FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I'm might consider sometime in the future to change my freshwater tank to a saltwater tank. I am a beginner so I started out with a freshwater tank. My only concern is that I have heard of a lot of people who change the tanks back from saltwater to freshwater becuase of the excess care the saltwater tank requires. ( I've heard most about all the testing it needs) Anybody have any comments?

[span class="edited"][Edited by IhAvEsOmEfIsH 2004-08-14 01:36][/span]

I have 4 SW tanks, and one FW tank. And the difference in work is only slight. I enjoy my SW tanks far more.



Dan

However, as a beginner, you are probably not qualified for a saltwater tank. It may not take that much more care, but an unexperienced person will quickly end up with a tank of dead fish.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

That's an awful thing to say. Saltwater is a completely different world from freshwater. There are very few ideas/practices that are carried over from freshwater experience. So, in a way, everyone that start's up a saltwater tank is a begginner.

As a begginner, I suggest you read as much as you can about keeping a marine aquarium. After you feel confident enough to take the saltwater plunge, I think you will find that it isn't as hard as you once thought. My 2 suggestions to anyone interested in keeping a marine tank are:

1. READ! READ! READ! Read everything you can get your hands on about saltwater aquaria.

2. Go SLOW. Patience is one of the main ingredients to a successful saltwater tank.

Good luck.

-Justin

[span class="edited"][Edited by jmt1somr 2004-08-14 12:03][/span]

I started saltwater after failing at Freshwater. I had two tank wipeouts with freshwater and have lost only a few Saltwater fish. The ones I lost were mostly due to them jumping, getting caught in rockwork, etc. Not things I did wrong. I used to feel that you should do FWE first but Have started to change my opinion there. Just dont' start with a small saltwater setup.

Actually I've had far more success with SW tanks than I have with my FW. I had quite a few losses in the beginning of my FW days. I can't even count how many fish, one disaster resulted in the loss of about 17 fish though.

I've never once lost a SW fish.

My familly had a saltwater tank far back (before I could remember) and my mom had to replace the fish about every other week becuase they kept dying. Thats why I'm being shy on the SW tanks

It's not true that salt water and fresh are totally different....it is the same matter of knowing, looking at water parameters and to maintain/correct them in a proper manner. Just that saltwater might have a few more parameters to watch and are generally less tolerant to faults. (not always true, Discus are less tolerant than many of the SW fish)

Hench I think if you know the proper way to keep freshwater then you can learn how to keep SW without great difficulties. But I do think starting off with FW is better because most of them are more tolerant and cheaper....