Custom Saltwater Aquariums
When an aquarist determines to set up her or his own custom saltwater aquarium there are so many opportunities to create an individual and unique aquarium look.The size of the tank, the types and size and color and species of fish, the rock, corals and other accoutrements – all can be decided individually to create a really custom saltwater aquarium.
If the aquarist decided to use live rock in the custom saltwater aquarium the safest thing for the tank’s environment and inhabitants is to cure the rock before adding it to the tank. These live rocks are a nice addition to a saltwater aquarium to make it look custom made.
Live rocks need to be cured though. Unwelcome organisms reside on uncared rock and these organisms can contribute to the aquarium’s accumulation of excess organic matter. What happens then is that the ammonia builds up and can kill the fish and other live species in the tank. To avoid this live rock should be cured before it is added to the custom saltwater aquarium.
An aquarium or any plastic container big enough to hold all the live rock is okay to use. It should be filled with saltwater. The mixing of the saltwater solution can be done ahead of time or right in the container. The container must be heated and then a water or power head pump inserted into to the water to oxygenate and circulate the contents. Once the temperature and pH levels are accurate the water pump and heater should be turned off, and then half of the water moved to another container. The rocks that are going to be added to the custom saltwater aquarium should be cleaned before being added to the curing solution. This lessens the time it takes to cure the live rock.
When all the live rocks have been placed in the curing container the additional saltwater should be returned to the container until full. The water pump and heater should be turned back on. Now the curing starts. This is primarily a wait and see process where the aquarist does nothing more than siphon off the organic matter that settles to the bottom of the container. This could take as long as a month. Factors that determine the time it takes to cure live rocks for a custom saltwater aquarium include the amount of organic matter that has to be removed, the quality of the rock and how much curing the rock actually had before the aquarist’s curing process began.
There are two easy ways to tell if curing is complete. The first is when the container stops smelling. The second is when a test of the ammonia level gives a zero reading.
While live rocks aren’t the only ways to give a saltwater aquarium a custom look it is one of the most popular.