Saltwater Aquarium, how hard is it, really?

In My Humble Opinion
1

and what do I need to know that I don’t even know I don’t know?

To start, I’ve been running a freshwater aquarium, more or less successfully for a few years now. I’ve always wanted a saltwater tank but figured I should cut my teeth on freshwater. A few months ago the ‘good’ fish store in my area closed (Hoffers, for the MKE dopers). Over the past few years I learned that the cheap fish from PetCo died after a few months and the “overpriced” fish from the good place would last a few years. Now, with the good place closed I’m thinking this might be a good time to make the switch. There’s hardly any good, local, places to buy freshwater fish, but there’s quite a few neighborhood stores that sell salt water fish. Also, not for nothing, but the online fish store (liveaquria . com) is close to me. Not close enough to drive to, but close enough that shipping would be very fast. But I have no idea about the quality of their live stock.

Anyways, over the years I’ve read more than I care to think about regarding saltwater tanks and I always seem to end up more confused. There’s so many differing opinions.

So, what do I need if I want to get started? I get the understanding that I really can’t reuse anything from my current setup (except maybe the heaters).
Right now, my current setup is a 40g tank (breeder), two heaters (100w, 150w), two filters (HOB and canister, both overrated for a 40g tank) and light, cover and stand for this tank.
I do also have a 120 gallon tank.

The first question is, is the 40g tank sufficient for a FOWLR setup? As much as I’d like to use the 120g tank, it would mean buying a stand for it and really shoehorning it into my living room…though I’m still open to the idea. And with that, if I were to use a 120 gallon tank, is it overkill to reinforce the floor? The short side would be near an outside wall, but it would be running parallel to the floor joists. My plan would be to cut a piece of plywood to match the size of the stand, screw it to the floor joists directly under it (or the drywall rather) and stick two lally columns under it with a bit of tension on them. 120 gallons of water/rocks, a stand, all that glass, a sump, the stand etc, I’d be looking at something like 1000+ pounds in a very small area. For an extra $100, it seems like a good idea.

Anyways, back to the real questions, from what I’m gathering, it seems like I would need:
Salt (duh)
An RO/DI filter to premix water.
A protein skimmer
A sump (not totally clear on that).
An overflow box since my tank isn’t drilled.
A pump to send water back up from the sump…or is it included with one of the pieces of equipment?
Some powerheads to move water
Live rocks
Live Sand(?)
Heaters (I have them, but I would probably need bigger ones or more if I use the 120g tank)
Lights (see heaters)
Some things I’m not sure about. I have no idea what a refugium is. I can’t tell if i need a mechanical filter. My gut says no as the bio filter will take care of waste and solids can be dealt with during partial water changes.

Do I have to cycle a salt water tank with live rock? I read about it waiting a few weeks before putting fish in, so I assume I do, which is fine.

Do I need a sump? I’m unclear on what it does that the the live rock doesn’t do.

Do snails escape often? I’ve tried putting snails in my freshwater tank and always had a problem with them escaping. I’d find them up on the cover, I’d find them crawling down the side of the tank or in the cabinet…I’d find them in the middle of my living room (7 or 8 feet away from the tank). As much as I liked snails, it really got annoying. Is that the same for salt water tanks?
I’m sure I’m going to have lots more questions and as I have plenty of fish in my tank right now, if i do make the switch, I’ve got plenty of time to buy the equipment slowly and not blow a grand in one night so I can set it all up this weekend. But before I buy anything I’ll have to decide which tank I’m using.

FTR, I’m a member on a aquarium message board, but I figure if I post this there, I’ll just get more differing opinions than I know what to do with, so, for the moment, I’m starting here.

2

I don’t want to be a wet blanket, but beautiful as they are, most saltwater aquariums are simply death chambers for their occupants. I don’t know if it’s any better now than it was 20 years ago, but the fish are often caught illegally, and they just don’t live very long in a man-made environment.

3

I looked into setting up a reef tank a few years ago and there is A LOT to it. It’s very complex.

Given the types of questions you are asking, you need to head over to Reef Central and start reading. For six months. I’m not joking.

4

I think salt water tanks look great in say a doctors office where you can contract out some of the work. In your house is more of a pain.

5

We had a 125 gallon saltwater tank with a 40 gallon sump for several years. I knew nothing when we started but my husband had had saltwater tanks before, so he was more familiar with the requirements. Based on that, I say you need to learn a LOT more before you start or you’re going to lose a lot of critters while figuring thing out. And even with his experience, once our setup was established and running well, it was still a LOT of work to maintain it. He spent a lot of time testing and tweaking the chemistry, repairing or replacing parts, and generally keeping it up. Then there was the hurricane when we lost power for 48 hours and pretty much lost everything in the tank, or the time our main pump died and we had to rig up others to keep the water flowing in the interim. And our well water had to go thru a reverse osmosis filter system before we could use it in the tank.

Maybe you should consider a nano cube to start - something in the 25-30 gallon range. It would be more manageable and if you discover you don’t want to mess with salt water, you won’t be out as much money.

As beautiful and interesting as the tank was, I was so happy when we finally disassembled it all and sold it. Plus our electric bell went waaaaaaaay down and we no longer had to plan our lives around the bi-weekly water changes. So do lots of research and talk to lots of people who have saltwater setups before you take the plunge. It’s not for the faint of heart.

6

That’s why I’m looking at a FOWLR tank, I understand they’re less complex than a Reef tank. Also, as I said earlier, but maybe didn’t quite explain, this is something I have been reading about for years. I’m a member on AquariumAdvice . com. That’s where I ask my questions about my freshwater tank, but I always poke around in the salt water forums. I just didn’t want to start there with such broad questions.

Regarding Nano tanks, I’m not fond of those. Smaller tanks, in general, tend to be harder to maintain. But, to be honest, since I never looked at saltwater, I always sort of walked past them at the pet store (with a ‘you’ll be sorry’ attitude).

Also, just to reiterate, I’ve had a freshwater tank for about 3 years now, so it’s not that I’m totally new to the hobby. But I do understand this is like someone saying “hey guys, I’ve been riding motorcycles for a few years, I was thinking about getting a boat”.

7

I kept a lot of salt water fish. It’s more work, but not tons more. Depends on what kind of fish you want to keep. Invertebrates are much more sensitive to conditions than a lot of finned fish. For inverts you definitely need good reef type filtration to maintain biological activity to break down nitrites and nitrates. For the verts a reverse flow undergravel filter will be sufficient in conjunction with a good canister filter (which can drive the reverse flow from it’s output). Salt is not free, you’ll need to replenish it with water changes, and you’ll need to keep a bottle of the what-cha-call-it stuff containing active microbes in case the nitrate levels jump. If you’re doing inverts you’ll want to promote algae growth in the tank and easy way to do that if you don’t have plenty of direct sunlight is to take goose neck clamp on lamps with gro-bulbs and clamp them to the top of the tank and bend them over to point directly at the sides of the tank. A lot of nice salt water fish are carnivores and you’ll want to keep a small tank of feeder fish handy. You should be able to buy feed fish in quantity for a low price, guppies and gold fish don’t cost much in bulk. Unfortunately you can’t keep all the carnivores together. As my grouper got bigger I had to move him into the invert tank, and then eventually put a divider in the big tank to keep the Saddle Wrasse and the Picasso Triggerfish separated.

Live rock is controversial, it’s harvested from live reefs aiding in their destruction. If you have a good reef filter you don’t need it. There’s plenty of live rock sold under the claim that it was dead rock kept in aquariums until it was repopulated, but I don’t know how you’d verify that. The same concerns apply to the live fish which used to be captured by releasing cyanide in the water to stun the fish. You should be concerned about that practice which is destructive to reefs, and not great for the health of your fish either. There was a movement to end this practice but I haven’t kept up on it.

As far as initial cycling is concerned, just seed the tank with the what-cha-call-it stuff and start with a hearty fish like a grouper to get things going. Some places will ‘loan’ you good fish to get the cycle started. If you see fish rubbing their noses on the tank or anything in it you know you’re in trouble.

For lights you can find fluorescent bulbs with good wave-lengths for promoting algae growth. There are waterproof sockets for fluorescent bulbs you can get but I just wrapped the ends with a ton of electrical tape and had no corrosion problems. Since you’ll have a lot of extra supplies it’s good idea to have some kind of closed cabinet with doors instead of the open frame stands.

I had a protein skimmer in one tank, it worked well, but you’ll still need water changes and I’m not sure it’s worth all the effort. Most canister filters use a micron filter cartridge which works well, but using a diatom occasionally, or adding it to your regular canister filter if it’s designed for that will give you unbelievably crystal clear water.

8

First and foremost, I wish that we had stayed with fresh water, and used some of the money we saved to but a new truck to carry the rest of the saved money around in.

If you don’t plan on having coral, you are way ahead. Your lighting can be basic fluorescent.
We began with a 100 my Wife found at a good Ebay price.
The cheapest salt I have found is Kent. It works for us, and has the various chemicals that the marine aquarium needs.
We waited months for the tank to cycle. I have used live rock to cycle the others, and it works much more quickly, about a month. As with fresh, a light fish load is easier to deal with.
I have canister filters and HOB filters.
A sump allows you to have more water volume, and is a good place to keep the skimmer and heaters. Water flows from a bulkhead fitting, or a syphon from the display tank to the sump and is returned with a pump. My sumps are Rubbermaid [sup]TM [/sup]tubs. A refugium is an area to add macro algae (non vascular marine plants) to eat nitrates, just as plants do in a freshwater tank, and to grow tiny aquatic life, copepods for food. It is often a section of the sump. You do no have to have a sump or refugium.
Bacteria grows on the “live rock” again, as in freshwater.
If you don’t want to buy water from the LFS, you should get an RO (reverse osmosis) filter. I paid $100 on the web.

I would start up the 40 with your canister filter and put marine tubes in your present lighting, forgo a sump and begin with some nice small fish. We began with pajama cardinals. My Wife has found them to be boring, but they do not kill each other on sight as, for example, blennies will.
I’ll be happy to answer anything that I have missed.

9

It’s my understanding that a lot of progress has been made in recent years to develop means by which saltwater tanks can be managed sustainably, and owning one does not have to make you a reef-raper who is damaging the environment.

Still, I think you raise an excellent point and I would strongly encourage the OP to research this aspect of salt-water tanks before committing to owning one.