Saltwater aquarium known as well as marine aquarium, this type of tank is  expensive and more

demanding then a freshwater tank. With a little help and with the right guide you can setup your own

saltwater tank. In my opinion if you have the suitable equipment it will sure help you avoid

future problems.  

Equipment list:  

1- Aquarium- the bigger the tank, the easier to maintain it, in small tanks any changes in water

parameters or drop in temperature will lead to a disaster  while large tanks are more tolerating. In this

type of tank (saltwater), as the tank goes bigger the expenses are more significant. 

2- Aquarium gravel- substrate such as crashed corals are ideal for saltwater tank.  

3- rocks- high quality rocks are essential; as the hobby develops we can see more and more fish

keepers using live rocks.  

4- Saltwater mix.  

5- Hydrometer or refractometer- in order to check and monitor your salinity you should use hydrometer

or refractometer, refractometer is very accurate while the hydrometer use to fake, purchasing

refractometer will be a smart move, you don't want your tank to crush because your hydrometer

fakes.  

6- Heater.  

7- Protein skimmer-don't go cheap! the protein skimmer is one of the most important and essential

equipment in saltwater aquarium.  

8- Power heads and wave boxes.  

9- Sump- Working with a sump is the right thing to do in saltwater aquariums, it is easy to maintain,

media capacity are huge and you can store the hearer, Power heads and other equipment inside it. 

10- Replacement media- filter floss, crushed rocks and activated carbon.  

11- Aquarium vacuum, fish net, aquarium scraper, 2-3 five gallon clean buckets, aquarium

thermometer.  

12- Saltwater fish food.  

13- Saltwater test kits- in order to test and to monitor your water parameters you will need test kits

 such as Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphate, and Alkalinity  

14- Quarantine Tank.  

15- Reverse Osmosis.  

First thing before entering the hobby is the need to understand that fish are animals just like a cat or a dog and responsibility comes along, responsibility expressed by the need to perform water changes, feeding the fish on daily basis, monitor water condition end even to spend some money on them (fish food, media, medicine), saltwater aquarium expenses are something you can't ignore, its recommended to keep all this in mind before you start your aquarium setup.  

Before purchasing an aquarium you should do your homework and make your self a list of fish that you want, once you know what kind of fish you desire it will be easy to match a tank, sump and equipment. Purchasing equipment should be done slowly with a lot of homework, make sure to buy appropriate equipment from the beginning instead of purchasing something you will regret later on and then you will need to replace it. After deciding the tank size you desire and the equipment you need it is time to find the best place for your tank, it should be placed away from windows because you don't want temperatures and light affect your tank, sunlight that enters the room can cause to algae problems and affect the temperatures, it will be smart to avoid it.  

It is also recommended to place your tank on a massive stand that will be able to hold the tank weight, to know your total tank weight you just need to multiply gallon tank 10 times, for example 100 gallon tank will weight 1000 pounds (including water), to this calculation add your rocks total weight. Wash out your tank (and your sump) with water only, using chemicals or soap can poison your tank, same thing with your gravel, be sure to wash it with water only in order to remove dirt, do the same with the rocks, If you have live rocks don't wash them at all, put the gravel and the rocks in a bucket, you will need them later on.  If you want to paint the back glass tank this is the time to do so, blue and black are common paints that give the tank illusion of depth and highlight fish colors, after painting let the tank to sit for 1-2 days to allow the paint to dry.

When the aquarium is dry you can place it on the stand, now you should hook up your sump to the main tank. Install your heater, protein skimmer (if it is not external), and other equipment you have in the sump, don't plug the equipment yet just place it. Now it will be a good time to fill your tank with reverse osmosis, be patient the process takes time, while the tank fills up with water you can add the salt while monitoring water salinity with the hydrometer or refractometer, hook up your wave box in order to mix the salt, after the tank is half full with water (stop water at this point) test your salinity again till you have got specific gravity between 1.020 and 1.024, make sure that all the salt mix had dissolved before you make your last salinity test, let the water "run" for at least 2 days.  High quality rocks are essential in order to built prosperous bacteria colony, some use live rocks while some prefer dry rocks. In my opinion in this type of tank (marine) you can save some money and purchase dry rocks. Now you can add your substrate (crushed corals) and then place your rocks inside the tank.  Before adding any fish you have to wait, you need your tank to be cycled, this process can take several weeks, in this period of time you need to monitor your aquarium water with your test kits, check your PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Carbonate hardness levels, also check your water salinity, this are the parameters that you will need to keep: Temperature: 24-27c (75-85F).Ph- 8- 8.4.Salinity - 1.020-1.024. Ammonia: 0. Nitrite: 0. Nitrate- 10 PPM or less. Carbonate hardness: 7-10 dKH.  

After your tank has cycled you should pass water to your quarantine tank and operate equipment, when your quarantine is ready it is time to purchase your first saltwater fish, in order to acclimate the fish dump the bag into a clean bucket and then add about 1 cup of aquarium water to the bucket every 10 minutes, do this acclimation process for an hour at least, then take the fish net and carefully introduce the fish to its new home (quarantine tank), in the first day there is no need to feed the fish, month pass by and it is time to move the fish to the main tank, acclimate the fish carefully for at least half hour.