What is eveyones feelings on Salt Water Tanks vs. Fresh water tanks. I know that salt water is very time consuming and expensive but I know very little about salt water predators as compared to fresh water predators. I would love to maintain a Salt water tank but know very little about it............any feedback would greatly help in making my decision......
Salt Water vs. Fresh Water let the debate begin
- Thread starter Dezel98
- Start date
Salt water is worth the time! unfortunately a lot of people for whatever reason had bad luck with salt tank sometime in their life and could not blame it on themselves so they tell everybody and their momma that saltwater tanks are impossible to take care of I say do it but you should always keep 1 saltwater tank for every 2 Fresh tanks it is a real good rule of thumb to live by...
i think we have already had this discussion....it was like 10 pages long....and kept going in circles...but Freshwater won! 
saltwater fish are prettier. bottom line. That's why i'm starting a saltwater tank. Not as hard as people make it out to be. People i know in person tell me all the time that saltwater tanks are horrible and that their fish always die on them. Then they have us check their water and its off the scale. They don't filter it properly, they overload the tank with fish, and they usually forget the protein skimmer.
Theres more variety in saltwater,fish,inverts,corals and all.Freshies have a tendencie to be a little more drab in the color dept. but as far as personality,for fish,I'd say its a dead heat.Predators Hmmmmm, Id say that saltwater predators have a little more specalization,More of a niche factor,were as fresh water really dosnt get that as much.Its a judgement call.I really dont think that salt is anymore difficult to keep than fresh,if anything its the other way around.Saltwater tends to be more stable and more flexible as far as how many types of filtration set-ups you can use.Fresh water is much more limiting as far as that goes,its either wet/dry,hang-on,or canister and small variations on these,but relativley the same.Salt are a bit more on the pricey side this is true,but if you shop smart you can keep the cost down.What ever you do,DO YOUR RESEARCH on every aspect of the system from live stock to substrate to filtration to lighting.The more research you do the better you will understand your system,the better you understand your system the more success you will have.
to me salt water is more work but the look of the fish is no comparesion to freshwater , salt water is deffanetly not for the novice .. soon I will get in to salt but for now I'm mastering the fresh .... I under stand that your house/appt/room etc has to mantain a speciffic temp aswell as the tank?? correct me If I'm wrong.... 
Freshwater IMO for many reasons.
1) Freshwater is cheaper
2) More diversity (most saltwater fish are reef fish, freshwater fish come from lakes, streams, rivers, ditches, coldwater, warm water, caves etc.) Keep in mind that around 42% of all the worlds known fish are freshwater, that is a lot considering only one percent of all water on the planet is freshwater.
3) Most saltwater fish are wild caught, sometimes through very destructive means.
4) Saltwater is more difficult to maintain
5) The color of the fish. This one may seem odd but it is true. Freshwater fish can pretty much change color, healthy fish display wonderful color and it changes with their mood. You can often tell if a freshwater fishkeeper is doing good or not based on color. Saltwater fish on the other hand always display the same color no matter what.
With all that said, I would like to try a salt tank some day but there are soooo many freshwater fish that come higher on my list than any saltwater.
1) Freshwater is cheaper
2) More diversity (most saltwater fish are reef fish, freshwater fish come from lakes, streams, rivers, ditches, coldwater, warm water, caves etc.) Keep in mind that around 42% of all the worlds known fish are freshwater, that is a lot considering only one percent of all water on the planet is freshwater.
3) Most saltwater fish are wild caught, sometimes through very destructive means.
4) Saltwater is more difficult to maintain
5) The color of the fish. This one may seem odd but it is true. Freshwater fish can pretty much change color, healthy fish display wonderful color and it changes with their mood. You can often tell if a freshwater fishkeeper is doing good or not based on color. Saltwater fish on the other hand always display the same color no matter what.
With all that said, I would like to try a salt tank some day but there are soooo many freshwater fish that come higher on my list than any saltwater.
I Have a 300 gal. F.w. and a 230 gal. reef, They both have there positive and negative sides. But S.W. seems much more rewarding when you do it right..
When Company, or Friends stop by more people are amazed by the SW than the FW. But I have seen some planted FW tanks That are far more beautiful then most reef tanks.
Mike
When Company, or Friends stop by more people are amazed by the SW than the FW. But I have seen some planted FW tanks That are far more beautiful then most reef tanks.
Mike
I currently have freshwater set ups, but i had a saltwater before... yes, saltwater takes more work to establishment. And is a lot more expensive, and i agree Saltwater fishes & corals have Beautiful coloration to the max. But the only one thing i really hate about a Saltwater tank is that Salt will start to build up on and around the tank, somtimes on the filter too. But that's it.
Someday i will start up another Saltwater set up. But for now it's only Freshwater!
Someday i will start up another Saltwater set up. But for now it's only Freshwater!