salt water?

[Jim]

I may be getting a new tank from my friend and was wondering how much more expencive (fish and supplys) and harder (PH and adding salt) it is to maintain a salt water tank than a freshwater.

The tank is in the 30's (gallons) i'm not sure yet.

I know salt water is very pleasing to the eye so i thought i woult ask the experts first  :lol:


JIM

[hummer]

awesome question actually i was curious myself. Was thinking about running a saltwater setup but didn't know what was envolved. heard it was alot of work.

[yellowtang]

hello there guys!!!!!
As a salt water keeper...I can tell you how pricey salt water can be.
I got a 33g reef and it has about $1200 already spent on it.
to make easier for you guys to understand I will explain.
Live rock $7.99 per lbs...x tank size 1 1/2 lbs of rock per gallon.
bucket of salt. $69.00
skimmer $150 min. a good one $300+
sand bed $45. live sand
lights.....min of $350 if have small tank, larger tank bigger bucks.
corals average $20 each softies.$35 hard ones.
test kit $40 +
fish $6.99 damsels, other kind $20+
power heads min 2 $25.00 each.
heater submersible $35.00
that is the beginning...........I must of have lost about
6 fish ever since I started plus corals as well.......
but one can only learn  from mistakes.
this is just my two cents........other members can tell you other things......
good luck and take your time and read about SW.
   

[redbelly]

SW is a large financial investment. yellowtang's outline is rather basic actually (meaning its a simple set up with no sump or refugeem or anything...)

its well worth it if you do it though. just keep in mind, the old things that happen quickly in SW, are bad things. so take your time setting it up.

[Nerine]

psst if you are wiling to travel for some stuff go to Montreal hehe
live rock is 2 or 4$ per pound depending who and where you go!
and yes salt can be much harder to keep up and it is very expensive! I'm setting up a huge saltwater tank, and as far as I've gotten is buying the tank haha the rest is too expensive for me right now! I was given a price list from a guy in Montreal who is willing to help me set up, 10,000$ is the price he quoted me for everything, there's a bit extra there to replace fish lost lol but yeah it's expensive haha but well worth it! they are beautiful fish and if you take your time you could have a BEAUTIFUL tank on your hands

[Jim]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I might just go freshwater untill i'm a little more experienced!

Jim