Potential Newbie Advice

[rhys24]

Hello All

I currently keep tropical fish but thinking about changing to marine fish. At the moment I spend probably maybe 1-2 hours maintaining everything and I'm happy with this.

In terms of the amount of time needed to maintain a marine aquarium (45G tank) - what would you say is realistic? Some people I have spoken to say 7 hours a week while others say 1-2 hours will be sufficient.

Thanks
Rhys

 

[kj23502]

That's a really complicated question. Are you going to keep corals? If so, hard corals could require more maintance if you need to add reactors to keep calcium and alk levels up. Softies would be simple and easy, really.

If you're going predator type tank, they only need to be fed a couple times a week, but you still need to do weekly water changes.

You can buy your water for changes or make it yourself. In the long run buying your own unit to make water is the cheapest way to go. Running to buy your own water can take as much time to flip a switch to turn water on and off in your house.

Read the journals and stickies to get an idea of what you want to keep. It will also guide you to proper equipment.

 

[woody88]

That's a really complicated question. Are you going to keep corals? If so, hard corals could require more maintance if you need to add reactors to keep calcium and alk levels up. Softies would be simple and easy, really.

If you're going predator type tank, they only need to be fed a couple times a week, but you still need to do weekly water changes.

You can buy your water for changes or make it yourself. In the long run buying your own unit to make water is the cheapest way to go. Running to buy your own water can take as much time to flip a switch to turn water on and off in your house.

Read the journals and stickies to get an idea of what you want to keep. It will also guide you to proper equipment.

+1

......My weekly maintenance on my 28g nano is roughly 2-3 hrs a week [that includes 20% weekly water changes which I mix pro reef salt with plain ro, cleaning filter media, skimmer cup etc, cleaning the glass and testing], but it varies tank to tank obviously as no tank is the same.