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How To Successfully Switch From Freshwater To Saltwater Aquarium

Wrongly led by the belief that freshwater aquariums are easier to maintain than saltwater aquariums many people opt for the former. There are a greater variety of fish that can be kept in a saltwater aquarium as also plants and coral too. The equipment is more or less the same as a fresh water aquarium just the inmates and look is different. Many people would love to have a saltwater aquarium but the myths of switching from fresh to saltwater dissuades them from doing so.

Converting from a freshwater tank to a saltwater one is simple. Most of the equipment is the same with just a few exceptions to the rule. One of them is the tank substrate. Saltwater aquarium fish prefer a substrate composed of live sand and a lot of crushed coral as opposed to the gravel that freshwater fish are used to. Your existing filtering systems will work equally efficiently in both types of tanks. Remember that the water filtering system works on the principle of circulating water through the tank. This means that a vigorous system will disturb the water surface a process that helps the oxygen level rise in the tank water - a good thing.

Lighting in the saltwater tank is of importance only if you are planning to add plants and coral to the tank. A fish only tank can fare very well without the added lighting. A common mistake many aquarium enthusiasts make while converting from freshwater to saltwater is to add a little table salt to the water. This is no laughing matter even for the fish. This will kill the coral and plants as well as the fish. Saltwater has a very different variety of bacteria as compared to freshwater and this aids in supporting the fish and corals in the tank.

When you transit from a freshwater tank to a salt water tank go to the pet store and get some substrate from the saltwater tanks there. This substrate is added to the freshwater in the tank and after a few days you must test the salinity of the water with a refractometer or hydrometer (available t the pet store). the salinity must read between 1.020 and 1,026 before you add the salt water fish to the tank.

You must also remember that saltwater causes a lot of rusting to occur in the tank and do you should be ready to regularly clean out tank equipment at least twice a month. If rust has already set in you must change the equipment promptly.

Feeding saltwater fish is very different from feeding freshwater fish. Saltwater aquariums require a combination of frozen food that is easily available from the pet store. Never keep frozen food in your freezer for more than 3 months. Discard any unopened frozen food that is older than 5 months. It might sound like a lot of work to maintain a saltwater aquarium, however, once you are there you will discover that the joys are many and the work is not too much.

About the Author

Abhishek is an avid Fish Lover and he has got some great Aquarium Care Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 105 Pages Ebook, "Aquarium Care Made Easy!" from his website http://www.Wonder-Homes.com/636/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

how does a handheld refractometer measure salinity?

what does a negative reading indicate?

It doesn't directly measure salinity. It measures refractive index. Refractive index can be related to salinity if salinity is the only variable impacting change in the measured index.

There could be 2 possibilities that I can think of that might result in a negative reading:
1) The refractometer is out of calibration with respect to the temperature of measurement.
2) The measured salinity is very low, essentially below the intrinsic error of the instrument.

The following source is fairly descriptive.

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More than 280 students in Galveston County are nursing mini-marshlands in a unique project teaching hands-on wetland restoration.

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