Reef Aquarium Problems You May Encounter

Reef Aquarium Information That Hopefully Will Help You Avoid Problems
It's nice to see that you are interested in starting a reef aquarium. However, there are some things that you need to consider before starting out. Aquarium keeping for beginners is a big hobby and you will want to make sure you are totally prepared so as to avoid any problems that may come your way.

One of the first things that you want to think about is, what are you going to keep in your reef aquarium? This is important to consider because if you know what creatures or things you are going to house in your tank, then you will be able to know what other things go with them, or what is needed to allow them to thrive. Take just for an example, are you going to have corals? If you do, are you going to have soft or hard ones? If you are not sure of the difference, then it is absolutely imperative that you do some additional research to learn all there is to know about corals. To keep these types of creatures in your aquarium requires superb lighting and water chemistry. In addition, you will need to know how to feed them correctly.

Without knowing what you are going to put in your tank, then you are planning for failure!

Another consideration is cost. How much are you willing to spend to set up a reef aquarium, and how much will you need to have each month to maintain your reef aquarium? To be perfectly honest, a reef aquarium can cost a lot of money and it definitely takes quite a bit of time maintain it. When you have a reef aquarium, you also need to run other items that can cost you money as well. Have you considered the extra cost it would take to run specialty lights, pumps, and filters? Then there is the job of changing the water on a regular basis. It is highly recommended that you change roughly 10% of the water on a weekly basis. This can be costly if your tap water has chlorine and you have to de-chlorinate it each week. And it certainly can be costly if you decide to buy water from your LFS (local fish store). You can save yourself a lot of money if you invest in a reverse osmosis system, and it will not only benefit your reef aquarium, but also you as an individual. However, you will still need to purchase salt mixes.

Another cost, but not as much, is feeding. The more creatures you have in your tank, the more diversity you will need in feeding. One type of food will not feed every tank mate. If you have fish, then they will require certain kinds of foods. If you have invertebrates or corals, you will need a different type of food.

Then there is water chemistry. Your water will be depleted of necessary elements as your creatures use them up to survive, so you will have to also invest in having certain chemicals to add back into your system. And in order to know what is low, or high for that matter, you will need to have on hand different kinds of test kits and buffers. And these are necessary if you want to succeed in this hobby.

Can you see where I'm going with all of this? It is not as simple as saying you want a reef aquarium, but it means that it will take money, time, and knowledge to setup and maintain it. All of this sounds very negative, but I hoping to enlighten people a little before they embark on the wonderful world of reef keeping. These are things that you need to consider or you will encounter problems. But don't despair, there is enough information out there that can help you to become knowledgeable and with enough desire you can understand it and become good.

Now when it comes to money I can't help you there, but at least I've made an attempt to let people know that it will be quite expensive. Don't let this article be of discouragement to you, but rather, let it be an outline that you can use to explore the world of reef aquarium keeping for beginners and finding joy and satisfaction in doing it.