Hi
they are fantastic but complicated and expensive,depending on what you want to keep.
Go to reefcentral.com for a wealth of info and great pix of what can be done.
Gary

Do you keep freshwater fish now? Saltwater tanks can be very rewarding, but are a whole lotta more work than fresh. One of the worst parts of the tank (in my opinion) was the mess-there were always salt crystals caked somewhere that needed to be cleaned off. The fish (especially if you stay away from a reef tank) tend to live longer than fresh. I had a yellow tang and clownfish pair that lived for 8 years. I recently tore down my salt and replaced it with freshwater. Fresh can be just as pretty, if not prettier, with half the work and even less than half the costs.

There more expensive, just water changes with adding salt adds up. The SW fish are also VERY expensive. Also its much harder to add fish without spreading ick. Almost all SW fish are imported from reefs. The collection methods and shipping are very stressfull. Filters tend to be more expensive [protein skimers are a must]. If your experienced with FW fishkeeping and want a challenge do it.

assuming you wan't a clown fish a good setup will run you about 700 dollars, start With a Tank of atleasty 30 gallons, get yourself some powerheads with sponges covering the intake and a good canister filter, a HOb protien skimmer would also simplify things greatly,Mix your saltwater in a new container, either a trashcan or a fishtank will seve you well Revers Osmosis water will greatly assist you in controlling phosphates which will lead to algea in a SW system. Get yourself some Live sand and mix it about half and half with argonite, either less than one inch thick or more than 3 not inbetween, Then get yourself 30-50 Lbs of live rock, and some very powerful flourescent lights, Leave the tank sit now with the Lights and skimmer turned off but with the filters running for two weeks, then add your clean up crew (15-20 snails and 10-20 Hermit crabs, scarlet reef hermits are highly recomended) now run for a few more weeks and do at least a 5 gallon water change every 2-3 weeks. Now onto livestock, You can keep 6-7 small fish in this tank, gobies clowns and the like, NO TANGS NO SEAHORSES NO ANEMONIES if you like the look of aclow hoasting get yourself a sarcophyton they can live in lower light conditions, soft corals are your best bet, they are often attractive and don't need high light, VHO or T5 flourescents should do them just fine, high powered lights like metal halides produce alot of heat and may necessitate purchasing an expensive chiller. Now that you have your soft corals and maybe a few hard corals with low light requirements, you can add a few fish slowly, if you wan't a pair of clowns buy them small and release them both at the same time, Avoid Damself fish, although they are hardy they are mean. Tube worms, sea squirts, Sponges, Macro algea, and any thing else that you may need.

brendan - why on earth would you advise anyone NO TANGS? i find this amazing! you dont state why and i cannot fathom your reason for feeling this way? yellow tangs are not hard to keep and a lovely addition to any tank! once a tank is well established - perhaps a yr old and stablized - i see no reason at all not to include a hardy anenome and clownfish!!! seahorses, yes, no need to get too attached, they likely will be food for someone else. please explain your thoughts on this.

marylou - marine fish-keeping is more expensive than fw. obviously you cannot get by with a 5 gal tank and $3 fish, but the rewards are spectacular. dont be afraid, take the plunge if your heart desires. find out for yourself if the sw hobby is for you. if not, you can always revert to fw. whether fw or sw, both are pleasing, only you can determine which fits your budget and devotion to hobby.

if you decide to give it a go, here are my recommendations:

1) locate a reputable aquarium store in your area, one that stocks a variety of marine life and has a knowlegdable sw staff - this is essential! you may want to shop at a more affordable store for equipmt (tank, filters, etc) but (the quality of animal and) guidance offered in a real aquarium store will not be available at walmart or even a big-box pet store and it is crucial to a new hobbyist.

2)30 gal min.

3)cycle the tank properly and add only one fish at a time, no more than one per month for the first several mos. this makes the expense more do-able and is much better for tank, fish and newbie alike. a niger triggerfish is an excellent "cylcer"; a bit aggressive, but loads of personality. others here may recommend other fish - if you go w/a niger, get a small one, it will grow to fit ur tank.

4)stick w/hardy fish for the first yr. you will learn as you go what your experience will allow as far as when to add live rock, inverts etc. buy the least expensive of a new 'type' to experiment with. once you are comfortable w/ur knowledge of this type, move on to more delicate/expensive animals. i recommend adding corals as a final step in the progression, as these can be expensive and additionally, they are harvested from the sea and definately not 'disposable'.

i wish you all the best in this endeavor and if i can be of any assistance, feel free to email me. glad to help.

jo

There are fish for sale in the 3 to 5 dollar range at Petco....Lots of various damsels as well as a few gobys.....SW is not any harder to maintain than FW is IMHO....I currently have a 10 gal in th works as well as a 90 gal both reef type tanks.....I got started on what is probbaly the hardest type of setup (so I was told) and thats a Pico reef tank with one small neon goby.......and its been great, and no harder than a betta tank......To be honest and this is only my opinion, save the money onf canister filters etc, and go with a tank with a sump or refugium, and lots of live rock and a good live sand bed. The live rock and sand will do the majority of your filtering. A skimmer is nice to have but certainly is not required......A small Pico type reef tank without fish, is about as hard to care for as a house plant that you have to water. There is so many inverts out there that can make a very interesting and good looking setup that odds are you will not miss any fish not being in it. Just to see if yuor cutout to fool with SW wihtout getting into it over your head, setup a simple 2.5 Pico or even a 10 gal reef type tank. Use a Aqua Clear HOB filter (a 50 or 70 size) for the 10 gal, and remove all filter media, and fill the filter chamber up with small pieces of live rock rubble.......Use 1.5 to 2 pounds of live rock per gal of tank size, and keep your sand bed to 1" or less....Really no need to have a deep sand bend in a reef type or even a tank with just one or two fish. In a 2.5 you can easily place an algae type eating snail (cerith snail) and 3 or so small blue leg hermit crabs, a small brittle starfish, and load it up with lots of polyps and mushrooms etc, and just set back and watch it mature and grow......Do a 10 or 20% water change once a week, and top off daily as needed with RO/DI water......Good lights is a must and lighting on a saltwater setup is much more critical than on a freshwater setup, unless its fish only.......If your local store caries fully cured LR, you can buy rock to suit, and live sand from his tanks, and also premixed saltwater, some shrooms etc and have it setup in no time, without a long cycle time if things are already properly cycled and cured.

I have less than 100 bucks in my 2 gal Red Sea wave tank pico with filter lights and inhabitants, and close to $150 in my 10 gal including a AC70 sized filter/fuge, 96 watts of lighting, moon lights, live rock, live sand (all fully cured) and a heap of shrooms and polyps, and two small $3.49 domino damsels and one $7.99 Neon Goby from Petco......all doing just fine.........Can't say what the 90 gal is going to run yet as its still in the works but its in the 4 digit bracket already, and still not completed.
You can buy RO/DI water at most LFS, and already premixed saltwater. RO/DI around here is less than 50 cents a gal and premixed SW is about 70 cents a gal........LFS will tell you that you can not keep SW or RO/DI water more than a day or two, but thats a bunch of nonesense. I was buying 5 gal of SW and aerating it with a airstone for a month and have not had problems...RO/DI just store it no aeratin needed....Keep in a dark cool place and they both will keep fine. YOu also need a hydrometer to keep an eye on specific gravity, which again is only a one minute afair and once you get to know your setup for the most part can be done very infrequently......Go for it, SW is much nicer even without fish.

About a year ago I tried a saltwater tank, 46 gallon bow front. A couple of weeks I ago I purchased a 100 gallon tank. Saltwater is great. The first couple of months the tank will require alot of attention. After that it gets much less time consuming. It does cost more, but I found taking my time and spreading the cost over months helps. Reefcentral.com is great for advice. GoodLuck!

kirap -
i found your post most interesting. i agree that a reef only type tank can be breathtaking and fish for this type tank are definately optional. i had never thought to start a newbie out this way tho, mainly because of harvesting issues. it takes many years for reefs to develop and harvested animals should not be used for experimenting IMHO. this would be my main reservation.
i do believe that mixed tanks are more problematic and should be approached carefully, with a keen eye to the types of fish and inverts being housed together...the last step in a hobbyist's learning curve.
thanks for mentioning lighting to mary, i failed to do so and you are quite correct - it is crucial to the health of a sw system, esp w/inverts.
buster, kirap - would love to see pix of your tanks; plz post them if you can.

sjv78736
I agree to a point with rampant harvesting of critters etc, but there is an awfull lot of stuff out there that you can get from already established setups or frags for little or nothing. A lot of stuff grows crazy in the oceans as well like the various mushrooms and leathers and colony polyps etc.....same for ricordea, what puts the price up on ricordea is the lfs charging for it a its most colorfull so there fore its higher demand so prices go up....A lot of good live rock is just picked up off the bottom and not blown out and pried and cut out of reefs....MOst stuff flourishes rather quickly in a well maintained setup. I also have a neat little 2 gal pico thats just plumb full of stuff and glows with flourescence at night under the moon light in the hood. Its eay to propagate items from items yu get.....I just today changed the hob filter assembly on my 10 gal to a bigger aqua clear 110 model so I could have a bigger fuge and get more pods etc....As for fish a lot of whats for sale today is captive bred. My neon goby is captive bred.....

One place you do not want to pinch pennys on is your lighting. Its really the key to it all along with good filtration, which overall is not expensive to do right, not even close to what lighting can cost.

kirap-
u've got me quite interested in doing a little 2 gal reef. as i am not yet in a position to set up my large tanks, this could be a great interim solution for me. would still love to see pix of ur tanks.
jo

I have recently set up a 5.5 gallon salt water tank with help from a marine professional. I have about 3kgs of live rock, a single coral at the moment (not sure what type), a pair of clowns and a yellow citron goby.... hey are all doing great!
The clowns are even hosting behind my live rock near my filter intake and are quite happy with the goby sharing their space.

It was reasonably priced. I started from scratch and all up the entire set up cost me about AU$360.00 (including fish.

Good luck
Have faith, a 30 gallon tank is not completely necessary