Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Lots of strange information in this thread, IMO.
I've had tanks of various fashions and forms for about 15 years now. I presently have a 90 gallon freshwater community tank and a 130 gallon saltwater reef. I've done cichlids (the pictures above), piranha, livebreeders, fish-only saltwater, and lord knows what else. I've settled on the reef as the best looking and easily the highest 'work/reward' ratio.
Some misconceptions, IMO:
A) Freshwater is easier than salt. I strongly disagree. Freshwater is cheaper than salt, but you'll never get as strong a biological filtration system in a freshwater tank. As a consequence, you need to change the water out to get the waste out well. In a saltwater setup, most of the waste will break down through your biological setup and eventually evacuate as a gas after the ammonia cycle finishes up.
B) Start small with a saltwater tank. NO! No no no, 1000 times no. A smaller saltwater tank is significantly harder to deal with because a change in the water chemistry can be quick and catastrophic. If you're running a 20 gallon setup and a fish dies, it could create enough bio-load on its own to run up your ammonia levels, converting to nitrite then nitrates. The ammonia/nitrite spike would kill your fish and the nitrate spike would cause an algae bloom. With a large tank, however, that dead fish simply won't register. There's so much water that changes in water chemistry are significantly more gradual.
You can do a saltwater tank cheap, or you can do it well. You can't really do both. If you want to start with a 'cheaper' alternative, get a large setup and work slowly into it. Keep the tank 1/2 empty for awhile if need be. Do not, however, start small. I would only recommend Nano setups and the 'desktop' tanks to people that are much more involved with the tank. If you want an easier tank to deal with, especially saltwater, go with 90 gallons or better.
As for setup advice:
1) Go to Craigslist and try to find someone getting out. This is huge in that they will already have live-rock or other biological media that has gone through the ammonia cycle. This will mean that you won't have that 'be prepared for dead fish' beginning suggested. What that is is simply your tank building up its biological bacteria to process the waste appropriately. With 'used' liverock that will already be there and will greatly improve your initial success. It will also be about 1/5 as expensive.
If you don't have that biological setup running through used rock, it'll be a couple of months before the tank has 'cycled' and you won't want any fish in it until afterwards. You can do this by putting some regular ol' eating shrimp in the tank immediately after setup, letting it rot and the bacteria that takes care if it will cycle the tank and the bacteria will populate the rock. Change the water and you're ready to go.
2) Build your tank around your light. If you have the means or if you get lucky, go with one of the new LED setups or a Metal Halide/Power Compact combo. These will make a tank look better than you will ever imagine. I'm particularly fond of the MH setups; the point-source effect created by the light creates a literal 'shimmer' effect in the water. It really can't be duplicated by any other light setup and it's really incredible. I have found that the light is more important to the overall feel of the tank than anything else, including the fish or corals you add to it. A bad light will make beautiful fish look bland.
3) Protein skimmer. The expensive filters are only necessary if your biological setup is insufficient. More critical than filtration is actually water movement. This will keep algae down as well as oxygenate the water well (critical for healthy fish; especially tangs and a few others). A protein skimmer will get the small particulates in the water that won't settle and break down on the bottom of the tank. These help a great deal. I have a Precision Marine Bullet; I don't recommend them. It's a beckett injector system and frankly it sucks a little bit. Look for a good cone skimmer. These are the most important 'filter' mechanism. If you decide you need another supplemental filter, a Magnum cannister filter will be sufficient to run carbon or something like that. I use a Fluval 350 (I think), it's overkill.
4) Maintenance is simple. Do a 10% water change every couple of weeks and you'll be fine. Some people do more, some people never do any. I have found that my corals are healthier with periodic water changes, but I think that's because they need the nutrients in the salt as I don't have a calcium reactor and don't dose with coral nutrients. I really use the water changes as my sole additives. It's not going to get me a show tank, but it works well enough. If you can get a Reverse osmosis setup, I'd suggest it. They're a couple hundred bucks but they'll keep the phosphates out of your tank and greatly reduce algae problems (as algae feeds on phosphates).
There's a ton of other stuff, but that's why they write books on the subject. If you have a question, just ask. I can tell you what I've learned through my own myriad of failures at this point.
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