Marine aquarium set up needs time and a lot of effort for it to work but it is definitely a worthwhile adventure.  Setting it up may appear like a difficult task, but it is fairly simply and achievable provided you adhere to several methods and procedure. 

We live in a city where most marine aquarium accessories and chemical additives are not available. But, it didn’t discourage us in setting up our own marine aquarium. In this blog, we will show you the exact steps we took in setting up our own marine aquarium.  Also, we will include different ways on which you can also use on setting up your own.

Choosing your Aquarium Size and Location

Does size matter? Not really, but like us, we’re just happy that we chose a bigger one. We bought a 70 gal tank to start on. The hobby seems so addicting that we can’t have enough fishes, invertebrates and corals to add on our tank. We end up adding one after another. If we did choose a smaller one, we would have end up buying another size. Larger aquariums tend to be more forgiving of neophytes’ errors and offer a lot more stable saltwater environment. Hippo or Blue Tangs prefer to swim long distances quickly, and to place them in a small water environment will result in stress (when they are stress, the mucous that they have on their body disappear ) and they will be susceptible to stress-related illnesses like "Ich".

For the location, bear in mind that moving your aquarium is going to be difficult when you have all the loads inside it. A mature 100 liter saltwater aquarium weighs up to 150 kg! Stability of the floor should also be considered, not to mention the weight of a viewer. Put your aquarium in an area of the house where it isn't drafty like areas near a radiator or a window, not on areas with direct sunlight, or near an area with fluctuating temperatures, like the kitchen. Choose a non busy and quiet room where you can enjoy the fish without disturbing them.

Lighting and Filtration

I recommend T5 lighting as it was recommended by a lot of hobbyist, one blue and one white. Two well-liked kinds are T5 / T5HO (meaning T5 high output) and the power compact.  

T5 Lighting Fixture

A popular option is to use both florescent light and metal halide. The primary thing to keep in mind when selecting a fluorescent T5 light fixture is to ensure that you purchase one with individual reflectors. As the lights do set out a fair level of lighting with regular parabolic reflectors, they end up incredibly bright using individual reflectors. Lots of people opt for a single color of metal halide (10000k) and will utilize a few blue fluorescents to help make the color more appealing.

overhead filtration

With filtration, we started out with an overhead filtration as we are only cycling our tank. We opted for a bigger filtration,  added other stuff like skimmer and UV rays as our tank progress to maturity.

Prepare your Live Rocks, Live Sand and Water

Now that you have found your perfect location and a perfectly large aquarium with matching sturdy stand,  it's time to prepare everything else.

What we did was a short cut – we bought a ready-made saltwater from our local fish store. However you can always try to do it your own.  Using a natural marine water  is not very practical and not advisable. Marine water for aquarium is prepared using synthetic  sea salt. For you to avoid unwanted algae growing in your aquarium, it is advisable to get Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized water or  distilled water. Do not use tap water from the sink as it contains elements like Phosphate, Chlorine, Nitrate and  Fluoride that are not safe for  your saltwater tank loads. 

When you  mix the salt in your RO water , you’ll need a hydrometer, which provides you a “salinity reading”. To measure up your mixing, use ½ cup of salt per gallon of water( you can also follow the instruction on the manufacturer's label concerning how to correctly prepare your RO water using the sea salt mix), but test it with the hydrometer. Make sure your salt level is at 1.026 sg (specific gravity), and your water’s temperature is at 78 degrees (I am in a tropical country, so temp. is not a big issue). As water evaporates from your aquarium, you only have to add completely new RO / distilled water, since only the water element is evaporating from your aquarium and the salt remains. Adding saltwater would only boost the salinity of your aquarium and may lead to further problems for your fish.

Coarse sand is definitely suitable for the marine aquarium. It adds to PH value stabilization because of its lime components. However, fish like gobies requires a zone with a sandy bottom. If you want to add fish and  invertebrates that retreats on a sandy bottom, you have to consider this. The remaining bottom area can then be covered by thick layer coarse sand.  The dry sand must first washed thoroughly.

coarse sand





You now need the live rock chunks, which can be purchase from your local fish store. When buying live rock, make sure the live rock have a good and diverse growth on them. Also to aquascape them nicely make sure that they come in different shape and size.  The live rock should be piled up in a way they can form small and big caves for your fish to swim in and out of it. They must be position in a stable way, because falling rocks can damage your glass or hurt your fish and  invertebrates.  

live rock

Aquascaping means decorating your tank. Possibilities are endless for anyone of us. There isn't a correct or perfect way of decorating your aquarium. It is up to us on how we can make our saltwater aquarium appealing. Have fun guys and always be creative!

Cycling Your Tanks

Now that you have aquascaped your marine aquarium, the next procedure in saltwater aquarium set up would be allowing your marine aquarium  to cycle. Setting up a marine aquarium typically takes a month or two before you can add some saltwater fish safely to your marine aquarium. I know it is frustrating to wait very long before you start adding saltwater fish into your saltwater aquarium, but it's the usual procedure most hobbyist endorse. However, we found out a different way of cycling your saltwater aquarium.

Find out what saltwater inhabitants we added first.