Salt water aquarium?

Question

I'm considering starting a salt water aquarium. What is the smallest aquarium you can have? What is the cost? How much time per day is needed to maintain it? Please give me any info you can that might help in my decision.

Answer 1

Salt water aquariums need not be that difficult to get going. I don't know where you live, but there is a tank kit that most pet store in North America called the Marineland eclipse 29 gallon. It comes with a heater, 3 stage filter system and florescent lighting. If you are only interested in marine fish (and the odd invertebrate), that is a good tank to go with. All you would need is a hydrometer test kit, salt,about ten pounds of live sand, a few pounds of live rock and some reverse osmosis cleaned water. You can maintain a tank like that with no more extra work then a regular tank (except that you would have to pre-mix the salt water). You only top-up evaporated water with more water (no salt). Some of the newer-designed fake corals look pretty good. The difficulty comes when you start trying to take care of corals. They require exact feeding and water quality and to maintain them you would have to purchase skimmers, refugiums, halide lights, sumps etc.

Answer 2

Your initial start-up cost for a 55 gallon tank (the minimum a beginner should start with) is around $500.00 (everything included).

Smaller marine tanks are very hard to keep healthy for beginners. You need a lot of experience to deal with all the problems associated with water quality in the smaller systems.

If you have never had an aquarium, I would start with a freshwater tank and after gaining some maintnance experience, then move on to saltwater. The best thing would be to have an experienced hobbyist help you get started either way.

Answer 3

I have salt aquariums from 5 gallons to 150 gallons. They do not have to be terrible expensive or difficult. I would probably say start with a 55 gallon - easier to maintain. A tank with fish and live rock - no corals - doesn't need the high lighting like a reef tank - really the regular lighting that comes with the kits. Once sett up maintenance is fairly straightforward - weekly water changes like a fresh, and top offs to keep the salinity even.

Books like "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" and web sites like Wet Web Media are a good place to research.

Answer 4

Please get a book. Or, go to an aquarium specialty shop and talk to an expert. Not Petco or Petsmart, those people are idiots. So are some of the folks on this website. I have seen inaccurate information as best answer. This is too important to trust idiots.
Salt water aquariums are very time consuming. Not to mention EXPENSIVE!!!
And fragile. One mistake and the whole tank dies and you have to start over from scratch.
Electricity alone will be a big chunk out of your budget. These tanks require alot of equipment which need a lot of power.
Please seek expert advise from a local sourse, NOT the internet. Anyone can write anything on the internet, true false or indifferent.

Answer 5

I have a 39 gal. reef tank as my first saltwater tank. I started it 5 months ago. Here is the major expenses.(aprox) Slat-$40, Tank lid-$25-$60, Tank-This greatly vareys with what you go with. My 39 gal. was $48. Light-Good one-$100-$250. Substrate-$30-$70, Live Rock- You can go heavy on rocks or just a little.-$45-$200 Snails and crabs-$30-$55. Tank Stand-This depends on the style $50-$400. Fish-starts at $6.99-$100++.
I love my tank, but there is no way I could afford to have anything bigger than a 39 gal right now.

-Remember the bigger tank you get means the bigger light, stand, lid, gravel, and rocks you will need.

-Many days you don't have to do anything but feed the fish
-Put aggressive fish last eg.damsels
-Take is slow and think so that you don't waste money.
-I am 17 and this "small tank" has been no hassle for me and I have had little problems. I have had no water quality problems so I don't feel intimidated by the testing thing. I was at first.

Answer 6

Drs. Foster and Smith is a great aquarium supply catalog and they have a website (DrsFosterSmith.com) with very good information for beginning enthusiasts. There is also a great magazine call Tropical Fish Hobbyist which has very good information about both fresh and salt water hobbies.

Answer 7

Some interesting read if you're starting a aquarium hobby...The basics of keeping your own aquarium.

Answer 8

shouldnt be 2 much

Answer 9

alot of $$$$$