beginner advice

[tuffers]

i am looking to start a marine aquarium. i know there are are more than one type.
what is the difference beteween reef and marine? what is the maintainence like . what would look the nicest. and if anyone suggesting a certian type/style if at all possible could you give me a list of what i would need and why. thanks everyone.!!! i look forward to hearing from you all.

 

[wonder371]

hey there,
i maybe able to anwser some questions but not all. Marine = Saltwater or Ocean like enviroment. A reef tank is a more difficult saltwater tank because you are raising corals and living invertabre on your live rock. There are also FOWLR which is fish only with live rock. Meaning that you are focusing more on teh fish than the rock formations. Hope this helped. Read the stickys/pinned articles... you can learn alot there too.

Once you decided on a FOWLR or Reef Tank you could design your tank accordingly.

 

[Surfer Dude]

Hey a reef tank is much harder to take care of and is also much more expensive. To have a healthy and thriving reef tank you need proper lighting which is not cheap and you also need the water to stay a constant temperature. In the reef tank any small changes can cause a dramatic effect on something else so you might want to start at a simple marine tank and then once you know what your doing and when your comfortable setting up a reef tank then you should do it but not when your a beginner. I hope this helped you and Good Luck

Surfer Dude

 

[Figure-8]

To give you a idea on how much atleast in the area i live the light you need is like $300.00. Plus the coral isnt cheap either. Plus i dont think if your new you should first start a fish only tank to see if you can even do it cause i know a lot of people that have had problems. As far as my saltwater tanks go ive had good luck with them but i also stay home all the time. So i have a lot of time that i can do what i need to do with them.

 

[impur]

I have a 10 gal nano. I would say i've invested about $300-350. The light alone was $105. This doesn't include the HOB filter, powerheads, DIY top, DIY refugium - all of which i had on-hand.

 

[hyrookin]

yeah reefs are much more expensive,lot harder to maintain
and require much dedication..but fish only tanks,although
require the time and dedication,are much easier to have success with
and can be very rewarding in their own right. IMO, I would
absolutely recommend you start with fish only,there is much more room
for error(especially if you start with hardier fish)and you can fully
understand the dynamics of marine tanks and more and more learn
about reefs.
hope this helps!