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I'm wanting to start up a tank to have seahorse's, now i absolutely nothing about this, i've only ever kept tropical fish. the pet store said that i had to buy salt water to put into the tank, I have no problem spending the money to buy the water but my concern is that i live quite a distance from the nearest pet store, and was sure that i had read somewhere that you can make your normal water into the same as salt water. If this is true how do i go about it and would it be as good as the store bought salt water or not.

Firstly, can I advise you AGAINST seahorses or atleast re-consider them for a later date. Sorry to be so negative but they are unbelievably sensitive and not recommended for beginners. I know you've kept fish before but marines are completely 'new ball game' time and seahorses.... another planet. Please don't misinterpret this as 'don't upgrade to marines' but do so at a pace that you can legitimately cope with.

To answer your question, you can make your tap water into saltwater but I wouldn't recommend it. There are too many chemicals that aren't good for your fish/inverts. You will need to use either an 'RO unit' (Reverse Osmosis) to purify your water or buy 'RO water' from the LFS. Then just add aquarium-grade salt to the required amount and add to the tank. DO NOT add un-dissolved salt to the tank.

thats marine salt, not FW "aquarium grade" salt.

I assumed that would be self-explanatory but thanks anyway DarkRealm.

I assumed that would be self-explanatory but thanks anyway DarkRealm.

You'd be surprised.

I'm beginning to realise that actually. I'll try to remember in future - just don't want to appear patronising all the time.

Trust it from me, I also tried sea horses as a beginer to marine. It turned out to be a costly mistake. I have been busy with my marine setup for a year now, and I might consider trying it next year again, purely because the wife wants 2 horses.....

Sorry I haven't replied to you guys just couldn't hook up to the net. Thanks for the advice and I will leave seahorse's until i am confident i can keep them safely. I've read about reverse osmososis but i've also read about protein skimmers and the LFS said i didn't need one of them, but i'm not really sure what i need. Do you have any advice or beginner marine fish?
Thanks again for the advice

If you are really interested in finding out more about Seahorses, I just read two great articles on them in current magazines. You should still be able to find these issues on the racks at your local bookstore or pet store.

August issue of Aquarium Fish
2005 Aquarium USA Annual


If you are looking for just a beginner book on Marine Fish, you must try "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael S. Paletta

[span class="edited"][Edited by PeaceB2U 2004-08-07 14:39][/span]

Thanks heaps PeaceB2U but i'm only from a small town and i highly doubt that my newsagent would have the August issue of Aquarium Fish or 2005 Aquarium USA Annual. You wouldn't by chance know what company publishes these magazines so i can get in contact with them directly. I will also ask the newsagents if they can try to order these in.

Understand what you mean about the small town. I drove an hour to get to a store where I could purchase just these magazines. Since that time, I've sent in a subscription through Amazon.com

Both magazines are published by http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/

You can get past issues from the company through their site but I don't see the August one listed just yet, probably because it's still on the stands.

Good luck

[span class="edited"][Edited by PeaceB2U 2004-08-09 12:03][/span]