Thinking of starting a saltwater aquarium..

[DavidB86]

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking of starting a saltwater aquarium after keeping freshwater ones for about four years now. I just have a few questions before I start going out to splurge at the local petshop..

1) How much more expensive is it to maintain a saltwater vs a freshwater (I already know the fish are much more expensive )?

2) How much more time consuming is the upkeep of a saltwater?

3) What are the basic essentials I should buy when starting a salwater setup (pumps, filters, gravel or sand, live or plastic plants, foods, salts, etc).

4) How much more fragile are saltwater fish vs freshwater fish?

5) How long is the cycling process for saltwater tanks?

6) How big of a tank should I buy? Is a 55 gallon enough? Are their specialty tanks made for saltwater, or will any new tank do?


If theres anything else I need to know before I take the dive into this, please enlighten me

Thanks again!

[TheOldSalt]

1-
Well, there is the salt itself. Then there are testkits & supplements made for saltwater, and finally there is the lighting, which is the most expensive part of many setups. You'll spend a bundle getting set up, but after that, the cost is comparable to freshwater.
2-
The upkeep isn't inherently any more time consuming than freshwater, but it can't be ignored as long as it can in freshwater tanks. ( UNLESS you set your tank up from the start to be low-maintenance. )
3-
The very first thing you should buy is a good BOOK on the subject, as it will tell you a lot all at once and be a lot handier when you need it. After that, you'll need to first decide what KIND of saltwater tank you want, and then go from there accordingly. Most of the stuff you need is the same as for freshwater, actually, but saltwater does have a lot of various specialty items, again used according to the type of tank you want.
4-
Much more fragile. They come from the ocean, which means they aren't adapted for dealing with change very well, and they've been through a lot by the time you get them. After you get them settled into our tank, though, and if your tank is running right, then you won't notice much difference. Many saltwater fish can live for well over a decade in an aquarium.
One big difference between the two are in the area of diseases. Freshwater fish get a lot more diseases than saltwater ones do, but the ones the salwater fish get are very swift and have to be dealt with immediately. Quarantine plays a much bigger role in saltwater than it does in fresh, and if you ignore it you WILL fail. Period. On the plus side, most saltwater diseases are a lot easier to treat than most freshwater ones.
5-
Cycling can take 3 months or one single day, again depending on the type of tank and the equipment used.
6-
There are specialty tanks made for saltwater, but standard tanks work perfectly well. A 75 would be much better than a 55. Saltwater fish need their space.

The differences between fresh and saltwater aquarium keeping is much like the differences between baseball and softball. They are virtually the same, but with only a few critical differences. Actually, there is no difference at all, really, but it seems like there is to people. Any experienced African Cichlid keeper is already pretty much doing everything the same ways a saltwater keeper does and for the same reasons. It's all a matter of range. Range in pH, dissolved solids, and dissolved gases.. these are where the only differences truly lie between fresh and salt, and they aren't really differences, just adjustments.

[fishfingers]

Adding on...

1. Maintaining will incur a lot more expense as listed above. Also there is a much larger start up cost.

2. As said before, its not really that much more maintenance, but you need to be diligent.

3. Here's a basic list of some of the equipment you might find on a saltwater tank:

Sump
Weir/Overflow Box
Protein Skimmer
Powerheads
Lights (VHO,T5,MH)
Live Rock/Base Rock
Sand (a lot of different types as well as SSB,DSB,BB)
Saltwater (ASW,NSW)
Foods - Some common ones are mysis, enriched brine and spirulina
RO, DI, RO/DI filters
Quarentine Tanks
Refugiums

I've no doubt missed some out but I think thats a pretty comprehensive list anyway.

4. Yes, however if you do everything correctly, research your purchases and quarentine your stock then problems should be minimal.

5. How long is a piece of string? Things like type of set up, type of filtration, amount of filtration and method of cycling all come into play with this.

6. Yes there are, however I find most of them to be underlighted, underskimmed and underflowed (if those are words?). Your best bet would be to buy a standard tank and buy your equpiment seperately, that way you can customise your tank to your different wants and needs.

So I know I havent answered your questions specifically, but it would help if you did a bit more research so you had some idea as to what set up you'd like to achieve. A start would be researching fish only (FO), fish only with live rock (FOWLR) and reef tanks. These different set ups will then branch into different areas and the requirements will be different for each, which should enable you to ask more specific questions.

If your unfamiliar with any of the abbreviations I've used I;m sure you'd be able to find them on google, which will help you with your research too .

[Bear]

Originally Posted by fishfingers

Sump
Weir/Overflow Box
Protein Skimmer
Powerheads
Lights (VHO,T5,MH)
Live Rock/Base Rock
Sand (a lot of different types as well as SSB,DSB,BB)
Saltwater (ASW,NSW)
Foods - Some common ones are mysis, enriched brine and spirulina
RO, DI, RO/DI filters
Quarentine Tanks
Refugiums

You don't need a sump, overflow box, base rock, RO/DI, Refugium, or a quarentine tank, but it would def help you. If you are trying to just get the essentials to start with you don't need these. I didn't, but then I went through about 2 pairs of true perc clowns who got sick I was wishing I had

[TheOldSalt]

Case in point.
You do need to quarantine. Marine diseases are simply not LIKE freshwater ones in practice, although technically very much like them in theory.

As for that other stuff, some you need, some you don't, and again, it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Oh, sure, you can try to get by without some of these things in those systems where you shouldn't, but you'll probably regret it. Why do it the hard way when you don't have to?

[Bear]

^^^ correctamundo

I would say go ahead a pick the kind of tank you want to have and then come and ask how we would suggest you set it up (there will probobly be about 100 different offered ways to do it). But, then there are some of us here that would be able to lead you in better directions (TOS, Harif87, Reefneck, Osiris, to name a few)

[leveldrummer]

simple question... do you want a reef tank? (few fish, and live corals) or do you want a fish only tank? (just fish and some crustaceans)

you CAN'T have an anenome in a fish only tank. lots of light is needed for those animals, so if you want them, you need to go with a reef.

[DavidB86]

Well, my girlfriend's mother has an acrylic 80-95 gallon tank (not sure of exact ammount) that shes willing to give me with a stand for free. It housed 10 african chillads, and has been out of commision for about two months now sitting in her garage. Its pretty scratched up, but if im not mistaken theres acrylic kits you can buy to fix that.

Im looking to start off with something that will be relitivly easy to manage, probley just a few peices of coral, sand as a base, and 2-3 fish... maybe two yellow tangs and a clown or something of that nature.

I'll do some looking online for parts and stuff, can anyone refer me to a good site for that type of thing?

[Bear]

marinedepot.com, bigalsonline.com, reefgeek.com

all good sites

[Reefneck]

www.dancofishtails.net , www.drsfostersmith.com , www.championlighting.com

all great sites

[DavidB86]

Ok after looking around for alittle bit I came up with somewhat of a rough list:

Assuming the tank is 80-90 gallons

1) Emperor 280 Power filter - rated for 280 GPH

2) Danner Mag-Drive Supreme 9.5 Powerhead- rated for 950 GPH

3) Sea Clone Protein skimmer - rated up to 150 GPH

Are these good enough? Anything else essential that I will need (if so, please specifiy GPH I should be looking for)?.

I can buy the salt, sand, food, etc from a local fish store. However are there any recommendations/complaints about any certin types or salt or sand? What brands should I be looking for?


And one last question:
When i do set this tank up, im going to fishless cycle it. Is the process the same as a freshwater tank? Add ammonia and bacteria, and wait for levels in ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to drop to 0? Then buy one fish per week?

[Ice]

Welcome to the forums !

#1 - Ditch the filter. If you're having Live rock, the rock is your bio-filter.

#2 - Don't get Seaclone skimmer. They are garbage. Go for Coralife Super Skimmer or other good brands.

It's a good idea to get 2 powerheads and place one on each end of your tank for better water flow.

Invest in good lighting set-up such as Orbit PowerCompact, Metal Halides, VHOs, T-5s ... depending on what kind of corals you are planning to get. Some corals need very bright lighting. Choose your corals wisely and choose ones that are relatively easy to care for. Research and read up on corals and their care/requirements.

And the most important thing in Marine aquarium set-up is go slow. Patience is the key to a successful SW set-up. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. And remember - there is no such thing as dumb questions. Good luck !

[leveldrummer]

the mag 9 is listed as a power head, but i assure you, you dont want to put it in your tank. its a return pump, its huge. like ice said, get a better skimmer, skip the filter. and look for 2 seio powerheads, or maxi jet 900 or 1200. thats all you need.

[Reefneck]

Forget the Maxi-Jets.....Get the Tunze nanostreams now that they are out. Incredible powerheads. I make that statement from personal experience with SEIO's, Maxi-Jet's & Nanostreams!

EDIT: For those that have purchased SEIO's on my advice don't worry.....They are still high on my list of excellent powerheads and are still in my own tanks. Just something a little better has just come out but I will still recommend SEIO's and still use them.

[Ice]

Yep - Reefneck is right on the button on the powerheads.

[CarterNichols]

just buy a 12/29g starter kit, and study study study... it's probably the easiest/cheapest/safest way to go IMO