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by: TheAquariumLady
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A salt water aquarium emergency kit is crucial to have along with all the other equipment you need when you own any kinds of tropical fish or marine life. These kits will ensure that you actually can cope with any emergencies to your salt water aquarium as and when they arise.
These kits are vital if you find yourself in a situation where you need to suddenly change some, or all of the water in your salt water aquarium. Plus such first aid emergency kits can help you to deal with situations, where you are faced with a number of the fish in the tank becoming ill.
What Equipment Should You Include In Your Salt Water Aquarium First Aid Kit
The first piece of equipment that one should be purchasing as part of a first aid kit when keeping a salt water aquarium, is a quarantine or isolation tank. This is where you place those fish which have become unwell and offers you the time to actually discover what is really causing their illness. By placing the fish or other marine life into this small tank, you are preventing further contamination occurring in your main saltwater aquarium tank.
The next piece of equipment you need as part of your salt water aquarium emergency first aid kit, is a water test kit. This will ensure that all the right levels of nitrates, proteins and salt are in the water, which will provide the proper environment for the fish and marine life in the tank. Also these test kits will give you advance warning of any problems that could cause harm to the aquatic life in the tank.
Another piece of equipment you need for your emergency first aid kit for your salt water aquarium, is some water conditioner. This works on destroying ammonia which can accumulate in a salt water aquarium and is vital, if you intend to put any varieties of poisonous tropical fish into the tank. The conditioner works on neutralizing the poison which the fish may well release when it is first put into a new environment, straightaway.
If you are in a position, then you should purchase an alkalinity and pH buffer for your salt water aquarium emergency kit. This works on bringing the levels of pH back to the right levels when you have had to change some or all of the water in the tank. But you can't just add the buffer, you also need to add some baking powder as well at the same time. For every 20 gallons of water which your salt water aquarium tank holds, you need to add 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
Other Items To Consider Buying For A Salt Water First Aid Kit
As you will soon discover there are times when you need to provide medication to fish which are ill, and you may want to have some in your first aid kit for your salt water aquarium. But you need to be aware that although these are useful for treating some fish, some medications can prove harmful to other marine life, especially those that make up reefs in your tank. What you need to do is take those fish from the main aquarium and place them into the quarantine tank where you can give them the medication. Plus with some medications, if you are not aware, can actually cause damage to your salt water aquarium's filter system.
Another piece of equipment that many would consider essential in their salt water aquarium first aid kit is a sea salt mixture. At times you may find that water needs to be replaced and the freshwater you replace it with, needs to be treated first, to bring it up to the right salinity levels before you incorporate it into the tank.
A couple more items that are worth considering purchasing for having in your salt water aquarium first aid kit, is another water heater and a canister filter. The heater is there should the one currently in your aquarium fails. Whereas the canister filter should be placed in your salt water aquarium, if you find yourself in a situation where medication has been added and you need to help to clean the tank to remove it.
Before departing, come see the extraordinary designs of Other Shapes Aquariums at The Aquarium Lady.