How to cycle your tank

   The nitrogen cycle is a natural reaction that provides nitrifying bacteria to your tank. This is what makes a tank healthy and starts the biological filter.  To start the reaction you must introduce fish.  Fish produce the three compounds to start the cycle: ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite.  High levels of these compounds can be lethal to your fish, therefore you must start with one or two fish (I recommend small fish like chromis) and let the growth of the nitrifying bacteria catch up with the waste levels. Then you can add more fish.  It usually takes around 30 days for a tank to cycle, but there are ways to have a cycled tank in one day, which I will go over later.  You must always add fish slowly, it may be hard to restrain yourself after waiting so long, but try to add only a few fish a month, depending on your size of tank for how much a few equals. For a 50 gallon tank I would do around 3 small fish or one medium fish.

Picture of brown algae

   During the 30 period of cycling your tank you will notice algae outbreaks the first is brown, then green, then maybe red. You will want to panic and try to clean everything but remain calm this is natural and will eventually go away.  If the growth is excessive you can scrape out the algae and by doing so you are physically removing nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia that the algae uses for food.
   Remember to check back for more on the 1 day cycle and algae. Thanks for reading!

What is Live Rock?

   You may be wondering, how can a rock be alive?  Well, the actual rock is not alive. Live rock started from ocean and is the dead skeletons of corals. The porous structure of the corals becomes a host site for nitrifying bacteria which is necessary for the "nitrogen cycle" which I will go over later.  Live rock's purpose in an aquarium is to act as a biological filter, and to act as decoration.  The main goal for your live rock is to have it encrusted in coralline algae (good algae). Coralline algae is purple, pink, white, green, and blue. It appears crusty and hard. The most common color for Coralline algae is purple.  Once you get your tank "cycled" you may start growing Coralline algae which is a good sign that you are making progress.

 
   Here is an example of live rock with purple coralline algae growing on it.

   When you first get your live rock it is suggested that you have 1-2 pounds of live rock per gallon of water.  so a 50 gallon tank would need around 50-100 pounds of live rock.  Remember your live rock acts as a biological filter, so the more you have the more filtration is built into your tank. Thanks for reading stay tuned and I will show how you can make your own custom live rock.

Choosing a Tank

   There very first step in getting started in saltwater aquariums is choosing what kind of setup you want.  I could go on forever about every option you have, giving you millions of combinations. Since this may be your first tank I will say the bigger the tank, the more expensive it will be to buy and upkeep, but the smaller the harder it will be to keep stable water conditions. A one gallon tank would be very difficult to keep and is only for people with years of experience.  A good compromise for a first time saltwater tank is around 50-75 gallons. My first tank was a 60 gallon tank which was a great start and I still have it setup after 3 years.

   Once you have decided on a tank size, you need to decide what kind of fish or corals you want to house.  There are 3 main types of tanks (FO) Fish Only, (FOWLR) Fish Only With Live Rock, and Reef Aquariums. Fish Only tanks are the simplest, you can house any compatible fish. (FOWLR) are almost equally easy,but some fish may be harmed by live rock so you must check before you buy.  And my favorite, Reef Aquariums, these are the most difficult aquariums, but are also the most beautiful. You must check for compatible corals, fish, and water conditions. This may sound difficult but it is quite simple and picking the fish and corals for your tank is one of the most fun things in the hobby. To show you some of the compatible fish  I am talking about here is a link to a compatibility chart.
   Once you decide on the type of tank I will post some specifics about each setup. Thanks for reading stay tuned!