Freshwater Or Saltwater?? U Decide

[joestyx]

I personally have never setup a saltwater tank (but want to), but i have had many freshwater tanks....Now in my experience freshwater can get quite expensive, I know that SW tanks can get pretty pricey themselves....My question to you all is which is the easiest on the pocket, and i mean the full out everything included with the tank for each and the most time consuming on the aquarist???

[pistolpete3521]

I'm torn aswell ...

[judgemax]

well, it depends on what you want with your fresh water set up. if you are going planted, CO2, plants ect, can get pretty pricey. But salt water is killer in the long run, because you always have to buy salt..guess it just depends on where you heart lies

[joestyx]

yeah, but the works for each though

[Rbishop]

I can see either set up being somewhat similar in intial pricing, depending on what bells and whistles you want and what size of tank. The upkeep over the long run will be a bit more for SW.

[joestyx]

really, i would have thought that SW would take this category and run with it.....

[Marxman187]

im sorry joestyx i know this is of topic but i see your posts alot and have a question for you but didnt want to make a new thread just for one q.ok can you tell me how old you dempsey in the picture is? it is a male right?

[joestyx]

im sorry joestyx i know this is of topic but i see your posts alot and have a question for you but didnt want to make a new thread just for one q.ok can you tell me how old you dempsey in the picture is? it is a male right?

well i have had him for about 3 months now, and i'm guessing when i got him he couldn't been any more a month or 2 old, so i'm guessing about 5 months old

[Grins]

I keep marine...it will more expensive than you imagine. However...from what I can gather about some of the nicest FWs tanks so can they. Same goes for their upkeep. SW is definitely doable, more so than it ever used to be in my opinion.

I really think nowadays it comes down to which do you want more in that tank?

[Notophthalmus]

You can make either variety of tank as expensive as you want to. But looked at from the other direction- it's much easier to set up freshwater for cheap than saltwater. Even a minimal SW setup will run you some serious money (unless you keep really hardy SW critters, live on the beach and can go scoop up some seawater for your water changes).

[Grins]

Scooping up seawater from the beach? Ewwww no way I'd do that on most beaches.

[Mgamer20o0]

i know nothing about sw and i know i would never put something from the beach into my tank lol..........

fw is really scalable. its really up to you. you can go for super cheap to decked out tank possibly costing more then sw.

[joestyx]

well i have always wanted a SW setup of some sorts, but i've always had FW and i will tell you that the amount that i've spent on my 3 tanks, i could've had my SW tank by now

[Grins]

See? Build what you want so you'll be happy. Since you have FW now maybe a small SW setup will be the best of both worlds.

[joestyx]

i want to do it so bad, but i know once i start setting it up that it will turn out to be like my FW tanks and become an obsession with buying all different types of stuff and breaking my pockets....

I look at some of the setups on here and think to myself and say what in the world do there people do for a living to be able to afford all this neat stuff? LOL

[Grins]

We buy used, we save our pennies, we sometimes see something we really really want and think "ramen noodles aren't all that bad"....

But no one in SW is going to tell you that you won't become obsessed. It is highly addictive.

[Lupin]

I've kept both FW and SW so I get to choose FW in the end which is not as expensive as the SW at least.;)

[joestyx]

"ramen noodles aren't all that bad"....

LOL........that's pretty funny

[legendaryfrog]

The cost between FW and SW can vary a lot, but it can also be very similar depending on the particular setup.

a saltwater tank without any live rock or coral can be just as cheap as a regular FW tank....however, many people say that a SW tank without live rock is just missing a lot of the saltwater character. I would say that a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tank is similar in price to a planted FW tank. But in my opinion, the planted tank looks a lot nicer in comparison.

And dont even think about coral if you find normal aquariums to be expensive.

[joestyx]

it's just that having a fish tank in general whether it be FW or SW, it just seems that it's an ongoing process and the tank is never done and the aquarist is never satisfied therefor costing lots of money even for the simple setup.....

[Sploke]

Thats the fun of it for me...my tanks are all in constant flux, both SW and FW. Aside from having an established cycle they are never in a period of stasis, I'm always changing plants or rockpiles or driftwood configurations, looking out for new plants or corals. The largest cost is the up-front purchase of the system. Now, if you start off FOWLR and then decide to go reef, yes a few powerheads and some nice T5 lighting could make another big dent in your pocket. But, once you get it set up, you can do a lot through trades. I started off purchasing maybe 2-3 different types of plants and now have maybe 10-15 through trading with people. With corals, find some local reefers and trade frags, many will even sell you frags pretty cheap. Thats the only way I'm able to afford constantly getting new stuff...If I were always paying LFS prices I'd live in a cardboard box.

[joestyx]

If I were always paying LFS prices I'd live in a cardboard box.[/quote]

Yeah I hear that

[Horchata]

salt all the way. ive never set up a fresh water tank. Only salt. My buddies have fresh, and i cant see myself doing it. Salt is too much fun

[Debra Mark]

we have both as well....and, even though we've spent a TON of money on the FW build (and EVERYTHING costs more with a big tank, from food to meds)....I'd still have to say that gallon for gallon, fish for fish, SW will always cost more.

oh well....it's only money, right?

;)