Are Salt Water Aquariums More Difficult Than Fresh Water Aquariums?
by Cam
(San Francisco)
There is a common rule of thumb among aquarium stores that salt water tanks are more difficult to maintain than fresh water tanks. However, this is not necessarily true. Jellyfish tanks are easier to maintain than many fresh water tanks because jellyfish have such a low metabolism. People think salt water tanks are difficult to maintain because they give you the option to keep some very advanced, exotic species. However, having a salt water tank does not mean you have to keep more difficult fish. For example, the Red Legged Hermit Crab is extremely hardy and is a salt water creature.
The only extra work required by every salt water tank is maintaining the salinity. Our jellyfish tanks have very low evaporation rates, so maintaining salinity takes only a few extra minutes per month. Simply check the salinity before doing a water change. If it is near the maximum threshold of jellyfish (1.028), you add some fresh water in addition to the replacement salt water. This will bring the salinity down. If it is near the minimum threshold for jellyfish (1.024), you add some aquarium salt in addition to the replacement salt water. This will bring the salinity up. Be sure you don't use tap water in a jellyfish tank. You can use filtered or distilled water or water bought from an aquarium store.
Salinity will only go up due to some of the fresh water evaporating, so once your salinity is within 1.024 and 1.028, you will never need to add aquarium salt. Once you have salinity above the minimum jellyfish threshold of 1.024, you don't have to ever worry about the salinity being too low again. Don't let the misconceptions about salt water tanks keep you from trying jellyfish. Caring for salt water fish can range from very easy to very difficult and luckily jellyfish fall near the easy end of the scale.
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