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Salt water environments are often described as marine environments. Salt water fish need different environments to live in to tropical fish and therefore to keep a marine fish tank you need different equipment than to keep a tropical fish tank.

The most obvious difference between marine and fresh water aquariums is that marine tanks require salt. Do not get this confused with table salt, what you actually need is marine salt.

Warm salt water can evaporate rapidly, a large size tank can lose over 25 litres a week, and as marine fish are not used to large fluctuations in salinity an automatic top-up device can be used to regulate the environment.

Such a device involves a float switch that is located in the main tank and connected to a pump in the top-up water. When the level drops the switch alerts the pump to top up the main tank.

To tell you how much salt is in the water you should get a piece of equipment called a hydrometer. These are cheap and simple to use. You should use one during water changes and sometimes to check the levels in the main tank. Some come with built-in thermometer as well.

Another vital piece of equipment you’ll need is a protein skimmer, as this will help to maintain clean marine water. A protein skimmer should be used alongside a conventional biological filtration system or as part of a natural filtration system in conjunction with living rock in your tank.

Some other equipment that you should have to keep a successful marine tank includes a cooler, or a chiller. This is basically a refrigeration unit that is connected to the main tank and as water gets pumped through it, it is chilled and then goes back into the tank. Chillers are necessary because of all the electrical equipment that gets used in fish tanks nowadays, as it all uses power that produces heat and marine do not require that amount of heat.

You might need some other pieces of equipment too for a marine tank but the ones mentioned are the basic requirements. Be sure to do some research about the kind of fish you’d like to keep and get some advice from an expert before you buy any fish. Remember that keeping a marine tank can be expensive so make sure you look at all the costs before you start.