fresh vs salt

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kamikaziechameleon

kamikaziechameleon

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Sep 23, 2010
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I would like to prerequisite this thread by saying I've never kept salt water ever.

I have at many times in my life priced out a salt water setup and it is always more money than I can conceivably spend. I don't see the draw in keeping salt without large scale tank and live rock/coral and it is just so much money on top of ten times the labor that I already put into keeping fish. This guy down the street from my parents setup a salt water tank that is only 180 gallons and cost more to setup than my current breeding setup I'm working on that consist of 5 - 75 gallon tanks, 2 - 125 gallon tanks, and 2 - 100 gallon tanks and 10 plus smaller miscellaneous sized tanks. I look at salt water and think about how much insane work would go into getting even half way to making a decent home for my fish that would make me happy and them happy and I wind up just setting aside 25 bucks to go to the shed aquarium, lol.

How do you saltwater guys do it. You are my heroes! This is not a thread about me starting salt water but just one where I'm contrasting the demands and I don't know where you salt gods get the time and money to make some of the tanks I see on here and keep some of the most amazing fish ever! The shark guys on here exceed my comprehension.
 
I hear ya. Salt water is nice but I wouldn't have the extra change to set one up. A buddy of mines has a small saltwater setup and he spent a few grands easy and he got all his corals for free.
 
I'm doing SW at the moment, but its only fish with rocks...other than the salt for water changes, the expenses are not too different if you're going Fish Only. Personally, I'm not into coral/reef setups because I'm still in the hobby for the fish, not into the technical/gadgets aspect of it.
 
i just set up a fowlr saltwater tank and its not that expensive and im 14. it seem to start to get really expensive with big tanks or high light demanding corals.
 
Doesn't seem that different than fresh water.

Only real difference is using rodi water for water changes. I really like just piping water strait from the tap.

And I really like when people ask if my fresh water tank is salt water.
 
I have 10yrs salt water experience and started off saltwater before switching over to freshwater. The misconception that most people have about saltwater is that it is more expensive and harder to keep...NOT TRUE! There is more to know but it is similar to freshwater in some ways, cycle process is same. Main difference is salt, protein skimmer, and RO water for fish only setup. For corals then add lighting, water chemistry: trace elements, calcium, iodide, strontium for the main four additives in correct amount and consistency is key. Your filtration will vary as well, if doing sump go with berlin style sump where its mainly empty no bio balls...or the more complex mud refugium. I find that saltwater fish only is cheaper to keep then freshwater. the most expensive saltwater fish is usually $200. Freshwater fish? Asian Aros, Stingrays, datnoids...etc. The initial expense to setup saltwater setup is more expensive and doing corals can add up considering corals are very fragile and risk of losing corals is much greater. but as for water changes in a saltwater fish only tank vs freshwater? If you have 2lbs of live rock per gallon for your saltwater tank, i kid you not, I did not do a water change up to 2yrs and my fish is healthy as can be....Freshwater water changes are a pain in the buttt....of course there is more to it then what I can explain but if you set up a proper fish only saltwater tank, water changes can cease completely if you choose to, if you set it up correctly. just replace evaporated water with fresh RO WATER.
 
I got a really good deal when I set up my Marine tank,
Foxface
white eye moray eel
panda dog face puffer (rare)
paratilapia Poleni (rare)
all for under $100 because the LFS was shutting down. I set it all up for abour a year and everything went great, untill one day I went on holiday, returned to find that the puffer had died, the other fish had eaten his flesh and died of poisoning, so the whole house stank of decaying fish. after that i went back to freshwater and I have never looked back.
marine cant be overcrowded, the stockings are more precise and the fish cost at least twice the amount of freshwater. yes they look beautiful and are very interesting but for every marine fish, there is a freshwater counterpart.

my verdict, if you have enough money to afford and maintain then go for it, its wonderful! but dont expect to be able to stretch the rules a little.
 
Does anyone struggle to keep new salt water fish alive? My parents have 2 tanks, both salt water. It seems that every second fish they buy dies within 1 week, sometimes a few days. Mostly small Angels. They feed, they seem fine, then boom, wake up next morning and its died.
Or another example is a tang(can't remember which type, but it had purple spots on it). They had him for about a month minimum, he was fine, no issues at all. They then added a sail fin snapper(possibly) and then he went dark and lost all his spots and stopped eating. Within 2 days, he died. Then the sailfin died a few days after that.
It just seems that saltwater fish are more delicate than a lot of freshwater fish.
 
daleteekz tell them to stop buying small angels and tangs for now if its a newer tank, both types of fish are fairly fragile, especially the small angels. have them start with some clowns or something that are fairly hardy. at the moment i have a 10 gallon salt, had a 46 a couple months ago but went back to freshwater (not due to cost, i enjoy freshwater more) - scrounge craigslist, keep an eye out for deals, and the two biggest money savers - NEVER BUY LIVE ROCK OR CLEAN UP CREW AT THE LFS - can find rock for 2-3$ a lb on CL whereas a store will charge you anywhere from 5-12 bucks a lb, usually 1.50-2.00+ for hermit crabs or snails, lots of websites will wholesale and ship cleaners cheap, easy to find hermits/snails for .40-.50c a piece and even less sometimes
 
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