If you have been focusing on a freshwater aquarium setup this far, you might wonder how they differ from salt water tanks.
It's important to know because should you choose to, you can transition your freshwater tank into a salt water one with ease.
Let's have a look at the differences: 1.
Costs Freshwater tanks come as African Cichlids, New World Cichlids, brackish tanks, planted tanks and predator tanks.
Salt water tanks are different, and you'll get Fish Only tanks, Fish Only with Live Rock (FOWLR) tanks, and Reef Tanks.
Fish Only are the lowest in terms of start up and maintenance costs but as you progress to Reef Tanks, you will be paying more.
Where you would spend about $300 for a freshwater aquarium setup, you will spend about $1300 to set up a reef tank - that's just to give you an idea of how much you'll be paying.
You can escalate the maintenance in the same ratio as well.
The increased cost comes because you have to buy additional testing kits, live rock as well as protein skimmer to culture live coral.
As an aside, you may be tempted to get started on your salt water tank without live rock, but it's never a good idea.
It acts as a filter as well as provides food for the little organisms within your tank that help to provide a healthy tank environment.
Go ahead and invest in some so that you can get started off well.
2.
Water changes Water changes are much easier in a freshwater aquarium setup.
As you know by now, changing your aquarium water is the most important thing that you can do for your fish.
This is the same for a salt water tank, only it's done a bit differently.
With a freshwater aquarium, you don't take out all the water - maybe 1/3 so that you don't take out the friendly bacteria that process wastes in your tank.
You then refill with de-chlorinated or filtered water.
A salt water tank needs the salt water to be premixed in advance (a few days) in a bucket.
3.
The fish Salt water marine life species are more varied and delicate and you'll be paying more.
There are some common ones that are cheap, but many will come with prices that may surprise you once you have owned a freshwater aquarium setup.
You will generally pay more than $15 for each, and then they will cost you quite a bit to maintain.
Remember you'll also want to put some invertebrates in there and these cost money.
The farther you are from a coastline, the more you are likely to pay because of the special transportation conditions involved.
4.
The quarantine process Most salt water fish will come straight off the sea or ocean and will have to be quarantined before being put into the ready salt water tank.
You'll need an extra tank set up for this, and it can tend to slow things down a bit for the enthusiastic aquarium keeper.
Quarantining ensures that the fish do not bring in diseases from the wild.
Freshwater fish are mostly farm bred and will not need this - just make sure you acclimatize them gradually.
As a note, you can get farm-bred saltwater fish, but they'll cost more than the straight-from-the-sea ones.
5.
Invertebrates A salt water tank is not complete without them.
You need to put them into the tank and this is an added cost.
You can get clams, corals, worms, sea stars and many more.
The overall result of course is a much more vibrant fish tank with a very healthy environment.
In summary, a freshwater aquarium setup is very much easier and for the beginner or for those who don't have lots of time to do maintenance, or lots of money to spend, it's a recommended choice.
A salt water tank is great if you have money and time.
The variety of fish species that you can put in alone is simply amazing!