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6 Responses to “How hard is it to take care of salt water fish tank verses a fresh water fish tank?”
you will first need… A BIGGER TANK! no saltwater tank with any fish can be truly successful (in my opinion) when it is less than 20g! saltwater fish are colorful, but require a constant maintenence program, involving LOTS of water changes.
i agree with the last comment u need a bigger tank 20g or more any salt water shop will tell u so ur fish wont survive i had a 55 g and it was still difficult first u have to wait a month with just the water in the tank and have the water checked once a week to see when the water is good then u can only put certain fish in for a lil while to make sure its stable then once u get nice beautiful fish it takes alot of cleaning and trips to the salt water shop to make sure ur water doesnt hit toxic levels. if u have time for this then i say go for it its definately nice and beautiful to have. i loved mine but it was expensive about 600+ to start including the tank, blower, filter, sand , any accesories and then the fish range from 25 and up the 25 ones are very small and not the nice beautiful ones minus the clown fish they were my favorite they were around that price. if u do decide to do salt water make sure u have a good salt water shop near you house ..
Salt waters are wayyyyyyy more expensive than the freshwaters. It’s generally harder to take care of (cleaning out the sand and knowing how much salt is required for the tank, and such), but the saltwater fish don’t live as long as the freshies do in captivity. It’s unsure why, but it’s just that way. Plus, something for a 10 gallon tank, I’d stick with little clownfish and some peppermint shrimp, or something of the sort. Many salties get a decent size and would require more of tank space than 10 gallons. Plus, let’s say you can get a 5 inch gourami at the pet store for about 5-6 dollars. Well . . . . , a 5 inch sea wrasse might be around 64 dollars, so salties are generally more expensive. I’m not trying to force you out of getting saltwater fish or anything (for I’d like to have some myself), but saltwater fish require more responsibilty and are pretty expensive.
If your going to start with a 10 gal tank I would strongly recommend a fish only tank. This will be cheaper and quicker to setup. To do so you will need to get some live sand started. This will take 1 to 4 week or so. To speed up the time go to a fish story and see if you can buy live sand out of their tanks. This will cost a little more but will really help to speed up the cycling of the tank. The cycling is where the tank builds. Go slowly! You can also do some research in Nano tanks. These are more complicated but it might be what your looking for.
I agree with the other posters in that Bigger is better. The cost does go up but if you take your time the cost can be spread out over months.
Things you will need are.
Tank with good lighting(2 to4 watts per gal.
Live sand (if you buy the dry live sand you will need to give it plenty of time to cycle)
Protein skimmer
Air pump
Decor
Carbon filter.
heater
water test kits.
And most likly a PH increaser/buff
Avoid using city water if possible. You might need a reverse osmos filter or to buy your water from a good source.
To do a reef tank which does not require the carbon filter you will need to get live rock and a power head to cause water movement.
Before you do anything you need to read,read and read some more.Go to some marine websites and ask lots of questions.There is a lot more to it than you think and it can cost a lot of money.My tank setup cost around $3500 newzealand .
Visit reefcentral and check out the forums.
March 29th, 2009 at 2:51 am
Peggy Brownell
you will first need… A BIGGER TANK! no saltwater tank with any fish can be truly successful (in my opinion) when it is less than 20g! saltwater fish are colorful, but require a constant maintenence program, involving LOTS of water changes.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Allen Boehm
Yes and more costly. and the smaller the tank the harder it is to take care of
March 31st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Norma Maddox
i agree with the last comment u need a bigger tank 20g or more any salt water shop will tell u so ur fish wont survive i had a 55 g and it was still difficult first u have to wait a month with just the water in the tank and have the water checked once a week to see when the water is good then u can only put certain fish in for a lil while to make sure its stable then once u get nice beautiful fish it takes alot of cleaning and trips to the salt water shop to make sure ur water doesnt hit toxic levels. if u have time for this then i say go for it its definately nice and beautiful to have. i loved mine but it was expensive about 600+ to start including the tank, blower, filter, sand , any accesories and then the fish range from 25 and up the 25 ones are very small and not the nice beautiful ones minus the clown fish they were my favorite they were around that price. if u do decide to do salt water make sure u have a good salt water shop near you house ..
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Steve Lum
Salt waters are wayyyyyyy more expensive than the freshwaters. It’s generally harder to take care of (cleaning out the sand and knowing how much salt is required for the tank, and such), but the saltwater fish don’t live as long as the freshies do in captivity. It’s unsure why, but it’s just that way. Plus, something for a 10 gallon tank, I’d stick with little clownfish and some peppermint shrimp, or something of the sort. Many salties get a decent size and would require more of tank space than 10 gallons. Plus, let’s say you can get a 5 inch gourami at the pet store for about 5-6 dollars. Well . . . . , a 5 inch sea wrasse might be around 64 dollars, so salties are generally more expensive. I’m not trying to force you out of getting saltwater fish or anything (for I’d like to have some myself), but saltwater fish require more responsibilty and are pretty expensive.
April 5th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Juan Irvine
If your going to start with a 10 gal tank I would strongly recommend a fish only tank. This will be cheaper and quicker to setup. To do so you will need to get some live sand started. This will take 1 to 4 week or so. To speed up the time go to a fish story and see if you can buy live sand out of their tanks. This will cost a little more but will really help to speed up the cycling of the tank. The cycling is where the tank builds. Go slowly! You can also do some research in Nano tanks. These are more complicated but it might be what your looking for.
I agree with the other posters in that Bigger is better. The cost does go up but if you take your time the cost can be spread out over months.
Things you will need are.
Tank with good lighting(2 to4 watts per gal.
Live sand (if you buy the dry live sand you will need to give it plenty of time to cycle)
Protein skimmer
Air pump
Decor
Carbon filter.
heater
water test kits.
And most likly a PH increaser/buff
Avoid using city water if possible. You might need a reverse osmos filter or to buy your water from a good source.
To do a reef tank which does not require the carbon filter you will need to get live rock and a power head to cause water movement.
They do sell premixed water so that might help.
Anyway good luck.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Parsons
Before you do anything you need to read,read and read some more.Go to some marine websites and ask lots of questions.There is a lot more to it than you think and it can cost a lot of money.My tank setup cost around $3500 newzealand .
Visit reefcentral and check out the forums.