I need some help! So I have been away from fish for a while now, and am looking into getting a new aquarium. I really want to go salt water, but dont know if I have the proper knowlege / skills for a salt water tank. What would you guys suggest? Just stick to fresh water?

And depending what you guys say. What would be a good brand of tank, filters, heaters, ect ect. And where would ou guys buy it from? Petsmart, petco? a local shop. Any help will be appreciated

 

go to www.reefcentral.com there is a lot of good stuff there.

I had an 80gallon saltwater tank I had for four years, just sold it. Took a while before things were settled, but well worth it. I ran a fish only with live rock(FOWLR). Low maintenance.

 

If you have the money and time, go with a reef tank. Nothing will come close to the beauty of one of those. They do take a lot of work, but when things are going right, they are one of the most amazing things to look at. Do some reading on reefcentral.com like Dluv said. With the right equipment and setup (which all costs lots of money) a reef tank can basically maintain itself with a little bit of work from you. Equipment that you must have for a reef tank if you want to start getting prices are:
Tank of course (get one with a built in overflow)
Lighting (VHO, T5, Power Compact, Metal Halide) do some research to find out which is the best for you
Sump (holds the filtration equipment, this can be a rubbermade container from wally world or a smaller fish tank)
Pumps for water circulation
Protein Skimmer (ASM makes a nice cheaper one, will be placed in the sump)
Various chemicals/test equipment

Optional but not needed:
Automatic top-off system... A simple 5g bucket with a float valve in it placed higher than the water level in the sump works out great
RO/DI water unit... Reef tanks need pure water, not just tap water or water bought at the store... In addition to using it for the tank, also tastes a lot better than just straight tap water.

In addition to all of that stuff, you'll need the sand, live rock, fish, corals, etc to complete the aquarium. Do some reading, and if a reef tank is something you'd like to have, I'll be happy to answer anymore questions you might have.

 

Aquarists love to help. I would avoid the box stores and look for an enthusiast proprietor who can get you started again. Websites are good too, really good, but I prefer walking in and asking questions in a dedicated aquarium store. Great hobby if you have the patience. The payoff after six months, a year, three years, is really worth it.

 

salt....ewww....too much work and money, but I still want one.

I buy all of my stuff online, for the most part. For filters I like the Rena Filstars, I have an XP2 for my 55 cichlid tank. I don't have a name for tanks, and I don't use heaters. I have a set of compact fluorescents I got, I'd have to look up the link for you. I really want a much bigger tank, like 180-240. No room or money now though.

What kind of fish do you want to keep if you went freshwater?

Some good sites:

http://www.aquacave.com/
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/

and ebay!!

 

First off thanks for all the info. I gotta research alot to see what I want to do. Well I guess I WANT a reef tank, but Ill have to see if its realistic or not.

rrasco, if I go fresh water, I would most likely go cichlids. I have had Pacu's, African Chichlids, Oscars, and parrot fish before. I really like the more aggresive fish, at least in fresh water. I was at a shop called ocean floor, just looking around, although they are way over priced, they had some bad *** fish. I really liked the look of the fish called Convicts I think.

Any suggestion as to what size tank. The biggest I have had of my own was a 39 Gallon. I helped maintain my friends 55 G, but thats as big as I have expanded. I know, baby tanks.

 

P.S. I forgot to add. What shape of tank? does it make a difference? As in like the traditional rectangle, or bow, or octagon?

 

my first aquarium was saltwater, never done anything with fresh. get the largest tank you can afford. the larger the tank, the more stable the aquarium. if going with salt, stay away from petsmart/pet co. go to a local fish store, mine knows me on a first name basis. i do regular water changes, top off the evaporated fresh water, feed the fish, and that is it. 5 minutes a day plus one hour every week is all the time it takes me to maintain everything. there is alot involved with saltwater, talk to your local fish store, they will be happy to answer your questions. a good saltwater forum is reefcentral.com.
here is some of mine

 

The shape of the tank is completely up to you. As for size, if you're going to be going with a reef tank, the bigger it is, the easier it will be to take care of. In a small tank $hit happens really fast and you can wave goodbye to everything inside of the tank over night.

I personally like the size and shape of the 65g tanks. I believe they are 36" long, 24" wide, and 30" tall. It's been years sense I had mine so I can't remember the exact size. If you're good building stuff, you can make your own stand and canopy for the tank and save a lot of cash. For lighting for that tank you could use 4 VHO's (2 white 2 blue) and keep any kind of soft coral (easiest to take care of) in there, and a few LPS corals. If you go with a metal halide (150w or 250w) you'll be able to keep any kind of coral in there, but the hard corals take a lot more care and special attention to specific levels in the tank that soft corals don't really need to worry about as much. The metal halide lights give a nice shimmer to the tank where the VHO lights will make it an even lighting across the whole tank. If ya want I can draw up a quick diagram in photoshop to show you what the basic tank setup will consist of, and also a diagram of how the auto top-off works which makes your life a lot easier taking care of the tank.

 

I bought myself a piranha. Now those are some fun fish. Pretty easy to maintain. Just make sure you let your tank cycle ECT(probably stuff you already know) You can also buy some stuff called Cycle(i got mine at wal-mart) ANd it helps reduce fish loss and pretty much do what a cycle would do but in WAY less time.