I just wanted to take a few moments on some tips that I personally have learned with my experience in keeping marine life in a closed ecosystem. These are not in the order of importance but things I have found to be helpful.
1) Heating and Cooling - I have made the mistake of trusting a $50 dollar heater to keep the reef at a equatorial temperature. I would highly recommend the up front cost of a high end titanium heater and on the safe side a chiller. The chiller and heater are more of a balancing act in case one of them goes bad. Both should have a temperature setting and should shutoff at the desired target temp.
2) Quarantine Tank - It is my belief that if you are into this hobby it is a MUST to have a quarantine tank. This will preferably be a bare tank with PVC pipes for cover. This can serve as a location to treat sick inhabitants as well as keep specimens in a holding location after purchase. You can then treat all new community members with Copper or Paraguard as well as keep corals in a location in case those too have parasite eggs or other enemies of your tank. Anyone that does not recommend this to new hobbyists are doing the hobby and the new enthusiast a big disservice. Mine does not have an established biofilter because of the medications used would depress or destroy the live rock and sand.
3) Tank Occupancy - Before you purchase your finned friends you need to research their possible maximum size for the tank. You see too many marine beginners purchase a Pacific Blue "Dory" tang for their 30 or 50 gallon tank. These animals can get up to a foot in length and it would be inhumane and irresponsible to place creatures in a location that you cannot take care of them. In my opinion responsible choices for animals is a duty of humans as their benefactors.
4) Proper Nutrition - Many species of fish have certain requirements and feeding them a diet that they consume in the wild will help them to fight disease and strengthen their immune systems. There are very good foods out their like Rod's Food and Selcon additives that can prevent diseases such as HLLE.
5) Tank Parameters - The following are recommended for the reef aquarium and should be monitored weekly to maintain a thriving tank. Once you have consistent readings you can back off to every other week or whenever you perform your water change.
Nitrite - <0.2 ppm
Nitrates - <0.2 ppm
Ammonia - <0.1 : TOXIC
Phosphate - <0.03 ppm
Salinity - 35ppt or 1.026 (should be fine anywhere from 1.021 to 1.027 - Keep it consistent.
Alkalinity - 2.5 - 4 meq/L or 7-11 DKH
Temp - 76-83 F
pH - 8.1 to 8.3
Magnesium - 1250 to 1350 ppm
Calcium - 380 to 450 ppm
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