How to Maintain Your Saltwater Aquarium

This isn't so bad if you do it regularly.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Dechlorinated water
• Siphon

1. Check your tank daily to make sure none of the fish are dead or dying.

2. Observe them for a few minutes, checking each fish. This will familiarize you with their behavior, and will make it easier for you to notice if one is sick.

3. Feed your fish every three days. Be sure to vary their diet.

4. Top off the evaporated water with dechlorinated water and add calcium.

5. Add iodine twice a week.

6. Scrape the algae from the tank walls weekly.

7. Schedule a weekly chore: Once a week remove 10 to 15 percent of the tank water and replace it with fresh dechlorinated water. This helps dilute unwanted chemicals in the tank. It also helps keep the tank's chemistry close to that of your own tap water. This means that you'll have fewer problems if you ever need to do an emergency water change.

8. Siphon the debris from the gravel when you change the water.

9. Test the water every two weeks. Wait at least a day after a water change. Check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, pH levels and copper if you have invertebrates.

10. Check the filter pads every two weeks. Clean or replace them as necessary.

11. Test the alkalinity monthly.

12. Do a water change of 25 percent once a month.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep track of your chemicals and maintenance schedule.
• Keep extra salt mix and dechlorinated water handy for emergency water changes.

[CaseyCarlton]

on 2/10/2009 Tricky salt water tanks. Thanks for the tips. 5 stars

[Russman]

on 10/30/2008 what will happen if i use tap water to start my saltwater aquarium, instead of dechlorinated or R/O water?

[Saimon]

on 6/25/2008 Usually I use the best file searcher- http://megaupload.name/

[staplesou]

on 11/4/2007 what kind of algae looks brown in color and seems like seaweed? it is tenacious to live rock and fake plants. This is a saltwater aquarium that I'm trying to get healthy and clean. What should I do?

[lauragorman64]

on 11/3/2007 i have an aquarium that only a hermit crab lives in. I add fresh water but the salt keeps building up. It was a saltwater one to start with because we had a lion fish in it but he died. I don't want to kill my hermit crab but i want to know how to keep him healthy and the 46 gal. aquarium clean. thanks