How hard is it to keep saltwater tanks? Coral Tanks?

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jasno999

Feeder Fish
Nov 9, 2004
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King of Prussia, PA
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I was wonderign how involved and hard it is to keep a saltwater tank and for that matter one that is a coral tank?

I would love to get a huge 180gallon+ sixed tank someday and if I do I am thinking saltwater. And I love coral so I was thinking about that too.

I wanted to hear rom you guys what you think about the saltwater tank.


How hard is it to maintain?

How difficult is the salt maintance?

How hard is it to keep fish healthy?

How expensive is it?
 
I'm also very interested in sw tanks, I'm considering a nanocube since I've got so little space. Anyone (hint hint Paradise :)) shed any info/tips on them? Could I keep those beautiful cowfish or cardinals that Andreas Werth has in a nano?

Thanks :)

Presumably jasno the bigger the tank the easier it is to keep, like fw is. So your bank-breaking 180gallon (I hope you become a lawyer or something, cause that size tank must cost thousands o.0) should be easier to maintain than my nano. Maybe *shrugs*.
 
it all depends on alot of things really. i've got a friend that has a 125 that is filtered by the live rock that is in the tank and nothing else. The only equipment he has on it are some powerheads to create current and a heater for winter. And lights of course, but the rest is just a pretty low tech and low maintenance tank. All he does is water changes every couple weeks, and top offs with RO water.

I on the other hand have a 5 gallon FW with amano shrimp, and threadfin rainbow fish (and a bunch of snails which get fed to our texas) - and the only thing filtering that tank is the plants contained in it.

We've also got a 20 with no filter or heater on it (the 5 has no heater either). We like the low tech approaches to things - especially with tanks.

So if we were to get a tank, we'd have it FOWLR (fish only with live rock) and have the live rock filtering the water, with powerheads to create surface agitation to provide O2 to the fish and rock.

All really depends on your experience.
 
OK, here is my personal opinion.

In SW you dont need a filter that is true, live rock for biofiltration and pumps to run currents (not just surface agitation but also a current in the tank, you DO need that. That works (short term). In a long term you need a protein skimmer, calcium reactor and all that stuff, if you are planning to keep corals. In FOWLR you are basically doing an equivalent of a freshwater tank in SW. While I like SW fish, my main fascination w/SW is the corals. The fish themselves are very secondary.

On a nanocube, it's not that hard to take care of it. You can only keep basic stuff in it (like basic zoo polyps, mushrooms) unless you do modifications to the lighting (places like my friend Cris' www.nanocustoms.com) which are expensive. Also the corals are pricey.

To give you an idea of a project on nanocube, here is an approximate (not even close to real numbers) breakdown in cost:

Nanocube DX $125 (good price, usually more expensive)
S-stand (optional) $69
Live rock (15 lb) $60
Saltwater - cheap about $10 to start and about $5 a month
heater - $15
Chemicals you "need" like calcium, magnesium, strongtium $45 total (you can do that in Month #3 after cycling).
Clean up crew (snails and hermits) about $20-30 (at $2 each average).
Corals - $20-40 each average, need about 10-15 to setup the tank. but this is over a long period, dont suggest adding any until month #3 and then only about 1 per week minimum.
Fish - personal choice. NO cows, but cardinals are a perfect fish for a Nanocube, they are about $15-20 each.

BTW, Andreas' pics are NOT from a nano, but a public aquarium.
 
Cheers!

Wow, corals are expensive... I think I need a job first o.0

What size is your cube, would that size be suitable for two cardinals (I may have fallen in love with them...)? :)
 
Two cardinals are ok in a Nanocube (12g). Depending on what you have in there, no other fish, though.
They are great fish, peacefull.
 
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