You remember watching your pet goldfish swim for hours as a child? Now, as an adult, you want fish again but you want something more fascinating and difficult to keep. Maybe you have heard about reef aquariums from a friend or magazine and think you are up for the challenge. But reef aquariums are an entirely different animal (pun intended) and you have no idea where to start.
Before you get started with reef aquariums though, you should do some research on them. Reef tanks are more difficult than fresh or salt water tanks because the environment is more aggressive. The water requirements have to have the exact balance of chemicals and the currents need to be stronger too. Make a mistake here and everything in your tank can become ill. But don't be afraid, just take your time and get started slowly.
You probably noticed that a reef aquarium has different parts when compared to a regular aquarium. All of these parts should work together to create the aquatic environment that is needed for coral, but you might have difficulties getting everything to work together without buying a complete kit. Red Sea Max aquariums has reef tank kits that come with all of parts you need for a healthy tank, and their parts are built to be 100% compatible.
Another thing you need to purchase is the chemicals and reef base. Like I said earlier, the chemicals are used with plain tap water to make an environment for your fish and coral you put into the tank. The reef base is a type of substrate that you use at the bottom of the tank, it's like sand only larger and full of healthy minerals. You can buy both the chemicals and reef base separately but Red Sea Max has a reef starter kit with everything you need. I'd recommend getting this kit, especially if you are getting a tank from them too.
A good thing to keep in mind when buying a reef tank is size and Red Sea Max offers two different sizes, a 130 total liter (34 gallons) and a 250 total liter (60 gallons) size. Each of the tank sets come with similar mechanical parts, the 250 tank has more or larger pieces compared to the 130 tank. Really the only difference is size and which one you choose is up to you. You might also want to plan out which coral and fish you want to put into the tank, that way you can get one that is properly sized for them.
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Before you go, make sure to check out Red Sea Max and their full line of reef aquariums.
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