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A saltwater reef is a colorful and fascinating place, one that is seldom available for casual admiration. Many people want to capture part of it with saltwater aquariums. Because of the close quarters, however, the water inside an aquarium can quickly spiral out of control, and without careful adjustment, the plants, fish, and other inhabitants will sicken, or even die. If such a community is to survive, it's environment must be carefully maintained.

A good time to start thinking about this is right at the beginning. When first being created, an aquarium should be filled with reverse osmosis water. Although this process strips some beneficial trace elements from the water, these can be replaced manually, and it removes far more harmful traces in the process. Although the optimal temperature of the water will vary depending on the species' that will live in it, it should fall somewhere between 80 and 85 degrees.

There are a vast number of factors that must be dealt with carefully for a successful saltwater aquarium. For instance:

PH
Maintaining a stable pH level in an aquarium is very important for everything that will live inside it. Seawater is just slightly alkaline, with a pH between 8.1 to 8.4. The pH of an aquarium can be quickly measured with a test kit, and easily adjusted using Baking Soda and a pH buffer.

SALINITY
Seawater contains very large amounts of salt, a density of 1.025 (specific gravity) as measured by a hydrometer. In maintaining a saltwater aquarium, this should be reproduced as closely as possible.

IODINE
A very important trace element in aquariums is iodine. In the ocean, it occurs naturally at around 0.6 parts per million. The level of iodine in aquarium water can be increased with potassium iodide, or a commercial supplement.

ALKALINITY
Although the name is misleading, the term alkalinity refers to the amount of CaCO3 in water. It should fall between 150 and 200 parts per million. There are a wide variety of commercial supplements available to raise this.

CALCIUM & MAGNESIUM
Calcium and magnesium are both important minerals for an aquarium to be supplied with. The level of calcium should fall between 4.25-50 parts per million, and magnesium should be kept close to 1,300 parts per million. The levels of both can be measured with commercial test kits, and increased with supplements.

NITRATES
Two easily confused compounds are nitrates and nitrites. Although a certain amount is healthy, large quantities of nitrates can be harmful to sea life, so in general the lower the nitrate level, the better. Seawater tends to fall between 0.25 and 5 parts per million. Nitrate reduction filters can be used to help lower this, as can mangrove plants.

Although nitrates can be a problem at high levels, nitrites are highly toxic, and prone to accumulate faster than nitrates. These should be kept as low as possible. Fortunately, nitrite levels can be lowered with a wide variety of commercial products.

PHOSPHATES
Less threatening to a saltwater aquarium are phosphates. Although they do not do any harm in themselves, phosphates tend to slowly grow if unchecked, and high levels can cause algae populations to explode and quickly overrun an aquarium. The level of phosphates in water can be quickly determined by a commercial test kit. Ideally, there should be about 0.05 parts per million. Kalkwasser solution can be used to cheaply lower this level.

Any imbalance in any of these can seriously affect the conditions inside an aquarium. However, with a little care and effort, an entire reef community can live happily together in a glass bubble.

Learn more about this author, Kristopher Chambers.
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