by Renee Dawson

Created on: September 14, 2007

Holy Cow! There is an easy way to choose between salt and fresh in an aquarium.

1. How much time do you have?

2. How much money do you have?

3. How dedicated are you in making it work?

Saltwater aquariums require more time, money, and most of all patience to be successful.

Freshwater aquariums require a good aquarium, good heater, good filter, good lighting and someone who will clean the tank and feed the fish. To start a good aquarium that is freshwater, the first thing to decide is the size of the tank. This can be a 10 gallon tank up to....well as much room as you have. Put your decor in the tank, put good quality water in, get your filter and heater running. Let it all run for a few days maybe even a week. Throw in a couple of White Clouds. Let them swim around for a month or two to establish the bacteria needed in your tank. Then add your fish, but not too many. Look at which fish get along. Decide if you want a nice tank, a semi aggressive tank, or an aggressive tank. It is not a good idea to mix the aggressive with the non-aggressive unless you provide a lot of hiding places for your non-aggressive fish.

Saltwater aquariums require patience, patience and did I mention patience. The tank size needs to be at least 55 gallons. In addition you need excellent filter system, including a protein skimmer. You need quality testing kits and you need an incredible adviser at your fish store. Get your tank set up with the kind of medium you wish in your tank floor. I haven't even mentioned the lights needed yet... Most experts do not recommend an under-gravel filter in a saltwater tank. Get your tank set up. Get excellent quality saltwater from your pet store. Get everything running and do all the tests that you need to get your pH levels correct and all the rest of your levels nitrates, nitrites...etc... Most importantly, do not put in any fish yet. Let it all run for about a week. Go and purchase your "live rock". Find good ones with good living stuff on them. Put them in your tank. Let your tank continue to run. No fish yet. Make sure all of your levels are still good a few days after adding the live rock. Let it all run, oh, for about two months. Yep, I said two months. Go and purchase two of the most hardy saltwater fish that your pet store has. Yes, only two and yes, very hearty. Put them in according to all the directions of adding fish to one's tank. Let them swim around for about two months or longer until you can get your nitrate/nitrite cycle going. Do not add anything else until you can balance all of the levels. Remember I did mention patience. In the meantime, you will need to change out 1/3 of your water every week. Get those levels balanced. Please read several books on the matter. One to start out with is "saltwater tanks for dummies".

This is all just the beginning of a lot of time, money and commitment. I personally have had both freshwater and saltwater tanks and have been successful with both, but the saltwater was much more work than the freshwater tank. After much trial and error and several hundred dollars worth of dead fish, I finally got the saltwater tank going. After letting it run for about a year, I gave it up.

If you are looking for a casual hobby go freshwater, if you are intense and looking for a life style of saltwater, go salt. It is all very fun, interesting, and exciting when it finally comes together.

Good Luck!

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