How to Run a Salt Water Fish Tank

Fish keeping is enjoyable, but saltwater fish keeping is even more fun. If you are a beginner, then running a saltwater tank can be difficult. But, with the right resources, the right information and enough help, success can be achieved.

Things You'll Need

  • Aquarium
  • Salt
  • Water
  • Fish
  • Fish net
  • Bucket
  • Water filter
  • Light fixture
  • Thermometer
  • Water heater
  • Water testing kit
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Instructions

    • 1

      Make sure that you are running a simple but efficient tank. The essentials are: a water filter, aquarium salt, a thermometer, a water heater, a water test kit and a light fixture. Usually small decorations like aquarium gravel, rocks or even coral can be useful but some of these, coral in particular, need extra attention.

    • 2

      Set up a cleaning schedule. It is not enough to ensure that everything is running well, you also have to make sure that everything is clean enough. A completely sterile aquarium is a death trap for your fish. Fish need bacteria to survive. But an overly dirty aquarium can also be deadly. Too much biological life and the aquarium is overpopulated and doomed.

    • 3

      Change the water constantly. A weekly water change of about 75% of the water is a good habit to form. If you remove all of the water and put 100% clean water, then you run the risk of eliminating helpful bacteria. If you remove only a small percentage of the water, then you run the risk of not eliminating enough. In fish keeping, the name of the game is balance.

    • 4

      Change the filter. It is important that you change out the filter in your water filter at least once every 5 to 6 months. It is a good practice to rinse the filter off every, or every other time that you do a water change.

    • 5

      Clean the gravel. If you have gravel, soil or sand on the bottom of your tank, then make sure that every other week or every third week you rinse some of it. You can either take out some of the sediment or just put a syphon down into them and clean them off. The syphon is the easiest option and you can use it every time you make a water change.

    • 6

      Clean the glass. Algae is probably the fastest growing bacteria in an aquarium. It grows on plants, accessories and the glass sides. Make sure that you clean it off as often as possible. It isn't necessary to clean the glass every time you see some algae on it. But, if you clean it once a week, even when there isn't anything visible, you will never have a hard time keeping the aquarium clean.