question

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fishdude

so i says to the guy....
Jun 11, 2003
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Im thinking about startinga salt water tank along with my fresh water. So I was wondering, are salt water tanks hard to maintain compared to fresh water?
 
I don't think it's as difficult as many would have you believe. I've had my reef tank up and running for well over a year and I spend a lot more time maintaining my freshwater planted tank than I do my reef tank.

You do need to premix fresh saltwater for water changes and test for a few more things than you would on a freshwater tank, but other than that it's not much more difficult...especially a fish-only tank. Reef tanks, on the other hand, are more complicated and very expensive...but it's worth it :)

Here's a few beginner links worth checking out:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/sbegin.html
http://www.aquaticcritter.com/Saltwater/briefintroductiontosaltwateraquarium.htm
http://www.bestfish.com/saltg.html
http://www.saltreef.com/StarterSystems/fishonly.htm
http://www.reefcorner.com/reef keeping_101.htm
 
There is more to do in the beginning with SW, but once you are up and running, it is actually easier in my opinion. There is a lot more to learn than in FW, due mainly to the chemistry involved in how seawater interacts with fish and various metals, but once you know your basics it gets easy.

So the answer is no, SW isn't "harder" than FW... just more fun! ;)
 
I'm with gvct--I spend way more time on the planted FW tanks than on SW. The SW critters are more expensive, and setup for a reef means more money into lights (mostly--lighting for planted tanks can be equivalent).
 
I agree, After tanks are up and running right, SW tanks take less time than a Planted Freshwater tank and are as easy.

Some good books to start reading are:

" Natural Reef Aquariums" by John Tullock

and

"The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner

Ray
 
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