Advanced Tips for Enhancing Your Saltwater Tank: Techniques for Experienced Hobbyists

Congratulations! You've set up the saltwater aquarium of your dreams and have some basic experience. But don't feel like that's the end of the journey. There's always more adventures to be had, and now is the time to really stretch yourself and spread your ... fins. Fishkeeping is a hobby where there is always room to improve, learn, and try something new. If you're looking for some advanced techniques to improve and enhance your saltwater habitat, we've got some fun and useful ideas to try.

Coral

An elaborate and realistic saltwater aquarium needs coral to shine at its best. There's something special about those natural, colorful structures as an important living backdrop for the rest of your saltwater fauna.

Propagating coral

Obtaining live coral for your aquarium can be costly, and adding fresh corals into an existing aquarium environment might be disruptive for its sensitive inhabitants. That's why it can make sense to grow new coral as your aquarium ages, or you increase its size. While coral breeding is possible in an aquarium setting, it's quite rare.

At the hobbyist level, it's much more effective to propagate coral by fragmentation (aka "fragging"). This process requires separating pieces of existing coral and then regrowing those pieces into larger ones, similar to the method gardeners use to propagate potatoes. It's a slow process at first, but within a year, a small frag can become a new piece of coral for your saltwater habitat.

Other than the time involved, fragmentation has the advantages of being affordable, easy, and non-disruptive to the existing marine habitat. You can help promote the growth of certain corals with a coral supplement.

Calcium additives

And while you're thinking about propagating coral, take a moment to consider what the coral is made of. Sure, there are the soft-bodied "living" tissues of the coral, but the hard surfaces that we often equate with the word "coral" are constructed of a chemical compound known as calcium carbonate. Think eggshells, chalk, or seashells — all are the same material as coral. (Your bones contain calcium too, of course, but it's in a different form.) In order to build their tough skeletal structures, corals need access to calcium. So if you're planning to propagate coral, you can help them out by using a liquid calcium supplement to resupply the needed calcium as your corals, snails, and coralline algae use it up.

Advanced Filtering Options

You've likely had a simple filtering system installed from the beginning — some all-in-one aquariums like the Coralife BioCube have this built in. Filtering systems are essential for circulating the water in your habitat and removing unwanted physical contaminants. But as you progress in your marine aquarium journey, you might want to look into some filtering systems that perform other useful functions.

Protein skimmers

Not all of the contaminants in your aquarium are solids that are easily screened out by a basic filter. Some, like ammonia, nitrites, and phosphate, are dissolved in the water and require a different approach. You can add a protein skimmer to your tank to help address this issue.

The protein skimmer creates a froth of tiny bubbles, and the soluble contaminants are naturally drawn to the bubbles, where they hitch a free ride out of the aquarium. Eventually these unwanted wastes find their way to the top of the protein skimmer, where they are amassed in a collection cup that you can easily dispose of. For your saltwater tank, you could also try a combination protein skimmer with a marine filter and combine two tasks into one.

Biological filters

Sometimes it's helpful to think outside the box. There's another type of aquarium "filter" that isn't mechanical, doesn't run on electricity, and doesn't rely on moving the water around. This is a biological filter, though the word "filter" here is used somewhat loosely.

You're probably familiar with the concept of keeping snails in your aquarium for the cleanup of decaying vegetation or leftover fish food. They're helpful for having around for macro (large scale) tidying of the habitat. But your friendly snails aren't so helpful at the micro level, where the soluble contaminants thrive.

Try adding beneficial microorganisms to your aquarium. A Coralife Bio-Ball encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria. It also has the fantastic side benefit of converting ammonia and other fish wastes into a form that is easy for your protein skimmer and other filters to dispose of.

Brand-new aquariums don't yet have a population of beneficial bacteria, so you can get the process rolling by seeding them with a product designed for saltwater habitats.

Marine Aquarium Optimization

Aquariums can be complex environments. While a saltwater aquarium opens up new underwater worlds for you to explore, it's more complicated than a freshwater aquarium, so you have more aspects to monitor to keep a healthy environment.

Water temperature: You can monitor this with a thermometer since a specific temperature range is needed for the exact species you keep in your aquarium.
Water salinity: You don't want the marine simulation to be too salty or too weak. Your fish need it to be just right, and you need to add salt that is safe and intended for marine aquariums as required. And you'll need to measure the salinity with a hydrometer.
Water pH level: Just like soil, water can lean towards acid or alkaline. Again, some marine species require different pH levels for their best health. A testing kit or test strips can get you the solid numbers, which you can then correct with certain chemical additives.
Water chemical levels: Ammonia, nitrite, and calcium amounts can fluctuate, but you don't want them to. Again, a testing kit can provide you with the real data you need to make beneficial corrections.
Regular cleaning: Your filters do a great job, but sometimes you have to scrub algae or similar residue from the aquarium walls. You don't want to introduce stray bacteria from your skin into the habitat, and you also don't want to come into contact with the aquarium's inhabitants or healthy bacteria. You can solve both problems by using arm-length rubber gloves whenever cleaning or handling portions of the aquarium. Another clever product is an algae-cleaning magnet that lets you scrub the inside of the glass from the outside!

Creative Aquascaping Ideas

You probably began with some basic decor in your aquarium, but once you're moving along on your fishkeeping journey, you might want to get a little more creative. Aquascaping is interesting because you're not simply creating a background for the fish, you're making a complete environment.

Study other aquariums

You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Look at other aquariums stocked by advanced fishkeepers, in person or online, and see what they've done. Visit the store where you purchased your fish originally and take a second look. This time, not at the fish but at the decor and aquascapes used in the aquariums. (Going in person can be helpful because you get a three-dimensional view.) Instead of focusing on the items used for aquascaping, look at how they're used and how they create a visually interesting composition. How can you mimic it in your aquarium?

Make thoughtful rearrangements

It may not be enough to just place rocks or coral pieces into your tank — think carefully about placement. Don't necessarily keep everything symmetrical, as it's often more artistic and natural to have more visual "weight" on one side and leave some "negative" (empty) space on the other side of the aquarium. An odd number of items is usually preferable over an even amount.

The rocks used in aquariums are often fairly soft and can sometimes be pried apart into smaller pieces you can use more creatively. You can even use waterproof epoxy to construct a large and attractive rock structure complete with tunnels for the fish to swim through. If you don't have to rely on stacking the components, you're free to create some beautiful scenes and avoid the common pitfall of "pyramid building." And don't underestimate the importance of lighting!

Choose the right color substrate

Whether you use sand or larger pebbles for the ground substrate in your aquarium, it's common to gravitate toward the fun, colorful options. Bright and colorful is fine, but you may find that it's actually competing for attention with the rest of your aquascape. It might even deter from the overall aesthetic. Experiment with black or dark gray substrate to better enhance the colors of the corals, fish, and vegetation. It's kind of like "dark mode" for your tank. That said, if you do like fun colors, be sure to select colors of substrate and corals that complement each other — so off to the color wheel for you!

Advanced Techniques are Within Your Ability!

There's a lot to think about as you optimize your tank as an advanced fishkeeper. Habitat health, filtering, and coral propagation are all interesting aspects of this exciting hobby. Take things slow, and don't be afraid to ask for help on a specific issue when you need it. Odds are, whatever your question is, someone has been down this road before! Good luck. You can do it!