Saltwater for a newbie?

I am a newbie too... And my suggestion would be to learn the FW first.... and then move to SW

the new saltwater handbook by barrons is good, and the complete encyclopedia of the saltwater aquarium. also, try the articles and stickies at this site and others.

What kinda of saltwater tank do you plan to have fish only, FOWLR (fish only with live rock), Reef tank? What kinda of filtration do you plan to use DSB, plenum, refugium, wet dry/ sump, canister filter, live rock/ protien skimmer? I'm sure a newbie could handle seting up and maintaining a saltwater tank, but there is a lot more involved than a freshwater tank. Also the cost between SW and FW is a huge difference, for a FW tank you can expect to pay about $10/gal to set it up a SW tank can easily be $100+/gal. Another thing to think about is most SW fish are wild caught there are some that are aquacultured, but the majority are wild. So a QT/hospital tank is a necesity so you don't introduce any viruses/diseases into your display tank. Another draw back about wild caught fish is they may never learn to eat prepared food and could just starve to death.

Not to mention the conservation issues surrounding live harvest for aquarium trade. For instance, in the Phillipines, most tropical reef fish are captured by using large amounts of cyanide to poison the entire reef. Whatever's left over, is scooped up and whisked to the aquarium fish dealers. I shudder to think how many hundreds or even thousands of fish, inverts, beautiful coral reef organisms died for the sake of one fish that made it to the store alive for someone to buy for a measly $12.

:rant: dont do it. if you do your screwed

As a newb of 9 months, and having since acquired 4 FW tanks, I'd recommend doing a large FW first. It would get you into a good sceduling of tank maintenance, especially if you do it live-planted. Taking on a SW would be a daunting challenge for all the above reasons. But that's just my opinion.
Good luck with whatever you choose!!!

newtosnails said:

Sticking with FW sounds great to me! Thank you all for the honesty, I was already very reluctant to give into trying SW. I know now I'm not prepared to take care of all that! Thanks!

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I you really want to try a salwater tank they are not impossible to do. You just need to have a very good plan as to what you want the final tank to be. There is a lot of time involved in just the intial setup/cycle phase. If your doing a full blown reef tank it could take up to a year before everything finally balances itself out and the tank becomes stable. This is the reason most tanks fail is because people try to rush the tanks and end up with a disaster. It's really hard to look at a tank full of dull brown rock week after week and resist the urge to put something colorful in it. Once you get the hang of a FW tank and decide to take the plunge into SW read, read, read, everything you can about SW tanks. Also make sure your willing to put the time and money into the tank otherwise skip it.

plah831 said:

Not to mention the conservation issues surrounding live harvest for aquarium trade. For instance, in the Phillipines, most tropical reef fish are captured by using large amounts of cyanide to poison the entire reef. Whatever's left over, is scooped up and whisked to the aquarium fish dealers. I shudder to think how many hundreds or even thousands of fish, inverts, beautiful coral reef organisms died for the sake of one fish that made it to the store alive for someone to buy for a measly $12.

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A way to avoid buying fish that could have been captured using this method is to look for MAC certified fish. MAC is a non profit organization that is trying to establish a set of guide lines for the capture of wild marine creatures. It may cost a little more to get these fish, but if it helps to keep the natural reefs intact the price is worth it.

Here is the link to the MAC site.
http://www.aquariumcouncil.org/