# saltwater VS freshwater



## sean117Ply (Apr 12, 2007)

I have had freshwater aquariums for ages, the fish i keep are african cichlids......I am now considering going marine, I kow my basics e.g. biological filtration, ph scale stuff like that. My question is how BIG is the step from fresh to salt???........My reasons for wanting salt are the amazing fish and the thought of my own eco-system.

Another question i would like to know is the weekly and monthly maintenance??? e.g. water changes.

Any advice people can give me is welcome, i would like as many replies from saltwater keepers as possible so i have the advice i need to go marine....


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

I have moved this to the salty section for you


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

First lets start with what you would like to keep. Are you going with the reef setup( Corals, etc.), Fish only with live rock, or preditator tank. Theres not much difference between all of them except the reef setup.


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## dave12678 (Jan 24, 2007)

The care I put in is weekly. I don't have my setup running yet. I have alot of evaporation so I have to add a little water everyday. Its alot of work right now trying to get everything up and going but its worth it. I haven't had this much fun with a hobby in a long time. I have a 54g reef tank, and as soon as I build a DIY auto top off and get my fuge up and running I have to do weekly water changes and add water every other day. I am still new at this to so I know I am not doing everything right


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## sean117Ply (Apr 12, 2007)

*s v f*



usmc121581 said:


> First lets start with what you would like to keep. Are you going with the reef setup( Corals, etc.), Fish only with live rock, or preditator tank. Theres not much difference between all of them except the reef setup.


I would like to just keep fish with liverock


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## nbassis (Apr 12, 2007)

While I do not have live rock, I do have fish. Your maintanence will be quite regular. At least monthly water changes but that is the easy part. Just keeping a pretty close look out at your tank to see whats going on. Sine you live on the mianland i presume you are mixing water and therefore testing your water is a must. Luckily i do not have to do this. If you ahve the opportunity to get water from a local aquarium then i would do it. They ahve the best water i my local aquairum only charges 60 a year for unlimited purified quality saltwater. it is the best. And your job is made much easier. But once you get it running then about every 3 weeks or so, your tank just needs a good cleaning of the filters and a water change.


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## AF_medic (Feb 18, 2007)

I've had a tengallon SW tank wil live rock running for about a month now. it's actually not hard to maintain. it's just more expensive to setup! after that, as long as you can check your salinity, and set the tank up with something to buffer the water well, I don't find it hard at all. I just added a couple of corals to mine.


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

dave12678 said:


> The care I put in is weekly. I don't have my setup running yet. I have alot of evaporation so I have to add a little water everyday. Its alot of work right now trying to get everything up and going but its worth it. I haven't had this much fun with a hobby in a long time. I have a 54g reef tank, and as soon as I build a DIY auto top off and get my fuge up and running I have to do weekly water changes and add water every other day. I am still new at this to so I know I am not doing everything right


That is hardest part. Getting it up and running. Once its up just weekly chores and some minor daily tasks.


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## sean117Ply (Apr 12, 2007)

I recon the saltwater fish have so much charecter


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