Saltwater aquariums require a lot more maintenance compared to freshwater aquariums, if you want the fish in yours to remain healthy and to thrive. What one needs to be aware of when it comes to saltwater aquariums, is that over time certain minerals and nutrients which are essential to the health of fish, can become depleted. Therefore, there are going to be times when you need to replenish these through the use of special aquarium supplements.
However, not everybody does need to add supplements to their aquarium; it all depends on how well you maintain yours. For those who chose to keep just saltwater fish in their aquarium such as, Angelfish and Clownfish and regularly change the water, and also carry out essential maintenance procedures, then adding supplements may well not be necessary.
The reason for this being that each time you change the water within any kind of saltwater aquarium, you are in fact replenishing those essential nutrients and minerals that are needed. However, if you have a saltwater aquarium in which there are corals, then you do need to provide supplements that will help to keep the calcium levels within the water high.
How Do You Determine If Saltwater Aquariums Need Supplements
The simplest and most effective way for you to determine if your saltwater aquarium requires additional supplements, is to test the water. There are numerous test kits available which can be purchased either from your local tropical fish store or online, and which quickly identify what is missing from the saltwater in your aquarium, and how much you need to add to bring it up to the appropriate level.
However, when you are adding supplements you need to be careful, otherwise you may find yourself adding too much and fixing an excess of anything can cause you problems. The only way in which an excess of anything in an aquarium can be corrected, is by changing all the water in the tank completely. This unfortunately can cause the plants, fish and coral in your tank considerable amounts of stress.
Types Of Supplements Which One Must Include In Saltwater Aquariums
There is still some debate regarding the matter of adding supplements to saltwater aquariums, as many believe that just by regularly changing the water should be sufficient to replenish those essential elements which have been lost. This certainly seems to be the case where saltwater aquariums only contain fish or fish and live rocks. But for coral reef er aquariums they feel it is essential to add a supplement of calcium to the water. But as well as adding calcium to your aquariums which contain coral reef, you may find that you need to start adding some magnesium and Kalkwasser supplements as well.
The reason why one should actually be adding calcium into coral reef saltwater aquariums is because it helps the corals, algae and any invertebrates you have in the tank to grow. Certainly without adding such a supplement, you may find it extremely difficult to keep the levels at a balance that is beneficial to the life in the tank, and which is naturally found in their wild environment.
Today you have a number of different products available which can be purchased online or through your local aquarium supply company, that provide the correct dosage of calcium for your saltwater aquariums. These come either in tablet or liquid form and although the liquid type is far easier to add to the aquarium water, it is also more expensive. However, you may also find that you need to add some carbonate or bicarbonate to the water to ensure that when you add the calcium into your aquarium, it does not lower the alkalinity in the tank as well. If the level of alkalinity does go below that which is recommended, (2.5 meg per liter of saltwater) you may find you need to add a supplement of Kalkwasser to it.
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