| If you have had past experiences with saltwater | | | | saltwater at the desired buffer level. |
| fish aquariums, you already are aware of the | | | | What should I do to keep the pH at the required |
| strength of care they deserve. As the name | | | | neutral? |
| indicates, there should be enough salt in your | | | | Add salt. |
| water. | | | | What salt should I add? |
| How much salt is enough salt? | | | | You should add salts of carbonates and |
| Enough salt is when the alkalinity level and the pH | | | | bicarbonates and some more elements like iodine, |
| are in stable conditions. Do not get scared! We | | | | iodide, strontium, molybdenum, magnesium, |
| are not getting deep in to chemistry! You need | | | | calcium etcetera. |
| not become too techie to get this stuff right. | | | | What are the exact measurements for the salts |
| Read below for a simplified answer. | | | | and elements? |
| Don'ts | | | | There is no thumb-of-the-rule measurement |
| You do not want your water to be acidic. Highly | | | | prescribed to add every time. However, |
| acidic water kills your fish. You are not removing | | | | overdosing is toxic, and this might not only stress |
| rust off your fish. You are not scraping the | | | | your fish, but also your live corals. You have to |
| beautiful scales off with acid. You do not want it | | | | test the pH every now and then buffering them |
| to happen - colorful scales are what make fish | | | | by replenishing them with frequent water changes |
| beautiful. You want to put your fish in saltwater, | | | | and salt addition per se (as needed). |
| and not in dilute or concentrated acid. The water | | | | Better solution to maintain saltwater |
| should not be acidic. | | | | There is a better solution, though we cannot again |
| Proportionate Salt | | | | call it easy. There are saltwater mixes that you |
| You want your water to be salty! What salt? | | | | can buy. The elements that are required for |
| When an acid reacts with base it produces salt, | | | | your species and live corals are made available in |
| along with some neutral base. The pH test is to | | | | parts per million (PPM) in the salt mix. You can |
| find out whether the salt is highly acidic or highly | | | | add these mixes as needed. |
| alkaline. However, in the end you want to have | | | | How do we know if we really need the salt mix? |
| a buffered saltwater for your fish. For that, you | | | | In reality, if you are doing regular water changes |
| should put a buffer system in place, balancing the | | | | you need not supplement. However, if you have |
| pH. | | | | corals and other water beings in your tank you |
| The Buffered State of Saltwater | | | | need to know that the calcium levels are going to |
| A buffered (balanced) state of saltwater is where | | | | be highly depleted and you need to replace |
| it remains at the required alkalinity (not too acidic, | | | | them. The only solution is to test over again and |
| not too alkaline). The salts in your water will | | | | learn by real-time practice. |
| neutralize the drop in pH, thereby maintaining the | | | | There is little to tell about exact measurements. |