# Interested in Saltwater Aquarium.



## SinX7 (Oct 20, 2012)

I'm interesting in a Saltwater Aquarium tank, but before I do anything, I want to do some research and get an idea. 

How much would it cost to own and maintain a saltwater tank? (Estimate.)
Are they harder to maintain compare to Fresh/Tropical fish?
What size tank would be a minimum?
Special requirements?

Thanks!


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

SinX7 said:


> I'm interesting in a Saltwater Aquarium tank, but before I do anything, I want to do some research and get an idea.
> 
> How much would it cost to own and maintain a saltwater tank? (Estimate.)
> Are they harder to maintain compare to Fresh/Tropical fish?
> ...


Estimate all depends on wether your doing a Fish Only or Reef Tank.
Cost to own also would depend on wether you plan on using all the correct equipment. If you use a very good skimmer, and a Refugium or Algae Turf Scrubber, all it would take to take care of the tank a month would be, the cost of fish food and coral food. As with using the correct equipment, you don't need to change your water as often.
A Fish only tank is not any harder to keep than a FW water tank.
20g tank would be a recommneded starter tank, as that is the smallest most Marine fish would require to be kept in.
Special requirements? I don't understand that one, but here is the normal list I give to all new Marine people.

#1-Dry Rock, there are a few hitchhikers on Live Rock that people want to stay away from, so they opt for using Dry Rock, or Dead Rock. Macro Rock is a good place to start looking for that. Either way you go you will need a minimum of 1lb per gallon.

#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.

#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads.

#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume. Unless your tank is under 30g, in which case you can do 10% water changes a week to rid the system of detrius. But, you'll have to watch the water parameters close, if things go haywire, you'll have to do more water changes.

#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.

#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.

#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one

#8-Rubber kitchen gloves

#9-Fish net

#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets

#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.

#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock.

#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.

#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water.

#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank

#16-Heater rated for your size tank.

#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.

#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash.

#19-Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, or GFO and such)

#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 2-3" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep.

Volusion Demo Store

Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle and Cycling. Methods for Ammonia, Nitrite Removal.

aquarium heater in Aquarium & Fish | eBay

power heads in Pumps | eBay

New 0 10 Salinity Refractometer Salt Water Aquarium | eBay

MarcoRocks Aquarium Products

Bulk Dry Live Rock & Live Sand - Bulk Reef Supply

Live Rock and Live Sand: Live Saltwater Aquarium Rock and Sand

Fish & Aquarium Supplies: Marine Substrates, Sand, Crushed Coral, Live Sand

Aquarium Lighting, Light Information; Reef & Planted, PAR, Watt, Kelvin.

http://live-plants.com/

What Your Coral Needs | Successful Reef Keeping

t-5 lighting in Home & Garden | eBay

cree led aquarium in Lighting | eBay

Aquarium Salt Mix: Salt for Saltwater and Freshwater Fish Aquariums


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## SinX7 (Oct 20, 2012)

Wow thank you! Answer all my questions and provided with more useful info!

Guess I'll hold off for a while, since I want to build a really nice Reef tank.

Thank you!


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