Properly Stocking Your Saltwater Aquarium

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This will be an exciting time for you if you have decided to start up a saltwater aquarium, but one thing that you will want to make sure you do is gain an understanding of the steps you will need to take before your tank will be up and running completely - avoiding the mistakes so many others make of failing to stock their tank properly; when you stock your tank properly, you will be in great shape with your tank for a long time to come, but when you fail to stock your tank properly, you will risk losing all the time and money you have invested.

Adding rocks, water, sand, and plants (in that order!) will be the first step to stocking your tank properly; it will be important to have the water running well - with no major changes in the levels of the water - before you add sand, as you will want to use live sand in order to have a successful saltwater tank, and you will not want to add live plants to your tank until the sand is settled and everything else in the tank is properly balanced and running smoothly.

Once the rocks, water, sand, and live plants have been added, you will be ready to start adding live animals - but rather than starting out with fish, you may want to begin with animals that are less likely to be negatively affected by major swings in the water (as these swings are likely to happen early on, no matter how cautious you are!) - focusing on such critters as snails, crabs, and shrimp, and hardy fish that will be less likely to give you problems should the water change suddenly.

And even after you have stocked your tank properly in this manner, you will not want to simply add fish in a pellmell fashion! Rather than getting in the habit of picking out fish you want and just adding them to your tank, make sure the fish you are buying will be compatible with your tank and with the other fish you have, and then have the patience to add only one fish at a time, waiting a week or two for them to get fully acclimated before you add any more!