Reef Tanks

What makes a saltwater aquarium different from a freshwater aquarium? The short answer to this question is – just about everything. From the fish you stock to the water itself, there are some pretty stark differences between freshwater and saltwater tanks. But one of the biggest differences is in the way these two types of tanks are decorated. With a freshwater tank you can choose from a few different types of substrate and add some live plants for color, but with a saltwater tank most of your decorations are rocks. Keep reading to learn more about how to use rockwork to decorate your saltwater or reef aquarium.

What Kinds of Rock Can You Use in a Saltwater Tank?

When it comes to decorating your saltwater or reef tank, you have to be careful about the decorations you choose. A saltwater environment is a delicate one – not only do you need to be extremely careful about maintaining the right salinity and water chemistry levels, but you have to be mindful of all of the organisms living in your tank – even the ones too small to see. In a saltwater tank, rockwork serves multiple purposes, all of them important. For one thing, rockwork acts as your main decoration. It adds dimension and visual interest to your tank. On a more practical level, it provides your saltwater fish and invertebrates with places to hide. Finally, it provides a surface on which beneficial bacteria and other helpful microorganisms can...

When you picture the Great Barrier Reef along the coast of Australia or the Rainbow Reef outside Fiji, what do you see? You probably imagine a great expanse of live rock and corals in every color of the rainbow, not to mention myriad species of colorful fish. If you admire the natural beauty of such ecosystems, you may be interested in cultivating your own miniature reef at home. To do so, however, you need to be intentional about how you set up your tank and you need to do your research before choosing your tank inhabitants to make sure everyone gets along. Keep reading to learn more about the most colorful corals you should consider adding to your tank.

 

What are the Different Types of Corals?
 

There are more than 2,500 different species of coral in the world and they are broken up into two main categories – hard corals and soft corals. Hard corals can be further separated into two different sub-groups, zooxanthellate corals and azooxanthellate corals. The former include shallow-water corals that play a major role in reef-building – these are also corals that depend on zooxanthellae algae as their main source of nutrition. The latter type, azooxanthellate corals, are commonly found in deep water, non-reef environments and in other isolated or colonial forms. These corals filter plankton out of the seawater that passes around them for their main source of nutrition. Below you will find a list of some of the various types of hard corals:
 

If you are new to the aquarium hobby you need to do a lot of research before you start your first tank. Not only do you need to think about what type of tank to create, but you also need to think about the equipment you plan to use, the size of your tank, and the tank inhabitants you plan to stock it with. All of these factors are important to think about.

 

When considering a reef aquarium over a traditional saltwater or freshwater tank, there are some additional things to think about – one of the most important is tank size. If you browse online aquarium forums you will find that many experienced aquarium hobbyists recommend to beginners in the hobby that, when it comes to tank size, bigger is better. In this article you will learn whether this is true in regard to reef tanks and you will receive some tips for setting up your own reef tank.
 

Considerations Before Starting a Reef Tank
 

Before you decide that you want to start a reef tank, there are a few important things you need to consider – especially if you are new to the aquarium hobby. For one thing, cultivating and maintaining a healthy reef tank can be a time-consuming hobby. For freshwater tanks you can usually set up your tank with the right equipment and then maintenance requires little more than daily feeding and weekly water changes. For a traditional saltwater tank you might need to do a...