mledford

1. FIND OUT WHAT YOU LIKE. Know what you like and what you want to keep. Do you like fish or coral? What do you want your tank to be mostly of? This one step will make everything else much easier. It will allow you to choose the right size aquarium, the right type of set-up, and will allow you to buy the right equipment in order to keep everything that you want. Many things in the saltwater hobby are not compatible, so, knowing what you want will allow you to set up a tank that gives you the things you want to keep the most.

2. GET A GOOD BOOK TO EXPLAIN THE BASICS. Once you know whether you want your tank to be centered around fish or corals, pick up a book to get yourself acquainted with all that is the saltwater hobby. This does not mean that you need to be an expert after reading the book, but you should know the basic terms such as protein skimmer, live rock, flow, lights, etc. All of this can be very overwhelming when you know nothing about saltwater. A good book will give you a little preview of what you are getting into. Some books that are very worthwhile are “The Conscientious Marine Aquarist” by Robert Fenner, “Aquarium Corals” by Eric Borneman, or “The New Marine Aquarium” by Michael S. Paletta.

3. SAVE A LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS FOR QUICK REFERRAL. There are many abbreviations in this hobby. Seeing SPS, FOWLR, PC, QT, LFS, and MH all over the place can get confusing. Have a list available so that you can refer to it until you learn what all of the acronyms mean.

AC=Activated Carbon, or Alternating Current
AFM=Aquarium Fish Monthly, magazine
ALK=Alkalinity, measure of buffering capacity of water
BB=Bulletin Board
BOD=Biological oxygen demand
BTA=Bubble Tip Anemone
BTW=By the way
Ca=Calcium
CaCl2=Calcium chloride
CaCO3=Calcium carbonate
Ca(OH)2=Calcium hydroxide
CBS=Coral Banded Shrimp
CC=Counter current(when referring to skimmers)
CC also = Crushed Coral
CCS = Chocolate Chip Star
Cl=Chlorine
CO2=Carbon dioxide
CO3=Carbonate
CTA=Cellulose triacetate, type of RO membrane
Cu=Copper
CYANO=Cyanobacteria
DC=Direct current
DD=Downdraft, type of protein skimmer
DI=Deionisation, type of water purification
DIY=Do it yourself
dKH=Degrees of carbonate hardness, measure of alkalinity
DO=Dissolved oxygen
DOC=Dissolved organic compound
DSB=Deep sand bed
FAMA=Freshwater and Marine Aquaria, magazine
Fe=Iron
FO=Fish only, type of marine aquarium
FOWLR=Fish only with Live Rock
FW=Freshwater
FWIW= For What Its Worth
FYI=For your information
GAC=Granular Activated Carbon
GAL=Gallon
GBR=Great Barrier Reef
GPH=Gallons per hour
GSP=Green Star Polyps
HCO3=Hydrogen carbonate
HO=High output fluorescent light
HT=Hospital Tank
HTH=Hope this helps
HOT=Hang On Tank
HYPO=Hyposalinity
I=Iodide
I2=Iodine
ID=Identity
IE=Internet Explorer, WWW browser
IME=In my experience
IMHO=In my humble/honest opinion
IMO=In my opinion
IO3=Iodate
IR=Infrared, type of light with longer wavelength than visible light
ISP=Internet service provider
jk=Just kidding
KALK=Kalkwasser, German for calcium hydroxide solution or limewater
KI=Potassium iodide
LFS=Local fish store
LHS=Local hardware store
LOL=Laughing out loud, or Lots of Luck
LPH=Litres per hour
LPS=Large polyped Scleractinian (stoney) coral OR
LPS=Local Pet Shop
LR=Live rock
LS=Live Sand
LT=Litre
M2=Maracyn Two for saltwater fish which is an antibiotic medication
MACNA=Marine Aquaria Conference of North America, held annually
MASNA=Marine Aquarium Society of North America
MEQ/L=Milli-equivalents per litre, measure of alkalinity
Mg=Magnesium
MG/L=Milligrams per litre
MH=Metal halide, lighting
MJ = Maxijet powerhead
MO=Mail order
Mod=Bulletin Board moderator
Na=Sodium
NaCO3=Sodium carbonate
NaOH=Sodium hydroxide
NH3=Ammonia
NH4=Ammonium
NNR=Natural nitrate reduction, reef setup technique
NO=Normal output fluorescent light
NO2=NitrIte
NO3=NitrAte
NSW=Natural seawater
O2=Oxygen
ORP=Oxidative redox potential
PBT=Powder Blue Tang
PC=Power compact, high intensity fluorescent light
pH=Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, equal to -log[H+], (7 acidic, =7 neutral,)7 basic
PH=Powerhead, water circulator
PIA = Pain in the Backside(or similar location)
PLS/PLZ=Please
PO4=Phosphate
QT=Quarantine Tank
OT also=Off Topic
PPM=Parts per million, equivalent to mg/l (milligrams per litre)
PVC=Poly vinyl chloride, used for piping/plumbing
RO=Reverse osmosis, type of water purification
RO/DI=Reverse osmosis, followed by deionisation, type of water purification
ROFL=Rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLOL=Rolling on the floor laughing out loud
ROTFL=Rolling on the floor laughing
ROTFLMAO=Rolling on the floor laughing my *** off
RTN=Rapid tissue necrosis
RUGF=Reverse flow undergravel filter
SAL=Salinity
SG=Specific gravity
SHO=Super high output fluorescent light, equivalent to power compact fluorescent
Si=Silicon
SiO2=Silicon dioxide
SPS=Small polyped Scleractinian (stoney) coral
Sr=Strontium
SW=Saltwater/seawater
TDS= Total Dissolved Solids
TFC=Thin film composite, type of RO membrane
TIA= thanks in advance
TY=Thank You
TTYL= talk to you later
UGF=Under gravel filter
UV=Ultra violet, type of light/ultra violet sterilizer
VHO=Very high output fluorescent light
W=Watts
WMC=Western Marine Conference, United States
WTB=Want to Buy

4. BE PREPARED TO SPEND MONEY. Get it in your mind that you are going to spend a substantial amount of money setting up your saltwater aquarium. If you go into this hobby thinking that it is an inexpensive one, you will be lying to yourself, and ultimately, will make your experience a very unhappy one when you try to cut corners and save money. The only way you are truly going to save any money is if you look for used equipments on classified sections of message boards, online, or in the newspaper. Any other way you try to save money, such as getting a less effective piece of equipment, will do only negative for you and your tank. Get the best you can afford if you really want to do this right.

5. DO NOT SPEND MONEY WITHOUT SHOPPING AROUND. With these four things done, now you are ready to purchase your saltwater aquarium. Before doing this, compare prices of some of your local stores. You may think that they are all around the same price, but this could not be any farther from the truth. There is sometimes a huge difference in price from shop to shop. If you are going to buy your equipment new (and not used), comparing prices is an absolute necessity. You will see a huge difference in prices and this will save you greatly. Take all of those savings and put it towards good equipment.

6. GET THE BIGGEST TANK YOU AND YOUR WALLET CAN AFFORD. Now that you have found a store that has reasonable prices, you are ready to buy your tank. Buy the absolute biggest tank that you can afford. It may seem like a lot of work, but quite the contrary, the bigger the tank, the easier it is to keep. With a bigger tank, you are allowed much more room for error. In a smaller tank, when one thing goes wrong, it can greatly impact the water quality because there is less water to make a change in.

7. DO NOT SKIMP ON FILTRATION. There are many ways to filter a saltwater tank. Many of them work, but some of them work much better than others. For example, when going with a larger tank, a sump or wet/dry is an absolute must. If planning a reef tank, a sump with a refugium is your best bet. If it is just going to be fish with live rock, a wet/dry will do just fine.

8. NATURAL IS ALWAYS BETTER. Setting your tank up naturally is always better. A sump with a refugium, live rock, and sand replicates how the ocean operates. This is what you want to achieve. The ocean has been there for millions of years. It must work well. Not that the unnatural way is bad (wet/dry with bio balls), but it will definitely be more work (cleaning the bio balls, cleaning ornaments, etc.).

9. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY ON A CHEAP PROTEIN SKIMMER. There are dozens of protein skimmers on the market. Do yourself a favor and get a good protein skimmer right from the start. Avoid Seaclones, Red Sea Berlin skimmers, Visi-Jets, and all of the other junky skimmers on the market. Coralife and AquaC are good brands for smaller tanks, while ETSS, GSM, Deltec, and EuroReef are all great bands for larger tanks. (And yes, there are tons of people who use the “cheap ones” but you need to know how to adjust it and modify it if it is going to work decently. Save yourself the headaches.)

10. FLOW IS KEY IN KEEPING A HEALTHY TANK. Having adequate amounts of flow in your tank will largely determine how clean your tank stays. If you do not have enough flow to keep the water movement and to prevent dead spots, you will deal with algae issues, detritus and debris build-up, and nitrate issues. Shoot for at least 15 times the turnover of your tank volume per hour, but preferably, 20 times. This means that if you have a 55 gallon aquarium, you want to be turning it over 55 times 20, which equals 1100 gallons per hour coming from your filter, powerheads, skimmer, etc. Anyone with a larger tank or who does not like the look of powerheads should consider running a closed loop (which is very simple to set up).

11. PICK YOUR SUBSTRATE WISELY. There are a few different types of substrates out there. Crushed coral is the thickest, followed by finer aragonite, and then very thin sand. The type of tank you have will determine what kind of substrate you will need. If you are planning a reef aquarium, you want a fine substrate so that you can get tons of critters to sift through it and keep it clean. However, if you are planning an aggressive fish tank, you want something more on the coarse side so that you are able to keep it clean on a weekly basis. In an aggressive tank, you will not be able to rely on other animals to keep the substrate clean. This will be your job, as the aggressive fish will eat your cleaners.

12. BUY TWO SMALLER HEATERS INSTEAD OF ONE LARGER ONE. Take the size of your aquarium (in gallons), and multiply that by five. This is how much wattage you need in heaters. If you need 600 watts in heating, it is always much better to go with (2) 300 watt heaters as opposed to (1) 600 watt heater. This is due to the fact that if one heater fails, you still have the other to back you up. Also, if one heater sticks on, you will only have 300 watts of heat pumping consistently until the problem is realized, and not 600 watts.

13. OWN A REFRACTOMETER. This is an absolute must. Simply put, hydometers are an inaccurate tool. Don’t buy a hydrometer. Refractometers only cost $30 more than a hydrometer and unlike hydrometers, a refractometer will always be accurate and will never need to be replaced. You can find a great refractometer, new, for $40. Invest in one when you begin your tank.

14. SET UP A QUARANTINE TANK AND USE IT. Not using a quarantine tank is a sure way to introduce disease and parasites into your aquarium. You are either going to set up a quarantine tank when you begin your tank and prevent disease from entering, or you will set one up when you notice that you have a parasite in the tank. By quarantining all new introductions (fish, inverts, live rock), you will not have to worry about any kind of parasite in your display. A large tank is not necessary unless you plan on keeping very large fish. Usually, a 10 to 20 gallon tank will work just fine. Put a small hang-on power filter on the back, a little heater, and some fake decorations, and you have yourself a very simple, yet effective quarantine tank for $50-$70. That’s a small price to pay to greatly protect your animals and aquarium. And what’s better is this – you do not need to keep it running 24/7. Use it when you need it. Put a big block sponge in your sump or wet/dry to accumulate biological bacteria. Everytime you get a new animal for your tank, take the block sponge out of your tank and put it in your quarantine tank. This will move enough biological bacteria from your display to your quarantine in order to prevent disease. NOTE: Corals do not need to be quarantined UNLESS they are kept in tanks or a system that also has fish in it. If there is fish in the system, they too can carry a parasite with them.

15. QUARANTINE ALL NEW ADDITIONS FOR NO SHORTER THAN THREE WEEKS. While we are on the subject of quarantine, make sure that everything gets at least a three week quarantine. Keep a close eye on fish while they are in quarantine. If you notice any sign of disease, treat them appropriately and immediately. As for quarantining inverts and corals, no observation is needed. Though inverts and corals can carry a disease on their shell or rock, parasites cannot host an invert or coral. Thus, after three weeks, the parasite will die off without a host.

16. REEF SAFE MEDICATIONS DO NOT WORK AS ADVERTISED. DO NOT BELIEVE THE GIMMICKS. Marketed “reef safe” medications do not always “work”. There are many times when people have reported that they have actually hurt more than things than they have helped. There are even some cases where they have wiped out a person’s entire tank. When in doubt, do not take the “convenient” or easy way out.

17. MORE LIGHTING IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN NOT ENOUGH. If you plan to have corals, clams, anemones, etc., you will need very good lighting. Always get more than enough. If you try to get away with “just enough” light, your tank will show it. Small polyp stony (SPS) corals and clams NEED metal halide lighting, as do many anemones. Bite the bullet when setting the tank up and spend the extra few hundred dollars for the higher end lighting if this is what you like or plan to keep. It will pay off in the long run.

18. A CHILLER MAY BE NECESSARY. This one relates to tip 17. If you get high-end, expensive lighting, you may need a chiller. Metal halide lights give off some heat. You do not want your tank fluctuating wildly every day. Anything more than a couple degree fluctuation will qualify you for a chiller. If the tank is going in a warm area in the house, a chiller needs to be in your budget.

19. UV STERILIZERS ARE NOT NECESSARY. You do not need a UV sterilizer on your tank. Though they do help in making the tank crystal clear and somewhat help kill parasites, your tank can be just as successful without a UV. UV sterilizers do not have the value of a good protein skimmer, RO unit, live rock, or water flow. The aforementioned things are essential. UV sterilizers are just very helpful.


20. AIR BUBBLES ARE BAD FOR A SALTWATER TANK. This means that you want to make sure your sump has baffles to prevent bubbles, and you definitely do not want any air stones in your marine aquarium – whether it be just fish or reef. Air bubbles cause problems to fish and corals alike. The negatives of an air stone/bubbler are: air can get lodged in a fishes gills, air stones do not give you gallon per hour turns - like powerheads do, can cause bubble algae (air bubbles all over your live rock - not the bubble algae emerald crabs eat), can cause stress to the fish (popeye), cause salt creep which in turn causes irregular salinity/SG, and when bubbles pop the water can get on your lights causing the life off your lights to decline rapidly. Some periodic air bubbles are not harmful, but constant ones are.

21. WHEN YOU GO TO FILL THE TANK, FILL IT WITH TAP WATER FIRST TO PERFORM A LEAK TEST. This is always a good thing to do so that you can make sure the tank does not have any cracks before you completely set it up. Get the tank set-up and let it run with the filter for a little while to make sure there are no issues. I recommend that you fill it with tap only so that you do not waste your RO water for this step. Don’t worry, the tap will not hurt anything. You are only draining it when you are done letting it run, anyway.

22. USE RO OR RO/DI IN YOUR TANK. Reverse Osmosis, or Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized, are the two purest types of water. You can either buy RO water at a grocery store, local fish store, or Wal-Mart, or you can buy your own unit to make your own water at home. Your average unit will cost about $180-$200 and if you have a larger tank, it will pay for itself in less than a year. Most stores charge 50 cents to a dollar per gallon of RO.

23. ALWAYS PREMIX WATER BEFORE ADDING IT TO YOUR TANK. You never want to just mix water with salt right on the spot and just add it to your tank (except for just setting it up – since nothing is in the tank). You need to premix it because if you do not, you may be drastically changing the water levels and making the water very unstable. Always premix the water and make sure the salt level and temperature is exactly where it should be before adding it to your tank.

24. LIVE ROCK IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN A SALTWATER TANK. I strongly do not suggest you skip this step. There are not many that I would stress very strongly, but this is definitely one of them. Many times, people say, ‘What does live rock do?’ The better question is, ‘What does live rock NOT do?’ Live rock serves as the best biological filter, it serves as a natural habit for the fish to hide, swim and sleep in, and allows many grazer fish an excellent place to pick on all day long. If you are worried that you do not have the money for all the live rock you will need, buy a bunch of base rock to serve as a base. Base rock is much cheaper and will become live if it is placed in a tank with live rock. It will become covered in coralline algae (good algae) and you will not even know it was base rock. I do not however recommend using many of the freshwater rocks (such as lava or slate rock) since they are inert in a saltwater aquarium.

25. STRONGLY CONSIDER A REFUGIUM FOR YOUR AQUARIUM. Refugiums can be fantastic and helpful tools to have for your tank. A refugium is a tank where you can house macro algaes and allow them to grow in order to remove excess nutrients from your system. They can greatly help reduce nitrates and phosphates and are very easy to set-up. Refugiums are also great places for copepods and other critters to grow without the threat of being eaten.

26. WHEN PLACING LIVE ROCK IN YOUR TANK, DO NOT PLACE IT ON TOP OF SUBSTRATE. Always place live rock right on the bare glass of your tank. This is so that if you ever get a fish that digs in the gravel (almost all gobies, some eels), you do not have a landslide in the process of the fish digging away.

27. OWN YOUR OWN TEST KITS AND KNOW WHAT YOUR WATER LEVELS SHOULD BE. Having your own test kits is important so that you can check your water levels as much and at any time that you want. If you have a problem with your tank at 2 in the morning, you can test it right then and there and know exactly what is going on. You will also know how old the test kits are (for accuracy reasons – since test kits expire after a year). The basic kits you should own are pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Once the tank is up and going, you will also need alkalinity and calcium, and possibly magnesium and phosphates later on. (The latter two are not always needed). Copper is only needed if you run copper in a quarantine tank for a diseased fish. Proper water levels are:

Proper water levels:

pH - 8.2 – 8.4
ammonia/nitrite - always 0
nitrate - under 20-30 for fish only, under 10-20 for a reef. Preferably, if possible, 0.
kH - 8-12 dkH, 143-214 ppm, 2.86 - 4.29 meq/l
calcium - 400-460 ppm
magnesium - 1200-1280
salinity 34-36 ppt (refractometer)
specific gravity - 1.025-1.026 (hydrometer)
temperature - 76-82 (stability is more important here)

28. TEST STRIPS ARE NOT ACCURATE. Period. Don’t believe anyone who says that they are. When dealing with something where thousands of dollars are invested, you will definitely want to be accurate.

29. PATIENCE IS KEY WHEN BEGINNING A NEW TANK. Many people try to jump right into the hobby and have fish in after a few days. Do not do this. The more patient you are, the better your tank will be and the less money you will spend. Nothing good, and I mean nothing, comes when you rush into this hobby. This is one of the most important steps on this whole list.

30. DO NOT CYCLE YOUR TANK WITH DAMSELS AND DO NOT ADD FISH UNTIL YOUR CYCLE IS OVER. Cycling your aquarium with damsels does work (I won’t argue that), but there are many reasons why you should not do it. It is unethical. Damsels die for no reason when you use them to cycle your tank. And if they do not die, their gills are burned. On top of that, using damsels is expensive (since you need one for every five gallons), and you will spend a lot of time trying to get them out of your tank once your tank is cycled. You do not want to leave them in there since they are so nasty, and they are terribly fast. Cycling your tank with live rock and/or an uncooked cocktail shrimp is the way to go. You should not add fish to your tank before your cycle is over (ammonia and nitrite have spiked and come down to 0) because the chance of them living is incredibly low.

31. SUPPORT THE GOOD AQUARIUM STORES AND STAY AWAY FROM THE BAD ONES. A knowledgeable, clean, well-kept aquarium shop is a wonderful thing. Support them with your money and loyalty and stand up against the unkempt and unhealthy ones by not going to them. Great, all-around fish stores are very difficult to find. Cling to them when you find them. Too many stores out there constantly have unhealthy fish, poorly kept aquariums, and employees who are only there to sell you something. Be careful when walking into a new store, no matter how much of a recommendation it comes with. Ultimately, the fish you buy there will be going to your aquarium and will be paid for with your money – not the person who recommended the store to you.

32. GET TO KNOW THE STAFF AT YOUR FAVORITE STORES. The easiest way to find out whether a store is a good one or not is to spend some time speaking with the employees. And no, I am not talking about the sixteen year old kid who is scrubbing tanks and bagging fish. I am talking about the stores “experts”, the ones who have been there for three or four years, the managers, the owner. This is how you will tell whether the store is worth coming back to. Ask them friendly questions. Do they have fish tanks at home? How long have they been working there? Likewise, if you get to know these people and have a good relationship with them, if you introduce yourself and exchange names, your experience at the LFS will be ten times greater and you will actually find yourself wanting to go there just to chat with the employees, even if they do not have much in stock at the time.

33. GET TO KNOW THE OPERATIONS AT YOUR FAVORITE STORES. This is next way to determine whether you should return to the new store you just entered. Check out their daily operations. How do they acclimate fish? Do they drip their fish for hours or float the bags for 30 minutes? How often are water changes done? Are they clean with their set-ups, or is everything run on the same filter system? These are the things that will tell you whether their store is a good one or not.

34. THE FIRST THING IN YOUR NEW TANK (ONCE IT IS CYCLED) SHOULD BE A CLEAN-UP CREW. Before any fish enters your tank, you should definitely get a clean-up crew. Once your tank’s ammonia and nitrite spike and come back down to 0, you need to get a beginner clean-up crew to get a lot of the detritus out. A clean-up crew consists of snails, hermit crabs, and maybe a crab or even a shrimp, depending on your nitrate levels. If your nitrate levels are extremely high (above 40), you need to do a water change before ANYTHING into the tank.

35. BEFORE YOU PICK YOUR FIRST FISH, READ MY GUIDE OF WHICH FISH TO ABSOLUTELY AVOID. I highly recommend reading my list, as I outline a large list of fish that you should not buy and the reason why this animal would not do well in your aquarium. It will help you avoid many regrettable decisions at the LFS.

Experienced Marine Fish List

-Moorish Idol - Idols have very poor survival because they are very sensitive to water quality, need very large tanks with a lot of growth, and have a specialized diet (among other things.



-Parrotfish - Parrotfish need an EXTREMELY large amount of water to swim in, as this is a fish that swims miles in a single day. Also, parrotfish have a specialized diet that most aquarists cannot meet for them. On top of that, most species grow much too large for aquariums and are best suited for public aquariums or left in the ocean.

-Batfish - Batfish are extremely sensitive fish and do not ship well at all. The one exception is the orbicularis. This is a moderately hardy fish, however, this fish grows to be extremely tall. A 200 gallon tank is the absolute minimum for this fish.

-Most butterflies - Most butterflies that are sold in fish stores have a very poor track record for survival in captivitiy. They usually have specialized diets, and they are ultra-sensitive to poor water. However, there are a good number of species that do very well in aquariums. Just make sure you research which species you get before you purchase it.

-Pipefish - Pipefish are a poor choice for aquarium inhabitants because they eat extremely slow. They are, however, a good choice for seahorse aquariums, because they have similiar feeding habits to seahorses.

-Panther grouper - Panther groupers should not be kept because they grow extremely large (26 inches). Though there are other groupers that grow just as large as this one, this is the most common species, so I decided to just focus on this one. Just like the butterfly, make sure you research which species of grouper you are buying before you buy it. Panther groupers, bumble bee groupers, goliath groupers, etc. are all terrible choices for aquariums.

-Pilotfish/Emporer Snapper - Pilotfish and emporer snappers are usually sold at a very small size, but these fish gets 3.5 ft. Definitely not something that anyone can keep in their aquarium.

-Tilefish - Tilefish live very close to the bottom of the ocean, and are not used to the amount of light that our aquariums have. They often stress out when they are under so much light, and are very known to jump out of the aquarium or not begin feeding.

-Orange spotted filefish - This fish should not be kept under any cirumstances. The only thing it eats is acropora polyps.

-Garabaldi damsel - Though this may be one of the nicest looking damsels, it is also a coldwater species (between 50 and 60 degrees), making it a very bad choice for our tropical aquariums.

-Catalina goby - Though this is a beautiful and common fish, it is another cold water species. A cold, chilled aquarium is needed for this fish.

Leopard blenny (Exallias brevis) - This fish needs acropora to live.

-Cleaner wrasse/mimic cleaner wrasse - Though some have been known to be able to keep cleaner wrasse, 8 out of 10 die at the LFS, and then 1 out of that last 2 will die within a few weeks in the home aquarium. This is a fish that is better off left in the ocean because removing it in the high quantity that the trade is could have very damaging effects to the health of the fish in the ocean. Alternatives like neon gobies and cleaner shrimp ae excellent. Mimic cleaner wrasses can actually take chunks of flesh out of your fish, and are highly aggressive since many fish are believed in thinking that they are "true" cleaners. These should be avoided for your fish's well-being.

-Titan Trigger - Besides for the fact that this fish is highly aggressive, it also reaches a length of 30 inches. For that reason, it should not be attempted by the aquarist because one would need a tank of at least 700-1000 gallons.

-Dwarf zebra lionfish - This is not a difficult fish to keep, but one thing should be noted about this guy. If you do not see it eat at the store, do not even give it a second look. Most dwarf zebras fail to eat in the LFS, and die days later. If you find one that is eating as a lion should, it will be fine to add to the aquarium.

-Box/Cowfish - Boxfish and cowfish should not be kept because of their dangers to the aquarium. If harassed or killed, the boxfish/cowfish can release a toxin that would kill everything in the aquarium.

-Regal angelfish, potters angelfish, rock beauty angelfish, Multibarred pygmy angelfish, Peppermint angelfish, Venustus angelfish, Six bar angelfish - These three angelfish ship poorly and refuses to eat most times in the LFS. All are usually considered "expert only" fish. Always make sure it is eating aggressively before even thinking about purchasing this one.

-Atlantic Blue Tang - Another fish that can be kept, however, it should be noted, that most break out with bacterial infections not soon after being in the aquarium. This fish is a schooling fish, and many believe the bacterial infection is caused by a weakened immune system when the fish is removed from the school

-Achilles/Clown Tang - The achilles and clown tangs have been kept by aquarists before, but they are both extremely difficult. There are many other tangs out there that are much better suited for the aquarium.

-Spotted/Oriental Sweetlips - Both of these fish that are commonly sold do terribly in aquariums. They ship very poorly and usually only live 6 to 8 months in the aquarium (at the absolute most) before passing away. Even if you get one to live to be an adult, this fish reaches 24 (spotted) and 34 (oriental) inches and are much too large for home aquariums.

-Banggai Cardinalfish/Neon Gobies These are two species that can potentially do very poorly in the home aqurium, depending on the specimen you choose. Banggai cardinalfish often ship poorly, and do not ever begin eating at the LFS. The good thing is that this fish is easily bred in captivity and tank-bred cardinals do excellently. Neon gobies are the same way. Ocean-caught neon gobies do very poorly, but because they breed so often, tank-bred ones are much more common than wild-caught. Make sure that you get tank-bred neon gobies, and not wild-caught.

-Remora Shark - The Remora Shark is often seen in LFS, but this shark NEEDS to be avoided at all costs. It grows incredibly large and is EXCEEDINGLY aggressive. No remora shark shoud be in anything less than a few thousand gallons to start.

-Pinecone fish - These fish demand a very high price, do not tolerate bright lights whatsoever, and are difficult to get to feed. Only think about adding one if you have a dim tank, and the specimen you are considering is already eating.

Lookdown - Lookdowns grow incredibly large (the size of large dinner plates) and need to be kept in large schools.

-Ribbon eel - This eel has a terrible survival rate in captivity. This is 100% an "expert only" animal.

-Sea Apple - Sea apples, like the boxfish and cowfish, can relase a toxin that kills everything in the aquarium. Not the kind of risk I would be taking with my tank.

-Gonipora/alveopora - Lives for 6 to 8 months in aquarium before dying. Although some claim that they die from an "unknown pathogen", others take a more down to earth approach saying they starve to death. Here is an article to read on the species. (Note: flower pot corals and gonipora are one and the same.

-Crown of thorn starfish - These starfish can cause great pain if touched, and are voracious predators on coral reefs. They are so bad that many scientists on the Great Barrier Reef are attempting to wipe them out.

-Blue Linkia starfish/sand sifting starfish - Linkia starfish are extremely sensitive, need very long/slow acclimations (6+ hours) and both species of starfish need hundreds of pounds of live rock to survive, as they starve to death in small aquariums.

-Harlequin Shrimp - Not a hard animal to keep, but needs to be fed live starfish at least a few times a month to survive. This is the only source of food it will eat.

-Electric flame scallop - This invertebrate is extrmely difficult to keep because it needs to be spot fed on a daily basis. It does not tolerate nitrates, copper, or inadequate levels of either calcium or alkalinity.

-Horseshoe Crab - Though these animals are sold small, they grow to be overwhelmingly large. Definitely not something for the home aquarium.

-Long tentacle plate coral (Heliofungia) - These coral,like the goniopora, do not have a good survival rate in captivity and rarely live longer than a year.

-Spiny Oyster - The spiny oyster is a very interesting animal, but straight from Anthony Calfo and Bob Fenner at Wet Web Media, "there is not much info known/published on them for aquarium use... they are extremely difficult to keep alive and most responsible aquarists leave them in the ocean, or at least don't buy them." Sadly, most spiny oysters live for about 6 months before dying in the aquarium.

-Soapfish/striped grouper - This fish can actually release a toxin into the aquarium when threatened. Like the boxfish, this animal should be avoided because it can potentially kill everything else in the tank if stressed.

-Stonefish/scorpionfish - Those these animals are not difficult to keep, they are HIGHLY dangerous because they can emit quite a painful sting, and expert care is needed if you wish to obtain one.

-Garden eels - This fish is extremely difficult to maintain because they require sandbeds of at least 6 inches, but preferably, much more.

-Clown trigger (juvenile) - In the juvenile stage of their life, clown triggers are nearly impossible to keep, as they have a very high mortality rate. As adults, they are not difficult at all (besides for the fact that they are so aggressive).

-Mandarin Dragonette - Most new hobbyists want these little guys and think they are okay for their tank because they are small but the reality of it is that they almost always starve because they need copepods to survive. The problem there is that it takes 4 to 6 months for them to starve, so most new hobbyists think they are fine when they have been in their tank for 2 months. Avoid these guys until your system is incredibly mature and you have copepods everywhere. A refugium is also preferred so that you have a refuge for the pods to breed and reproduce.

-Cuttlefish and jellyfish - Both of these animals have highly specialized needs and need large aquariums that only house them. I 100% advise everyone to leave these guys for the massive public aquariums. You will not be able to keep them very long. Hundreds and hundreds of gallons is a must just to START these guys.

36. RESEARCH THE NEEDS OF YOUR PROSPECTIVE FISH BEFORE YOU BUY IT, NOT AFTER. Too many times, people see a really nice looking fish and decide that they have to have it for their aquarium. Well, they buy this unknown fish, take it home, and then go to look for information about it only to find that this fish will kill everything in their tank, is not compatible with what they have or want, or is extremely difficult to keep. To avoid all this, refer to my next tip.


37. IF NECESSARY, CARRY A SMALL FISH GUIDE WITH YOU IN THE LFS. If you are the type of person who is an impulse buyer, bring Scott Michael’s fish handbook into all local fish stores with you. Don’t worry – you will not be the only person who does this. Working in fish stores for many years, I have seen a lot of people do this in order to help them make educated decisions. Too many times, there are people who work at local fish stores who just want to sell you something. When asked about the sweetlips, they will tell you that it is a great fish for your aquarium. They will “forgot to tell you” or not know that this fish is really hard to keep and if you successfully keep it, it gets over two feet. Then, when you try to return it, there will either be a no returns policy or they will give you a small portion of your money back in store credit. Most stores do ¼ or 1/3 store credit. To avoid all of this, carry a little handbook with you or ask the store to hold the fish for you until you can go home and research it.

38. BE VERY SELECTIVE WHEN CHOOSING YOUR FISH. After you have determined the fish you want to add to your tank and you find it at the LFS, be very picky before buying it. How does this fish look? Is there any open wounds on it? Is it attentive to you or hiding in a corner? Is it swimming well or does it look like it is struggling? How do the fins look? Are they all torn or are they in good shape? How is it breathing? Is it breathing heavily? When did this fish arrive at the LFS? Did it just cone in or has it been there for a while? After you have gone over all of this, refer to my next tip.

39. ALWAYS WATCH A FISH EAT AT THE LFS BEFORE BUYING IT. This is extremely important. If the fish you are looking at is not interested in eating at all or is spitting out the food that is being offered, do not buy the fish. An easy way to see if the fish is healthy is to watch it eat. If it does not eat, move on or ask the store to hold the fish for you until it begins eating.

40. ONLY ADD ONE FISH AT A TIME. You do not want to put a strain on your biological filter. This will cause a spike in ammonia levels. The only exception to this rule is if you are adding a pair of fish (clowns, fairy wrasses), a school of fish (chromis, anthias to a mature aquarium), or when you are dealing with tangs.

41. PICK UP A VARIETY OF FISH FOODS. I would bet that you would get tired of having pizza every night for dinner. Fish are the same way. Offer them at least 3 or 4 different foods. The best foods are formula frozen foods because they contain a high mix of different sea foods. This is what I would shoot for. Ocean Nutrition makes excellent formula foods (formula 1, formula 2, Very High Protein, angel formula, etc.).



42. PICK UP SOME GARLIC AND VITAMINS TO USE IN FISH FOOD. This is an important step in keeping your fish fed well and healthy. These things will help the fish’s immune systems and help prevent them from developing nutritional deficiencies. As far as vitamins, Zoe, Selcon, ZoeCon, and VitaChem all work great. For garlic, nothing is better than fresh garlic from the grocery store. See Beth’s instructions for using garlic, here:

Garlic is a plant with its primary ingredient, allicin, identified, at least anecdotally, as benefiting fish health and even combating certain fungal, viral, bacterial and parasitic pathogens, even serving as a type of homeopathic repellent. Saying that, the hobbyist cannot make the mistake of identifying garlic as a cure-all for any fish disease. Rather, if used, it must be considered as a preventative measure, rather than a cure post-disease process; a supplement used to enhance fish health, or in addition to employing other established methods used to address fish diseases.

It is important not to use a processed product: bottled garlic. Instead, the hobbyist should use fresh garlic as identified below. [You need only buy a single garlic glove at a time, not bunches.]

Snap a single glove off of the bud. Peel off the skin. Using a non-porous container, such as a glass or Pyrex dish, and a sharp knife, mince and smash the glove, preserving the juice. Once finely minced and smashed, and the juices have been released from the garlic, quickly add meaty foods, such as fresh homemade fish food, or high-quality frozen fish foods. Lightly mix the food in with the garlic so that the food is saturated, but not swimming in garlic juice. Cover your container, and place the mixture in the refrigerator for 5 mins.

Feed your fish, preferably using a syringe or a turkey baster to ensure that fish receives the garlic supplemented food. You can add a small bit of sea water to this mixture to get the mixture into your delivery syringe.

This should be done 3x a day if you are using garlic medicinally. And, if using garlic for its antibiotic qualities, the food soaked in garlic should be given to the fish immediately. Do not delay, or wait while the food mixture soaks up the garlic.

Allicin is produced immediately upon mincing the garlic glove and quickly breaks down. That is why marketed bottled garlic is virtually useless and the hobbyist needs to use fresh garlic.


43. ACCLIMATE YOUR NEW FISH TO YOUR TANK PROPERLY. The best way to acclimate your new fish to your (quarantine) aquarium is to set up a slow drip from your tank into a five gallon bucket (via airline tubing) and allowing the fish to be in this drip water for at least 2 to 3 hours. Some animals, such as starfish (especially linckia starfish) need about five hours. Do not cut this step short.


44. CREATE GOOD HABITS FOR PERFORMING WATER CHANGES. Water changes that are done improperly can result in stressed fish. Do your water changes properly. Get two trash cans and label one “Good” and the other “Bad”. Pick a day that you will be able to do water changes on and stick with it. Two days before your water change day, fill up your good trash can with water and mix in the salt. Put a heater and a powerhead in this trash can in order to aerate the water and get the temperature and salinity to the EXACT same as your tank. You cannot do your water change until both of these levels are exactly the same. The reason you want to use a powerhead is because when you dissolve salt with water, you use up most of the oxygen in the water. A way to replenish the oxygen is to have a powerhead in it to move it around.

45. ALWAYS KEEP SOME BACK-UP EQUIPMENT IN CASE SOMETHING BREAKS. It is always a great idea to have a back-up heater and a few powerheads in case something breaks. If your heater breaks, you will want to change it immediately. If your main return pump breaks on you, putting some spare powerheads in the tank will give you enough time to get to the store and get a new pump. This is a step that should not be skipped and should be done immediately. You never know when something is going to break on you. On my first aquarium, I had three (three!) mag drive pumps break on me. If I told this to any experienced aquarist, they would think I am crazy because mag drive pumps are made to last. Yet, I went through THREE!

46. OWN A BATTERY-POWERED AIR PUMP. You will never be able to predict when your house’s power will go out. Having a battery-powered air pump will be able to help you keep your tank alive while there is no power in your home. If you live in an area where the power goes out a lot (once a month or more), a small generator for your tank would be a good idea. You could run your main return pump and your heater on this so that your tank is okay during a power outage.


47. NEVER FEED A FISH FRESHWATER FEEDER FISH. Freshwater feeder fish cause saltwater fish to get fatty liver disease, a disease where the saltwater fish’s live gets so large that it can no longer process any food. Usually, goldfish, rosy reds, or guppies are used to feed lionfish, groupers, triggers, wrasses, puffers and other aggressive fish. This is not a good practice but one that will eventually lead to the death of your fish.

48. IF NECESSARY, GUT LOAD LIVE FEEDERS. If a fish does not eat prepared foods right away (lionfish, butterflies, angels, anthias, etc.) ghost shrimp and brine shrimp are acceptable live foods to use. However, before giving these live foods to your saltwater fish to eat, give the feeder shrimp a nutritious meal first so that when your fish consume them, they will also get this nutritious meal in their body. For larger shrimp like ghost shimp, give them whatever you want your saltwater fish to eat. For brine shrimp, soak them in a vitamin such as Zoe, Selcon, ZoeCon, or VitaChem for 24 hours.

49. THE MORE YOU AUTOMATE, THE EASIER YOUR TANK WILL BE TO KEEP. Automatic top-off units are a wonderful investment. They are cheap and will keep you from having to top off your tank everyday after evaporation. Having to manually top off your tank everyday gets to be a strain but is necessary to do. Get a top off unit to do it for you. Also, make sure to get timers for your lights.

50. ALWAYS USE FRESHWATER (NOT SALTWATER) TO TOP OFF YOUR TANK. Remember, salt does not evaporate. Just the water does. For this reason, you only ever want to use freshwater when topping off your tank. The only exeception to this is when you are trying to raise your specific gravity. When trying to do this, put a little salt in your top off water and this will slowly begin to raise your salinity.

51. KNOW THAT SALINITY AND SPECIFIC GRAVITY ARE NOT THE SAME. Reading your salt level can be done two different ways: by reading your specific gravity (with a hydrometer) or by reading your salinity (with a refractometer). Know which is which. Too often, when telling someone their salinity, people say 1.023. The ideal salinity is 34-36 ppt, and the ideal specific gravity is 1.025-1.026.

52. NEVER ADD ANY CHEMICALS THAT YOU CANNOT TEST FOR. Do not just dump bottles of chemicals into your tank. This is never a good route to take because you never know what you are adding to your tank or how much is too much.

53. NITRATES ARE LOWERED THROUGH PROPER WATER CHANGES. If you want to get high nitrates down, don’t try to dump a lot of things in your tank to get them down. A series of large water changes is required, followed by regular, routine small water changes to keep them down. On top of that, it is also very important to figure out what was causing the high nitrates to develop in the first place. Doing both of these things will help you effectively lower your high nitrates.

54. DO NOT BEGIN TO BUY HARD CORALS UNTIL YOUR CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM, AND ALKALINITY LEVELS ARE WHERE THEY SHOULD BE. These three levels are essential for hard corals (LPS and SPS). If you are getting into keeping corals, get your own test kits for each. You need a carbonate hardness between 8 and 12, magnesium about 1200-1250, and a calcium between 400-460. Also have the proper buffers for these levels as well, in case you need to buffer one or the other.

55. CREATE THE PROPER LIGHT SCHEDULE FOR YOUR AQUARIUM. Having the proper light schedule is very important for your aquarium. A fish only aquarium is different from a fish only with live rock which is different from a reef aquarium. Make the right light schedule for whatever you have. If you have a reef tank, you do not want the metal halides running all day long. Get some timers and put all of your lights on timers. Make sure your actinics run for a good 1-2 hours before and after the metal halides come on, so that the fish and corals do not get stressed by the metal halide lights. Moon lights are also nice to have to help the fish from being in complete darkness and being stressed at night time.

56. KNOW THE COMMON ANIMALS THAT ARE POISONOUS/VENOMOUS SO THAT YOU DO NOT PUT YOURSELF OR OTHERS IN DANGER. There are many animals in this hobby which are very dangerous. Know which ones they are. Lionfish, stonefish, scorpionfish, rabbittfish, foxfaces, boxfish, cowfish, soapfish, fire corals, many nudibranches, and coral catfish are all among the most common poisonous or venomous animals.

57. LIONFISH WILL EAT SMALLER FISH THAN THEM. This is going to happen. Don’t think that your lionfish is less aggressive, etc. Lionfish are ambush predators that can eat up to half their body size.

58. LIONFISH AND TRIGGERS DO NOT MIX WELL. Mixing these two species of fish has been done so many times and almost all times, it does not fair well at all for the lionfish. Triggers are attracted to the long, flowy fins of the lion and triggers will indeed rip them apart. However, you may be able to get away with it if it is a “peaceful” trigger such as a bluejaw, sargassum, crosshatch, or pinktail. If you try a clown, queen, titan, or undulated though, the odds are incredibly stacked against you.

59. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MIX TWO DIFFERENT SPECIES OF CLOWNFISH. Another one of those things (of the many on this list) that have been done, but it is not recommended because the success rate is so marginal. Clownfish do best when they are kept in a pair or large group within the same family. When you begin to mix different types, fighting usually ensues.

60. BEFORE BUYING AN ANEMONE, MAKE SURE YOUR TANK MEETS ITS’ REQUIREMENTS AND THAT YOU ARE SELECTING THE RIGHT ONE. So many people buy anemones without first making sure their tank meets the proper needs for that anemone. First off, if you are getting an anemone for your clown to host, first, make sure you are absolutely getting the right type of anemone for your species of clown. Compatibility charts are available. Check with these or ask around, first. Then, make sure your tank has two things. Stability (which comes from having an established tank) and strong lighting (most anemones need metal halide lighting). I cannot stress enough that you should absolutely do your research on anemones before buying one. Some anemones have even more specific needs than others – such as sebae anemones needing a sandy substrate.

61. TANGS NEED A LOT OF SWIMMING SPACE; CHOOSE YOUR TANG APPROPRIATELY. There are several different families of tangs. You can usually tell by body shape. For example, purples, yellows, scopes, and sailfin all have an oval body shape and all belong to the Zebramosa family. Other families include Acanthurus, Ctenochaetus, and Naso (which actually includes the naso, unicorn, and vlamingi). It is very important that you pick the right type of tang for your tank. For example, zebramosa tangs need much less swimming space than acanthurus tangs (powder blues, browns, sohal, etc.)

62. BUTTERFLIES NEED VERY MATURE TANKS. If there is one fish that needs a highly established aquarium (besides mandarins – but we will get to that later), it is certainly butterflies. Butterflies are one of the hardest fish to get to eat, as most rely on having hundreds of pounds of established live rock to pick off of constantly. If you do not have live rock that is overgrown with worms, sponge, and things of that nature, a butterfly is certainly not for you. I am very cautious to ask “how long has your tank been set-up for?” because you could have purchased extremely established live rock from a fellow reefer and have had your tank set up for 6 months. The important thing with butterflies is that your water is stable and your live rock is filled with critters to pick at.

63. ANGELS ARE NOT A REEF-SAFE FISH. ADD TO YOUR REEF WITH CAUTION. Let me preface this. There are a few ACTUAL reef safe angels. They are the japanese swallowtail, the zebra angel, and the lamarck angel. That’s it (as far as COMPLETELEY safe). If anyone tells you that the common dwarf angels are safe (flame, coral beauty, lemon peel, etc.), they are mistaken. While these guys can go in a reef tank, the potential for them to nip at your corals is always there and it is definitely a possibility. Risk this at your own caution – but remember, once you do it, it is quite difficult to get the fish out of your tank if it begins nipping. Do you really want to have to rip apart your reef tank if that one fish begins picking on your coral?

64. PSEUDOS AND BASSLETS HAVE AN ATTITUDE. ADD THEM LAST. Being related to groupers, these fish can be very territorial. If you really want one (since they actually do have quite nice colors), make them one of your last additions, after all of your peaceful gobies, blennies, etc.)

65. DO NOT EXPOSE PUFFER FISH TO AIR. There is a huge misconception that puffers “puffing” up is bad for them. This is not true. It is their natural defense mechanism. They do it when they are threatened or stressed. The thing that got them threatened or stressed is bad for them. Now, puffers “puffing” up out of water is VERY BAD for the puffer fish and could actually kill the fish. Do not net a puffer and take it out of the water because you run the risk of exposing it to air. If it sucks in air while attempting to puff and the air gets lodged in the fish, that may be it for the puffer.

66. PROVIDE PUFFERS WITH HARD SHELLED FOODS TO KEEP THEIR TEETH WORN DOWN. Puffers teeth grow very quickly. If you do not provide them with hard shelled foods frequently, their teeth can actually out-grow their heads and make them unable to eat.

67. SHARKS AND STING RAYS CANNOT BE KEPT WITH PUFFERS, ANGELS, TRIGGERS, AND WRASSES. Sharks and sting rays cannot be placed with any of the above animals because those types of fish are too aggressive and will actually pick the eyes out of the shark or ray and then rip their fins apart.

68. STARFISH HAVE VERY SPECIALIZED NEEDS. There are many different types of stars out there. It is very important for you to research the needs of the one that you want before you buy it. For example, many are not reef safe (chocolate chip, red general). Others are incredibly hard to keep (fromia, linckia).

69. MANY CRABS WILL NIP AT CORALS. Again, don’t just buy a crab without knowing anything about it. Many crabs are not reef safe and will pick at your corals. Once they are in the tank, they are almost impossible to get out. Don’t put them in unless you are absolutely sure they will not nip.

70. TANGS OF THE SAME FAMILY DO NOT MIX WELL. I am not saying that you cannot mix them. This would be very untrue. Many tanks have purples and yellows together, or sailfins and yellows, etc. However, be careful when mixing tangs of the same family. If possible, add them at the same time so that one is not more established in your tank then the other. This will help with aggression issues.

71. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO KEEP MORE THAN ONE ANGEL PER TANK. Angels are very territorial and can be very aggressive. Unless adding them to a very large tank at the same time, do not attempt this. It does not work well at all. Angels will chase and potentially kill other angels because they are that territorial.

72. BE AWARE OF WHAT FISH ARE JUMPERS SO THAT YOU DO NOT LOSE A FISH DUE TO ITS JUMPING. There are many fish that are escape artists. Firefish, anthias, gobies, eels, and wrasses are among the common fish that aquarists find on the floor behind their aquariums. Before buying one of these fish, be ready to have all small wholes in your top covered so that the fish cannot jump out.

73. THERE ARE DIFFERENT SNAILS FOR DIFFERENT TASKS. There are a ton of different algaes out there. If you have a certain type of algae, get the right snail for the job. Turbos are great for hair algae. Nassarius and cerith are wonderful in the sand bed. Margaritas and bumble bees are great for small crevices and small bits of algae on the glass. Get the right type of snail and you will get rid of your undesirable algae.

74. PROVIDE EMPTY SHELLS FOR HERMIT CRABS. This is a very important step if you do not want all of your snails being killed by your hermit crabs. Most stores sell empty shells. Buy them and put them in your tank for your crabs.

75. KILL AIPSTASIA AND MAJANO ANEMONES AS SOON AS YOU SEE THEM. You do not want these things multiplying in your tank. They are terrible pests and multiply very quickly and can become quite uncontrollable. My best advice: keep a bottle of Joe’s Juice on hand at all times. If you see a nuisance anemone in your tank, blast it with the Joe’s Juice. Nuisance anemones can kill corals, and injure fish and inverts by stinging them.

76. REMOVE FLATWORMS THE SECOND YOU SEE THEM. If you thought nuisance anemones grew quickly, flatworms spread ridiculously and are even harder to get rid of. When you see any of these, get a turkey baster and suck them all out.

77. IF INTERESTED IN SEAHORSES AND PIPEFISH, SET UP A SEPARATE TANK FOR THEM. Seahorses and pipefish are so delicate and have such highly specialized needs that they absolutely must have their own tank set-up for them if you plan to try to keep them. Also, know that neither of these animals are very easy to keep and you must do a lot of research on them before attempting them.
78. MANDARINS NEED AN OVER-ABUNDANCE OF COPEPODS TO SURVIVE. Mandarins are very picky eaters who 99 times out of 100 will only eat live pods that are found in your tank and on your live rock. What’s worse is that mandarins eat a lot of copepods daily, so it is important to have a refugium so that you can continue to replenish the stock in your display when the mandarin eats them all. The good news is that many stores and online places (SWF.com) sell live copepods for a very cheap price. Buy a few portions to get your stock to begin breeding and accumulating. However, once you buy the copepods, do not plan on buying the mandarin for at least a few months. A good rule of thumb is that your tank should be up and running for 10-12 months before adding a mandarin.

79. REPLACE YOUR POWER COMPACT BULBS EVERY 6 TO 8 MONTHS. This is the general rule of thumb if you want the absolute best quality from your bulbs. Otherwise, they do not put out the proper light for your corals and your tank will begin to see unwanted algae growth as well. Make it a habit to change the bulbs as necessary, depending on how long you run them every day.


80. REPLACE YOUR METAL HALIDES EVERY 10-14 MONTHS. This is the general rule of thumb if you want the absolute best quality from your bulbs. Otherwise, they do not put out the proper light for your corals and your tank will begin to see unwanted algae growth as well. Make it a habit to change the bulbs as necessary, depending on how long you run them every day.

81. REPLACE YOUR T-5 BULBS EVERY 16-20 MONTHS. This is the general rule of thumb if you want the absolute best quality from your bulbs. Otherwise, they do not put out the proper light for your corals and your tank will begin to see unwanted algae growth as well. Make it a habit to change the bulbs as necessary, depending on how long you run them every day.

82. NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER ADD COPPER TO YOUR DISPLAY TANK. This is a grave mistake that many hobbyists make. The problem with copper is that it kills most bacteria on live rock, as well as all inverts and all corals. And the second problem is that the silicone in the seams of your tank absorb copper and can release it into the tank in the future. Thus, when you dose your display tank with copper, you are making it forever a fish only tank, one that can never have live rock, inverts, or coral. It is also very important to know that when you buy a used tank, always be sure to ask the owner if they ever put copper in it. Most people who have freshwater tanks do not think twice about dosing copper. If they did dose copper at one point, do not buy the tank. The value of the tank is very little because there is not much you can do with the tank, now.

83. THERE ARE CERTAIN TYPES OF FISH THAT YOU CANNOT PUT THROUGH COPPER. Copper can have a lot of negative effects on fish. It can burn the insides of gobies, and drastically affect the intestines and digestive systems of tangs, angels, and butterflies. Copper can also kill mandarins, eels, and hurt puffers.

84. THERE ARE ONLY TWO WAYS TO TOTALLY KILL MARINE ICH. The only two ways that truly remove ich from a fish is copper or hyposalinity. Neither can be done in a tank with live rock, inverts, and corals. Hyposalinity is the treatment method of choice because it is much less dangerous and lethal to your fish and inhabitants. It must however be done with the use of a refractometer.

85. BROOKLYNELLA IS A SERIOUS DISEASE THAT NEEDS TO BE TREATED IMMEDIATELY. Brooklynella is also commonly called “clownfish” disease because it affects clowns the most. However, other fish can get it. The only effective treatment against brooklynella is a series of formalin dips on the infected fish and quarantining of all the fish in the tank.

86. LYMPHOCYSTSIS IS EASILY CURABLE; DON’T USE MEDICATIONS. Lymphocystsis is a stress-related disease. It is usually brought on by poor water quality, poor nutrition, or another stressor in the aquarium. Remove the thing that is causing the fish to be stressed and the lymph will stop growing and go away.

87. THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SALTS; TEST YOUR NEW BATCH BEFORE ADDING IT TO THE TANK. Every salt brand is different, and most batches of salt within the same brand are very different also. When you make up water for a water change and let it mix for the recommended two to four days, you will be able to test it for things like alkalinity, calcium, pH, and magnesium and buffer appropriately so that you do not stress the fish with different water.

88. CALCIUM IN POWDER FORM WORKS BETTER THAN CALCIUM IN LIQUID FORM. This goes for most products that can be found in both powder and liquid form. Magnesium, alkalinity, strontium, and most elements are the same way. Powders are more concentrated than liquids are, and usually, liquids are a little more watered down. You will get more use out of powder products since they are more concentrated.

89. RUNNING CARBON IN YOUR TANK IS A GOOD IDEA. Using carbon in your tank for at least a few days out of the month will help remove any harmful toxins or pollutants that may have gotten into your water. Many people use carbon 24/7 and this is also an acceptable practice.

90. ALWAYS HAVE A SMALL THERMOMETER IN YOUR TANK, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU HAVE A DIGITAL READER OR NOT. Many times, digital readouts can fail or read wrongly. It is always good to have a second source to check that your digital is working properly.

91. SPS CORALS NEED BOTH VERY HIGH LIGHT AND VERY STRONG WATER FLOW. Both of these things are incredibly essential to keeping acropora, montipora, and other SPS corals. Metal halide lights are almost always required (unless high-powered T-5’s are used) and it is essential to have at least 20 X the turnover rate for flow. However, it is preferred that there is even more flow for SPS corals. Some people even run their tanks at 25-35 X the turnover rate.


92. ALWAYS DIP YOUR CORALS BEFORE PLACING THEM IN YOUR TANK. Many LFS take corals from other hobbyists and because they have corals coming in from so many different places, the chances of them having red bugs, or flatworms, or nudibranches, or other harmful critters is very high. When you take home a coral from the LFS or get a coral from another hobbyist, dip it in an Iodine solution for 5-8 minutes to kill any and all harmful hitchhikers. Many companies make a coral dip so that you do not have to try and make the Iodine solution yourself. SeaChem makes a very good coral dip, as does Kent (Tech D).

93. KEEP SCHOOLING FISH IN A SCHOOL; THEY WILL DO BETTER. Schooling fish school for a reason. They feel more comfortable and protect each other. It is going to be the same way in your aquarium. Chromis and anthias should absolutely be kept in a group. Also, be sure to keeping pairing fish in pairs, as well. Things like twinspot gobies absolutely need to be kept in pairs in order to do well.

94. BIO BALLS ARE NOT ALWAYS BAD; DON’T BELIEVE THE MYTH. Many people say that you cannot use bio balls under any circumstance because they cause nitrates. This is untrue. Bio balls tend to accumulate dirt and detritus, and this is when they become a problem. As long as you practice regular maintenance on your bio balls by cleaning them in some “bad” water change water (the water you remove), you will be able to keep your bio balls clean and still usable.

95. KNOW WHAT CORALS NEED TO BE SPOT FED. There are many different coral foods on the market because there are many different types of corals that need strong feeding. Acroporas are among one of the corals that appreciate good feeding and nutrient-rich water. Young clams also do better when they are fed, goniopora and alveopora are the same, and any filter feeder needs to be fed as close to daily as possible. Sun corals, carnation corals, and other non-photosynthetic corals absolutely need to be fed. Also, be sure to remember inverts like flame scallops. They need to be fed well, also, whereas, filter feeders such as feather dusters will just filter feed out of the water column.

96. GET THE RIGHT KELVIN BULBS TO FIT YOUR NEEDS. Aquarium bulbs come in many different Kelvin spectrums. You can buy bulbs that are 6500K, 10000K, 14000K, and 20000K. The Kelvin bulb that you buy will determine what “color” your tank looks. The closer to 0 you are, the more yellowish your tank will be. 10000K is a yellowish white, 14000K is a blueish white, and 20000K is deep blue color. With 10000K you get very good growth but the color does not look great. With 20000K, the color looks excellent but you will lose a lot in growth. Any of the bulbs will “work”, the choice is up to you.

97. DEEP SAND BEDS CAN BE INCREDIBLY BENEFIFICAL IN A REEF TANK. Deep sand beds can greatly help in de-nitrification and can serve as a home to many critters in your reef tank. Deep sand beds should only be used in fully stocked reef aquariums because you cannot really clean them. You need to rely on the critters in your tank to keep them clean. In a fish only with live rock tank, a deep sand bed will not work because in a tank like that, you need to be able to remove all the detritus from the substrate.

98. HAVE A GROUNDING PROBE AND USE IT TO PREVENT STRAY VOLTAGE. Just in case one of your electrical devices sends electricity in the water, have a grounding probe so that you can get rid of it quickly and hopefully prevent any harm being done to your fish.

99. USE A GFCI ON YOUR TANK. A GFCI will cut power immediately in the event water spills on your electrical outlets. Absolutely essential to have to prevent fires.

100. USE WHITE VINEGAR TO CLEAN OUT OLD PUMPS, FILTERS, TANKS. White vinegar is safe to use in an aquarium and cleans old items out very well, removing any possible toxin or harmful chemical.

101. SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THIS HOBBY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. I figure this would be a great way to end the 100 tips. No one will ever be able to learn from their own mistakes if they do not take the advice from others. This advice from others comes from past experience. Always share experiences because you may be teaching someone something they did not know. It is impossible to know everything in this hobby. If you think you know everything, you are being close-minded and you will eventually not be able to maintain a successful aquarium.

Nice list, some good some bad, but over all imformative.

Thanks

Great list. All looks like solid advice.

Thanks.

It would be nice to find out the source of this list to see if we can have permission to post it as an article on R.A. You guys feel like doing a little legwork to find that person?