# Marine Aquariums > Saltwater Beginner's >  How to setup.

## Reddevil

Found this on my travels, hope you find it useful.


 This is for anyone interested in learning how to set up a saltwater  aquarium.  Starting a saltwater aquarium doesn't have to be difficult.   It just takes some effort on your part to learn about and research the  necessary topics in order to have a good saltwater setup. 
*What do I need to start a saltwater aquarium?*
Well, for the type of saltwater fish tank setup (marine aquarium)  described in this article you will need the following equipment: AquariumAquarium Photo Background or Paint the background - see Aquarium Aquascape  Design for more info on painting the tank background.Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coralLive RockSaltwater MixSaltwater Hydrometer or even better a refractometerAquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate  amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical  filter or activated carbon, etc.)Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if  you get a filter)Multiple Powerheads (2 or 3)Heater - be sure to get one large enough for the size tank you're  gettingProtein Skimmer  - See the equipment reviews section for protein skimmer reviewsSaltwater  test kit(s) to test water parameters and monitor the infamous  aquarium nitrogen cycleSaltwater fish foodAquarium vacuumFish netRubber kitchen glovesAquarium Glass Scrubber or make your own DIY Algae ScraperTwo, clean, never used before, 5-gallon bucketsAquarium thermometerBrush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning  the live rockQuarantine Tank for acclimating new arrivals and monitoring for  signs of fish  diseasePower StripOptional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or  RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water. *Realize the responsibility, time and costs involved*
A saltwater  aquarium setup is just like having a dog or a cat when it comes to  the amount of effort on your part.  In order to have a successfully  setup saltwater aquarium you will have to work at it.  On a daily basis  you will need to feed your saltwater fish and monitor the water  parameters (temperature, nitrates, etc) and some of the aquarium  equipment on your saltwater setup.  Once a week, or at most once every  month, you will need to perform some kind of aquarium maintenance  on your fish tank.  Most of the time you will be performing water  changes and water quality testing.  
Cost is a very serious  factor.  Take the list above and research the prices of the various  equipment needed to setup a saltwater fish tank.  You will soon realize  that a saltwater aquarium can cost significantly more to purchase than a  freshwater  aquarium setup.  Not to mention that saltwater fish are usually more  expensive that their freshwater counterparts.
 You also need to understand that setting up a saltwater aquarium takes  time.  It often takes 4 to 8 weeks before you can add any marine fish  safely to your marine aquarium setup.  
*Read, read and then read some more*
 There are many great  saltwater books out there and we've reviewed a few of them.  Some of the  better saltwater books are:

 The  Conscientious Marine Aquarist,
The  Complete Book of the Marine Aquarium,
Saltwater  Aquariums for Dummies,
Reef Secrets,
Simple  Guide to Mini-Reef Aquariums,
Complete  Encyclopedia of the Saltwater Aquarium,
Marine  Fishes, 500 Essential to Know Aquarium Species, and
The New  Marine Aquarium. 
  There is also a ton of information online on saltwater fish.  Do  yourself a huge favor by reading as much as you can before you invest  any money in your aquarium equipment and fish.  You'll be glad you did.   To get a general idea of how much it costs to setup a saltwater  aquarium, check out the Freshwater vs.  Saltwater Aquarium page for more info.
*Decide on an aquarium size and location*
  It's a good idea to  know what kind of saltwater fish you want to keep before you purchase  your aquarium.  Do a lot of research on the various types of marine fish  to determine which fish you would like to get.  Some marine fish only  grow to be an inch or two, whereas other types can grow to 12 or 18  inches!    Knowing what kind of marine fish you want will help you  decide the size of the aquarium they will need.  Many books stress that  you shouldn't get started in the saltwater hobby unless you have at  least a 40 gallon.  But if you've done your research and thoroughly  prepared, there is no reason why you can't start with a smaller tank.   Be warned, a smaller tank will pose more challenges and will force you  to perform more frequent water testing and maintenance.
 You will want to place your aquarium in an area where the light and  temperature of the tank won't be affected    by external sources such as  windows and heater vents.  You will also want to place your aquarium on a  stand that will be able to hold its total weight.  A good rule of thumb  for determining the total weight of a full aquarium is 10 pounds per  gallon of water.  For example, a 55-gallon tank will weigh approximately  550 pounds when filled with *water only*!  You also have to  account for the total amount of live rock, sand and equipment.

 *Buy your aquarium and equipment*
  Now is the time to decide on  the type of filtration you will want to use when you setup your  saltwater aquarium and the type of protein skimmer.  We do not recommend  using an undergravel filter.  An undergravel filter is not needed and  will only cause you headaches down the road.  Since we will be using  live rock as our biological filter, you really only need a modest filter  for the mechanical and chemical filtration.  Don't skimp on the protein  skimmer.  After the live rock, the protein skimmer is probably the  next most important piece of equipment.  When it comes to protein  skimmers you really do get what you pay for.  We have posted a few protein  skimmer reviews and there are many more out there.  Listed below are  skimmers that we have reviewed: 
 AquaC  Remora Protein Skimmer - *Very good
Tunze  Nano Protein Skimmer - *Very good
Red Sea  Prizm Protein Skimmer - *Ok, but needs frequent adjustments
Fission  Nano Protein Skimmer - *Don't waste your money
Visi-Jet-PS Protein  Skimmer - *Don't waste your money 
  You will also need to purchase a heater capable of heating the aquarium  size you have. 
Get the live rock, sand and a power strip.  Try to get 1 to 2  pounds of live rock per aquarium gallon.  One rule of thumb for the  amount of sand that you will need is about 1/2 to 1 pound of sand per  gallon of water.  Don't use sandbox or playground sand because it can  have various unknown particles that may be harmful to your fish.  Get  either live sand or an aragonite based sand (from caribsea) or crushed  coral.
*Set up your aquarium, stand and equipment*
  Wash out your tank  with water only!  Do not use soap or detergents.  Soap residue left  behind will be harmful for your saltwater fish.  Smoke test your  aquarium by filling it with fresh water and check for leaks.  If it  passes the leak test, drain the fresh water from the aquarium. 
 Affix your background at this time.  Be sure to use tape all across the  top back of the background to prevent any salt creep from getting in  between the background and tank glass.  Alternatively, you can also  paint the back tank glass (paint the outside back, not the inside).   Painting the back glass can be better than using a background because  you won't have to worry about salt creep making its way in between your  aquarium background and the back glass.  For marine tanks, a black  background can help the fish colors stand out more.  Deep blue is  another popular color choice and it can help create the illusion of  depth.  After painting, let the tank sit for a day or so to allow the  paint to dry. 
 Install your heater, hook up your filter, protein skimmer and any other  equipment you have and be sure to use a drip loop on all of the power  cords.  For more safety tips, read the aquarium  electrical safety article. *Don't plug in anything yet!*
*Add pre-mixed saltwater to the aquarium*
  All of the marine  salt mixes out there are made slightly differently.  There is much  debate as to which salt mix is the best.  Here is a comparison on some of the available saltwater  mixes.  Unless you're considering a reef tank, most of the commonly  available mixes should serve you fine.  You'll soon develop a salt mix  preference after you've worked with them for a while. 
 Use a clean 5-gallon bucket to mix the saltwater.  First fill the bucket  and then remove the chlorine and chloramine.  Use something like Tetra  AquaSafe for Aquariums.  Read the directions on the salt mix package  carefully and then add the salt mix slowly to room temperature water.   Stir it well and test it with your hydrometer or refractometer.  Once  you get a specific  gravity reading between 1.021 and 1.024 you can add the saltwater  to your aquarium.  Repeat this process until you have filled your tank.   If you have a large aquarium you can mix the salt in the tank.  Mixing  in the tank can be more difficult and messy, so just be sure that you  have thoroughly dissolved all of the salt mix before using the  hydrometer. 
Turn on the aquarium and let the water circulate for a  day or two.
*Cure the live rock*

   Live rock is probably going to be the greatest expense with the  initial setup of a saltwater aquarium.  For a reef tank setup it may be  the aquarium  lighting.  For this reason, you are probably going to treat your  live rock like gold once you get it.  However, even though it can cost a  lot of money, it will probably end up saving you money (in fish)  because it is the best form of biological filtration.  The curing  process can last anywhere from 1 week to 2 months or more depending on  the shape the rock is in when you get it.
 Drain some of the  aquarium water and then place your live rock in the tank. Try to place  it in the middle of the tank and aim the powerheads (you should have 2  or 3) at the live rock.  Placing the live rock in the middle of the tank  will allow you to siphon up the debris that the powerheads will be  blowing off. 
 Every few days turn off the power to the tank so you can perform live  rock maintenance.  Use some new rubber kitchen type gloves while doing  this to protect your hands and the rock.  You will need to scrub the  live rock with a brush that has plastic bristles (old tooth brush) to  remove any obviously dead or dying organisms.  You can do this directly  in the tank.  Siphon up the debris and then refill with pre-mixed  saltwater.  The day before you perform the live rock maintenance get  your saltwater ready.  If you have a smaller tank you can use a couple  of 5-gallon buckets for this purpose.  If you have a larger tank you may  want to invest in a large rubber trash can for pre-mixing your  saltwater.  Whatever you use, you will need to place a powerhead and a  heater in the pre-mix container so that the mix dissolves correctly.   Test your water throughout the curing process to determine if the tank  is cycling. 
During the curing process your tank may smell pretty bad and a  good indication that your live rock is cured is when it no longer smells  bad but more like the ocean.  Use your test kits to verify that the  tank has indeed cycled.  You should have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and some  sort of reading on the nitrates.
*Add your substrate*
  First, drain some of the saltwater in  your aquarium to allow for the sand you're about to add and turn off the  power to the tank.  We'll use the 5-gallon bucket to clean the sand.   Use the 5-gallon bucket to pre-mix about 2 gallons of saltwater.  Add  your sand to the bucket and then stir.  This will allow some of the dust  and dirt to rise so you can then siphon it off.  Drain some of the  saltwater from the bucket before adding your substrate.  Use a plastic  cup, ladle or something similar to add the freshly cleaned substrate to  your aquarium.  Use one of your powerheads to blow off any sand that  gets on your live rock during this process.
*Allow the tank to settle for a few days*
Monitor your water  parameters closely during this time.  Check the salinity or specific  gravity, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and carbonate hardness levels and  correct as necessary.  Ideally, you want the following readings for  your saltwater tests before you start adding fish to your saltwater  aquarium setup: temperature: 75°F - 80°F (24°C - 27°C)specific gravity: 1.020 - 1.024pH: 8.0 - 8.4ammonia: 0nitrite: 0nitrate: 20 ppm or less (especially for invertebrates)carbonate hardness: 7-10 dKH*Slowly add saltwater fish after the tank has cycled*
I can't stress enough the need to use a quarantine tank for any new  marine fish.  You are playing a game that you will eventually lose by  adding fish directly into the main tank.  For more information on using a  quarantine tank, please read How To Setup A  Quarantine Tank. Only add one or two saltwater fish at a time.  Only adding a couple  saltwater fish at a time gives your filtration system the time needed to  take on the increased biological load that the new fish introduce.   When bringing home new saltwater fish, the acclimation process is a  little more involved.  Dump the bag contents (fish and water) into a  clean 5-gallon bucket and then add about 1 cup of aquarium water to the 5  gallon bucket every 10 minutes.  Continue to add 1 cup of aquarium  water to the 5-gallon bucket every 10 minutes.  After an hour or so your  marine fish or invertebrate should be ready to add to the aquarium (qt  tank).  Following this more involved acclimation process will help  reduce the amount of stress imposed on the saltwater fish.  Stressed  fish often leads to dead fish!  Don't feed your saltwater fish on the  first day.  They probably wouldn't eat any food on the first day anyway.   Let them get acquainted with their new home.
*Perform Regular Aquarium Maintenance.*
Be prepared to spend some time every day to monitor the temperature and  salinity levels on your newly setup marine aquarium.  You will also need  to spend some time once a month to clean your tank and change out some  of the saltwater.  Try to change 20% of the saltwater in a given month.   This could work out to doing small 5% water changes once a week.   Performing regular small water changes will reduce the nitrate levels,  replenish elements that have been used up and skimmed off and keep your  saltwater fish happy and healthy.  Remember to never add freshly mixed  saltwater to your aquarium because it is fairly caustic freshly mixed.   Mix it up the day before you will be doing maintenance.

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