# Other Aquarium Forums > Marine Tanks >  Some tips for simple saltwater aquarium?

## Shizuka Kokoro

I have one old 2 ft fish tank isn't in use.
Going to try out salt water aquarium for the first time, I want to keep Nemo since they are selling it at a few bucks offer.
Can i have some tips from the experienced aquarists here on what to have or buy to make my salt water aquarium easy to maintain or keep?

My current old fish tank doesn't have any fishes, 
it have some freshwater plants and an air bubble.

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## BFG

This is a loaded question. I do not mean to demoralise you but you really need to do some research on how to maintain a saltwater tank. If you want to include coral, there are more stuff to find out. It is a very expensive hobby to jump into, even for a 2ft tank. It is not recommended to just jump into the hobby on a whim, you'll spend more than $1k and still do not get what you want.

You will need-
Refractometer, to set the level of salt in the water.

Salinity calibration fluid, to ensure your refractometer is set to the correct level.

Pure water, 0 tds water must be used, alternatively natural sea water is an alternative but you need to see the salinity level as well as any pathogen or harmful stuff in it.

Salt mix for aquarium only, salt used for cooking is definitely a no-no.

Live rock and marine grade sand. 2 types of live rock, cured or uncured. There are 5 grade of marine sand from very fine at grade 0 to coarse at grade 5.


Equipment wise you will need,

Wavemaker, you need water movement for fishes and coral.

Protein skimmer, to extract the waste in the water column.

A sump tank if possible. Add extra water volume to your setup and houses most of your equipment like the protein skimmer and return pump. If you do not have this, all your equipment will be in the main tank.

Lighting. There are a few type of lighting you can use, T5 High Output (t5ho), metal halide (mh) and led. You need to use lighting that start from 10 000k to 20 000k ( kelvin ).

Timer, to set your lighting timing. 8hr per day is enough.

Tank and stand. You will need a dedicated tank for a marine set up. Best if you attach it to a sump. You can use a metal stand, cheap but WILL rust or a cabinet made from chengai or kapor wood, which resist salt water longer than normal wood, most wooden boat are made from this type of wood.

Return pump if you use a sump.

Chiller if you are planning to keep coral.

Test kit like phosphate, nitrate, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium to check these level in your salt water. You need all this if you want to keep coral.

Money and time. Most important in this hobby. A lot of money and time, you might be success, limited time and money, you will struggle. I am not kidding you. Quality equipment is always better but there are limited exception. Murphy will always be around when you are not.

Knowledge. This is very necessary, limited to little knowledge will cause you to fail. Success is not measured in months or a couple of years. You need this as you go into the hobby, you need to know what you are doing as there are poisonous salt water fish as well as coral. If you make a mistake, you need to know how to fix it. Asking a forum when you are in an emergency situation might not help you as we do not know what your variable are. The fish can hurt you even when they are not poisonous but the coral can kill you! I am not joking. There are documented case of reefer, another name for salt water enthusiast, who nearly died due to improper handling of cheap, innocent looking coral. 1 in singapore died due to injury while doing work on his tank.

Hope this helps!

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## Jimmy

Patience is another key...

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## AQFan

It is a very loaded question - but just be prepared to spend some $$$ to do it right. Joining an aquarium club will help you get a better perspective. You can just go to a few meetings and talk to club members to get more information. That's how I first started out.

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