Wanting to do a saltwater tank

[Mother of fish]

Ok, so I've never done saltwater fish, only freshwater. I have been in the freshwater hobby for about 5 years. Everyone has told me saltwater aquariums are WAY to hard, I will fail and kill my fish. Is it really that hard? I would maybe like to eventually do like a 10-20 nano reef tank? Is that even possible? Is there like something I can put it that small of a tank? I love sea stars, LOVE sea horses, clownfish, crabs, and shrimp.

[Aiken Drum]

Im not a saltwater person (yet), but i love Thomas (formerly of Big Als now Bulk Reef Supplies) and always find his videos informative and entertaining. He did a series on saltwater, i think the same channel did a project with an evo 13.5 tank.

https://youtu.be/vhSYaymM8xs

[Brookster123]

It's not that its hard. It can just me more demanding depending on the setup you're want to achieve. A FOWLR ( fish only with live rock) can be as simple as a fw setup, it's when you get into coral that its gets tricky. Bigger is always better for sw. A 29 gal would be a good starting point. The more research you do the better.

[bribo12]

Nanos are very doable nowadays but they are much less forgiving than large systems and the livestock selection is much more limited. Starfish for the most part don’t do well in captivity other than serpent stars. Seahorses need species specific tanks with lower flow and lots of things to grab on to. Clowns are pretty easy as are most crabs and shrimp. If you want a reef you’ll need good lighting. I’d start by doing research on basic as setup and care (testing, salinity, top off, hitchhikers, live rock, comparability and such) and go from there.

[Sniperhank]

Originally Posted by bribo12

Nanos are very doable nowadays but they are much less forgiving than large systems and the livestock selection is much more limited. Starfish for the most part don’t do well in captivity other than serpent stars. Seahorses need species specific tanks with lower flow and lots of things to grab on to. Clowns are pretty easy as are most crabs and shrimp. If you want a reef you’ll need good lighting. I’d start by doing research on basic as setup and care (testing, salinity, top off, hitchhikers, live rock, comparability and such) and go from there.

Our articles section does a fine job of doing that along with browsing past posts.