dezdude

Hello everyone. I currently have a 20g freshwater tank, and I am also interested in getting a saltwater tank. What size tank can I get for saltwater, what type of fish, and what price for the entire set up? I can maybe throw down $150

Goldwing_Don

$150.00 is not really enought to get started in SW...it might cover a live rock in a 10 gal tank. then there is lights and a skimmer,salt R/O water, heater, power heads too....sorry
and then there is the tank it self. IMO you really should wait untill you have $600 to $700 hundred saved to start ....

Viper

Hi, I'm a newbie myself, so don't take my word for everything perfectly, but i can tell you what i've read, been told and am doing on my own tank. for starters you can have a tank as small as 10g (though not recommended). Most recommend you start with 30g minimum (this is what i have started with). Obviously the bigger the better in terms of about of future work. Easier to maintain as it is less likely that you will see huge changes in chemistry balance of your tank. Therefore you may need to make less water changes or not as often. Also the bigger the tank, the more fish and more variety of fish, as you won't be able to put certain fish in small tanks due to size. Next you have to decide, if you want FO, FOWLR, or coral tank. i spent a little over 150 to get my tank started, but that does not include any live rock or fish. that is just the purchase of the tank with lighting, sand, salt, good testing kit, filter, heater, hydrometer and a few other things. with the purchase of my first 2 fish i'm looking at 200+. Also it's wise to get live rock, which is really expensive. I miscalculated that and now don't have live rock, though i hope to fix that in the next few months. i would say you are looking at closer to 250 to start.

I wanted to add that basic lighting is fine for FO tank, but as soon as you plan to add Live rock and more importantly corals, you have to upgrade your lighting which can cost you big bucks. also if you have a 30g tank, and FO or FOWLR you might not need a skimmer if you do routine water changes. as soon as you get coral you will need a skimmer and that will also cost you over $100.

dezdude

Holy moly, maybe this is a project for me next year...hahah

David C

To give you an idea, I just dropped $2k on my 90g SW tank and that doesn't include a single living creature to go in the tank, just hardware and rock. You can do it cheaper than me if you find a good deal on craigslist, but I wanted everything new so I saved my money for a year. Plus while saving it gives you a great opportunity to do research. Read everything you can on the hobby and it will end up saving you a fortune by avoiding stupid equipment purchases and stupid mistakes.

Dave

dezdude

Thank you dave. I want to get into salt water because i've always enjoyed the intense colors of the fish. You can even tell with my freshwater fish, all I like is brightly colored fish.