nitrate. This is biological cycling in a nutshell and is natures way of recycling biological waste which otherwise would build up to toxic levels and kill all marine life.

Phew, that was intense but a very necessary part of preparing your aquarium for your precious marine life.

So stay tuned for the next installment and for more detailed info about biological cycling and setting up a saltwater aquarium check out my best selling ebook “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates”.

Its back to basics for this blog post guys, and il tell you why. How many of you have made mistakes while setting up their first marine aquarium? If you are being honest I would say about 60% of you have.

When people are new to the hobby the most scary thing is making mistakes and having it come back to bite you, it can be enough to put you off the hobby for life. And thats whats happened to a couple of people who have contacted me through www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com recently.

So here is how to do things the right way, first time. This is pretty relevant for anyone regardless of experience, because at one time or another you are all going to have to set up a tank again.

The first step is to decide EXACTLY what you want: Fish only, FOWLR (fish only with live rock), Reef, Jellyfish whatever. Fish only is a good first timers option because you can later convert it to reef or add stuff. A reef aquarium (mostly corals, invertebrates and one or 2 fish can be pretty easy to set up but requires complex lighting for your corals and some organisation. So planning and research are the keys here, do as much detail as possible will help down the track.

Second step is to get some good quality guide books, and of course im going to recommend my top selling ebook “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates” which concentrates on the marine life (the most vital part of the equation!) and how to make it thrive.

Next up make a checklist of everything you need and go buy it! You dont have to have everything at once, it can be a slow but steady evolution, a masterpiece in the making if you will.

Now to get to the nitty gritty of setting up now that you are all researched, planned and purchased. The first steps of the actual set up are deciding upon: Location of the aquarium (out of sunlight and well ventilated!), decide on aquarium size (always buy the biggest one you can afford) and whether you want a stand, what substrate will you use ?, Temperature, lighting and filtration systems you want to use, what look you want (aquascaping and decor). Once you have done this its time to rock and roll.

First you need to get you aquarium ready; put the stand down, ensuring its level. Now clean the hell out of the aquarium with fresh clean water then apply a vinyl background or alternatively paint it. Next; if you are using a sump put it in now, it is the easiest time to do it. Now is the time to put the aquarium on its stand and ensure it is all level. Next up get all your equipment and install it to where it should be in the set up.

After all this its time to give the system a trial run and check all the components are working.

For the next steps in setting your marine aquarium up the right way…… Stay tuned for the next installment!

Biotoping your marine aquarium is a craze that is quickly gaining in popularity these days. The word biotope translates from Greek and means “life place”. Basically creating a biotope aquarium means imitating a naturally occurring habitat in the ocean along with the key species that inhabit that region. The aim is to try and associate fish, invertebrates and even plants and substrate native to the same region. Because they have evolved in parallel they should have similar environmental requirements. The most common biotope aquariums are corals reefs with a few must have fish species from different regions around the world.

An example would be to aquascape and stock a tank based on what species you would find in the Great Barrier reef, the Caribbean, Hawaiian, Pacific islands. As well as this geographic biotoping you can also biotope reefs based on different reef regions and zones such as the outer reef, reef crest, lagoon, Mangrove root system, Seagrass beds just to name a few.

The coolest way to get into biotoping is to go snorkelling or diving somewhere and just fall in love with the beauty of what you saw there and want to go home and replicate it in your own house. With the general health of the worlds oceans and reefs going backward alarmingly quickly biotoping is becoming of increasing importance. Pretty soon some of these natural environments may be wiped out, and future generations would only be able to catch a glimpse of what existed by visiting biotope aquariums. Biotope set ups can even allow us to learn more about the natural interactions of species that have evolved together as opposed to regular marine aquariums where species from different geographical origins are just thrown together and expected to live in perfect harmony.

If you are considering setting up a biotope aquarium careful research and planning is the order of the day. Choose what geographical region you want to concentrate on, there may even be a tiny ecosystem in this area you want to replicate. You will need to identify all the key species that dominate your area and choose a few must have specimens you want to concentrate on. The idea here is to come up with either 1 or 2 must have fish or corals, then set everything else up around these, making sure the accompanying organisms are native to the same biotope and are compatible with your key species. If you do this correctly you will not only have a stunning true-to-nature aquarium but may see the result of millions of years of harmonious evolution in the interactions of your new pets.

For more information on creating the perfect saltwater aquarium set up and having simply thriving marine pets check out what my best selling ebook  “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates” has to offer.

The important role of live rock and sand in a marine aquarium is something that most beginner aquarists really dont understand

So here it is for you guys in black and white!

Writing all the content for my ebook “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Fish and Invertebrates” on www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com has really opened my eyes to the true importance of live rock and sand. Basically for you to recreate a small slice of the ocean in your home, you need a myriad of micro-organisms that are a crucial to the ocean eco-system. This is the reason why early saltwater aquariums (like in the 60’s or something!) ended up having all the marine life dying; especially corals, which people began thinking could simply not survive in captivity.

And right there is where live rock and sand (basically sand with micro-organisms and invertebrates living in it, can be used with live rock as well) come in, you see live rock is taken from rubble zones of ocean reefs it is very porous and in these pores live micro-organisms and tiny invertebrates that break down the waste products created by the life-cycles in the ocean. So essentially to breakdown the waste products in your aquarium it only makes sense that you require the assistance of such organisms. So live rock and sand is fundamentally the biological filtration agent of the oceans (and your aquarium). Additional to biological filtration live rock also gives your marine life a place to hide and looks natural and appealing in an aquarium.

Before you go hurling chunks of live rock and handfuls of sand into your aquarium, this stuff needs to be cured before it comes into contact with your marine life (or else the decomposition can harm your marine life and throw out your water quality by adding ammonia and debris). Curing initiates the nitrogen cycle and takes about 5 weeks to do it properly, you want to initiate the nitrogen cycle so the micro-organisms break down the waste products of your marine life which if left unchecked will build up to toxic levels. During this process you will want to change the water about once a week, replacing 25% at a time. A good rule of thumb is to use 1.5 pounds of rock for every gallon of water. Remember to check with the seller of the live rock to see whether the curing has already been done, if you have to do it yourself it may seem like a

lot of effort but it is well worth it. Your marine aquarium will be a much more healthy and efficient eco-system which a lot less toxic nitrates in the water.

For more information on live rock and sand, check out “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Fish and Invertebrates” available from www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com

Tiny Saltwater aquariums are all the rage these days. So I thought this post could be about all the ins and outs of owning a small marine aquarium. You can get mini, micro, nano and pico marine aquariums in decreasing volume which range from 40 gallons to 5 gallons or less. Many people see the small size to mean cheapness and ease of care, but beware these tiny tanks can be the fastest way to kill off your marine life if you are not careful.

Limited space can be a huge issue for those thinking about setting up a saltwater aquarium, so its only natural that people gravitate toward smaller set ups that are suitable for apartments or dorm rooms. But for novice marine aquarists a large sized aquarium really is a much better choice in my opinion, the reason for this is a large water volume gives you much more buffering capacity thus room for error in terms of deteriorating water quality, you also will have way more options when it comes to stocking your tank and generally your marine life will be happier because they dont have to co-exist in such close quarters, which is especially helpful if they dont get on all that well.

The reason these tiny tanks are so popular is because they take up a lot less room than full sized items, they also require less maintainence and usually cost less to set up and equip. Some reefers I know also have one as an auxillary tank for growing out coral frags or as a quarantine tank. They also mostly come as complete set ups so are “plug and play” , and easily upgradable which is of huge appeal. It is also possible to have compact high power filtration,pump systems and lights which allows you to keep a range of marine life easily.

However there is a down side to owning a small marine aquarium too; first of all the cost per gallon of water is usually the same as a larger set-up although the final set up costs are lower, you need to weigh this up with the lack of freedom you will have compared to the freedom of stocking a larger tank.

After the initial planning and extensive research (if you have read a few of my posts you will know I am all about the research!), the maintainance can take as little as 5 minutes a day and is a lot less daunting than a bigger tank, but does need cleaning more often. Following a regular maintainance schedule is the best thing you can do to keep your tiny aquarium healthy.

By far the biggest issue with small aquariums is the very short amount of time it can take for your water quality to become toxic because of the small water volume, this and the ability for the temperature to change rapidly can kill your marine pets in hours. Careful monitoring must be done daily to weekly and you must change 25-50% of the water every week.

You will have to be especially careful while going through the start up biological cycling (even more so if you are a novice), this is dangerous phase in bigger aquariums because of the cyclic ammonium, nitrite and nitrate levels causing toxicity to marine life. This is magnified greatly in a smaller system so  having any marine life kicking around at this time is pretty silly.

The next most potentually lethal thing to be aware of with your small aquariums is stocking levels and species compatibility. It is so easy to overload the system and cause it to crash, so move very slowly and do not put too much marine life in. Introduce a few fish at a time over a few weeks (or better still months) you will need restraint and patience here. You should go for small fish and 1 or 2 showy ones, bottom cleaners will also fit well in the mix.

Species compatibility is especially important here; quite a few reef safe fish from larger aquariums will not go well in small ones because of the close proximity. So once again go for smaller fish that are peaceful; Clownfish and Gobies are always popular choices in small aquariums.

For more information on keeping thriving marine life in optimal set ups check out my best selling publication: www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com