Saltwater Aquarium Advice

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”.

The Nitrogen cycle is one of the most crucial biological pathways that takes place in your saltwater aquarium. Back in the 70’s when this hobby first started to emerge, the nitrogen cycle was not very well understood, which resulted in fish, corals and invertebrates having a very short life in captivity. Once people came to terms with understanding the microbiological processes happening in their marine eco-system marine aquarium keeping became much more mainstream as marine life survival rates became much higher.

The nitrogen cycle is initiated by biological waste products of your marine life (i.e. excretion) and decaying organic matter.

1. The nitrogen waste is excreted in the form of ammonia (a toxic chemical that is used to bleach toilets!), which lowers the pH making the water more acidic if enough of it is around. Ammonia is toxic to marine life, in oceans which are huge the buffering capacity of the water is so great ammonia cannot get a chance to build up, but in an aquarium this is much more of a problem.

2. Bacteria then converts the ammonia into nitrite which is less toxic than ammonia.

3. Other beneficial bacteria then convert the nitrite (NO2) into nitrate (NO3). Nitrate is again less toxic than nitrite and readily absorbed by plants which use it for growth, this build up of nitrates is a common cause for excessive algal growth. Then to complete the cycle the plants decay or are eaten by fish and the whole cycle begins again.

Now you can see how the nitrogen cycle plays a crucial role in the marine aquarium and is the cause of one of the major disasters that can befall a new aquarium; when it is not cycled correctly and the marine life dies because of the water toxicity. This is a very common cause of upset emails to me at www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com

So how do we correctly cycle a marine aquarium? To start with you should be familiar with all the cycling terms: break in cycle, start up cycle, nitrification, biological cycle; its all talking about the same biological process; converting toxic waste into more harmless plant food by beneficial bacteria.

The most important time to do this is when you are first setting up your aquarium, it usually takes around 2 weeks or longer depending on how fast the bacteria colonise your aquarium at each stage of the cycle during this process you will need to test your water using a test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and log your readings. Whatever chemical has the highest concentration will tell you at what phase the aquarium is in. I do not recommend you put any fish in until the cycling is complete, as they will get stressed and can die. The best way to initiate the cycle is with live rock (be sure to check out my live rock post), which will contain the beneficial bacteria and decaying organic matter to provide the ammonium source and kick off the cycle. In the first few days ammonium levels will rise rapidly as the bacteria multiply and begin to convert it, this is the most stressful phase for marine life.  Once the bacterial colony has established the ammonium level will peak and begin to decline to zero as the bacteria convert it to nitrite. Now nitrite levels will rise which again is stressful to fish, the second stage bacterial colonies will multiply and begin to start converting nitrite to nitrate, nitrite can take a good week or so to reach its peak, then it will start to drop and nitrate becomes detectable. Now the 1st and 2nd stage bacteria have reached the correct density to keep up with the ammonia released into the water, now the tank is fully cycled and you can begin to slowly stock up your marine aquarium (once tests confirm zero ammonia and nitrite levels). And finally to avoid excess nitrates are why we conduct a twice monthly 20% water change as part of a regular maintenance routine.

For more crucial saltwater aquarium tips and tricks check out my ebook “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates”