Saltwater Aquarium Supplies & Reef Equipment

1489 saltwater aquarium supplies — lighting, flow, filtration, skimmers, controllers, water chemistry, foods and maintenance gear
This is everything we stock for a saltwater tank, in one place. Lighting, return pumps and powerheads, protein skimmers, sumps and filtration, controllers and automation, salt, test kits and water chemistry, foods, live rock and sand, and the maintenance ge... Read more Show less

This is everything we stock for a saltwater tank, in one place. Lighting, return pumps and powerheads, protein skimmers, sumps and filtration, controllers and automation, salt, test kits and water chemistry, foods, live rock and sand, and the maintenance gear that keeps it all running. We carry EcoTech Marine, Reef Octopus, Neptune Systems, Kessil, Red Sea, Hydros, Aqua Illumination, Hanna Instruments and more. Use the category links below to jump straight to what you need, or filter by brand and price.

Watch with chapters, transcript & related products
Saltwater Aquariums

Saltwater Aquariums

Saltwater aquariums and reef tanks for sale, from nano and all-in-one systems to large reef-ready displays.
Skip to results list
Filters
1489 items
Filter
  • D-D Funktion Wave FPW13000 wavemaker pump with digital controller on white background
    Sold out Notify me

    Funktion Wave - FPW13000 Wavemaker - 3,430 GPH - D&D Aquatic Systems

    Funktion Wave - FPW13000 Wavemaker - 3,430 GPH - D&D Aquatic Systems
    $229.00
Watch with chapters, transcript & related products

Top picks

Top Reef Aquarium Equipment Picks

Compare the strongest options in this collection at a glance.

Answers

Saltwater Aquarium Supplies & Equipment FAQs

What equipment do I need for a saltwater aquarium?
At minimum you need an aquarium and stand, a heater sized around 2.5–5 watts per gallon, a thermometer, circulation pumps, filtration, marine salt, RO/DI or treated source water, and test kits for salinity, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, nitrate, and phosphate. Reef tanks add coral-appropriate lighting, and most stocked systems also benefit from a protein skimmer.

How much does it cost to set up a saltwater aquarium?
Budget by system size rather than tank price alone. A complete 10–20 gallon nano typically runs about $600–$1,200 with light, flow, heat, salt, and testing included. A 40–75 gallon mixed reef with a sump and skimmer usually lands between $2,000 and $4,000, and 100 gallon-plus builds with controllers and dosing often pass $5,000 before livestock.

Do I need a protein skimmer for a reef aquarium?
Not always, but most stocked reef tanks benefit from one. A skimmer pulls dissolved organics out before they break down into nitrate and phosphate, and it improves gas exchange. Choose a model rated for roughly twice your system’s actual water volume. Lightly stocked nanos can often stay clean with regular water changes and good mechanical filtration instead.

How much flow do aquarium pumps and powerheads need to provide?
Size a return pump for about 5–10 times display volume per hour after head loss, then add powerheads until in-tank turnover reaches roughly 10–20x for a mixed reef or 30–40x for an SPS-dominant tank. Aim for broad, changing flow that keeps detritus suspended without blasting coral tissue or scouring the sand bed.

What aquarium supplies should I buy first?
Buy life support first: tank, heater, circulation, filtration, salt, RO/DI water, and test kits. Add lighting matched to the corals you plan to keep, then a skimmer as the bioload grows. Controllers, dosing pumps, and auto top-off come last, once the system is stable and you know what it actually consumes.

Dive deeper

Dive Deeper: Building and Supplying a Saltwater Aquarium

A reef tank is a system, and the saltwater aquarium supplies you choose in each category have to work together. Lighting drives coral growth, which drives element consumption, which sets how much dosing and filtration you need. Buying piecemeal is how people end up with a beautiful light over a tank that cannot export nutrients. This collection is organised so you can shop by system, not just by product.

Shop by Category

Aquariums and stands. All-in-one nano systems through large rimless display builds, plus sumps and stands sized to match.

Lighting. LED reef fixtures from EcoTech Marine Radion, Kessil, Aqua Illumination and Reef Breeders, plus mounts, hanging kits and refugium grow lights.

Flow and circulation. Powerheads, gyre pumps, wavemakers and DC return pumps from Aqua Illumination Nero, IceCap, Sicce, Tunze and Reef Octopus.

Filtration and protein skimmers. In-sump and hang-on-back skimmers, media reactors, filter socks and roller mats, UV sterilisers, and filter media.

Controllers and automation. Aquarium controllers, probes, sensors, dosing pumps and ATO systems from Hydros, Neptune Systems and Kamoer.

Water chemistry and testing. Salt mixes, two-part and Balling supplements, trace elements, test kits, reagents and refractometers.

Foods and maintenance. Frozen and prepared foods, coral foods, magnet cleaners, siphons, tubing, buckets and replacement parts.

Live rock, sand and aquascaping. Dry and cured rock, aragonite substrates, reef mortar and frag hardware.

What a Complete Saltwater Setup Actually Needs

SystemNon-negotiableNice to have
Water movementReturn pump + one powerheadControllable gyre, wave programming
FiltrationMechanical + biological mediaProtein skimmer, roller mat, UV
LightingReef-spectrum LED sized to depthApp control, second fixture for spread
ChemistrySalt, refractometer, alk/Ca/Mg testsAutomated tester, dosing pumps
StabilityHeater + backup thermostatController with alerts, battery backup
Top-offManual RODI top-offATO with optical sensor and reservoir

Buying Advice From Our Team

Buy the skimmer for the tank you will have in a year, not the one you have today. Undersized skimmers are the most common regretted purchase in the hobby.

Spend on flow before you spend on filtration. Most nutrient problems are detritus problems, and detritus accumulates where flow does not reach.

Do not cheap out on the RODI unit or the refractometer. Every other parameter you measure depends on the water and the salinity reading being right.

Standardise your brands where it helps. A controller, doser and flow pumps from one ecosystem talk to each other. Mixing platforms works, but you give up automation depth.

Why Shop With Top Shelf Aquatics

We have been keeping and selling saltwater livestock and equipment since 2011, out of a 40,000-gallon facility in Winter Park, Florida. Everything we sell, we run on our own systems first. If you want to talk through a build before you buy, our team keeps reef tanks for a living and will happily tell you when a cheaper option is the right one.

Popular Collections

Jump to aquarium controllers, reef tank dosing pumps, water testing equipment, saltwater fish and live rock and aquarium sand.