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[Kevbrew]

Hi all my name is Kev i am 29 years old and live in louth, lincolnshire. I work as a head chef at a golf club. I am looking to start an aquarium, but am undecided wether to fet fw or sw. As my son and i really want a sw as he wants nemo and i wnt corals. But frm what ive seen fw is cheaper but surely fw uses electricity for the heater etc. Please cud anyone giv sum advice? Thanx in advance.

 

[reaperpilot2014]

Hi all my name is Kev i am 29 years old and live in louth, lincolnshire. I work as a head chef at a golf club. I am looking to start an aquarium, but am undecided wether to fet fw or sw. As my son and i really want a sw as he wants nemo and i wnt corals. But frm what ive seen fw is cheaper but surely fw uses electricity for the heater etc. Please cud anyone giv sum advice? Thanx in advance.

Clownfish are great! My honest suggestion, however, would be to go with freshwater, at least to start. Saltwater is generally for very experienced aquarists, as it tends to be more expensive, has strict ph, salt, ammonia, nitrate, etc. requirements. Both FW and SW would require a heater, great filtration, cycling, and other things. Once you feel comfortable with avoiding new tank syndrome, regular water changes, managing the nitrogen cycle in your FW tank, are familiar with diseases, acclimating fish, etc., then you could try a smaller saltwater tank. Not to say you couldn't handle it, but there really is a lot that I wish I had known as I started out into aquariums. Let me know if this helps at all or if you have other questions.

 

[Kevbrew]

Thats a great help thanx dissapointed though. So for fw can u hav real plants, as cnt have corals?

 

[reaperpilot2014]

There are many plants that you can have in a freshwater tank. Some come in very beautiful colors too, such as deep red, purple, or even bluish hues. If you go to google images and type in "planted tank", you can see many examples of beautiful plants available for freshwater aquariums. These provide great shelter and hiding places for your fish as well. You don't HAVE to have real plants. Fake ones work just as well for shelter, but real ones do help to improve water quality.

I don't want to dissuade you from trying saltwater if that is what you want to get into. If you do research and feel confident with the things I mentioned before, it would be a possibility.

There are some stereotypical saltwater fish that can be found in freshwater, like puffer fish for example. There also some very beautiful freshwater fish, so that is what I have stuck with all this time. I would still like to get into saltwater at some point.

 

[Kevbrew]

I totally will take ur advice as u knw wat ur talkin bout fw will b a gud startin point get sum gud colours goin on with the plants etc.

Also sorry to keep picking ur brain, wat floor base is best for a fw tank?

 

[reaperpilot2014]

Hey no problem at all. I'm just happy to help. What do you mean by floor base? Do you mean what the base of the aquarium is made from, the stand, or the actual floor? If I understand your question right, then the base doesn't really matter as long as it can hold the weight of the filled aquarium. I just keep my aquariums on a coffee table, dresser top, and counter top. Since aquariums can be very heavy, or even impossible to move when filled with water, any unstable or fragile surface (glass table) should be avoided. Hopefully that was the answer you were looking for.

What size aquarium are you looking at starting with? Many new aquarist buy too small of an aquarium for their fish and end up upgrading soon after. A nice size tank in my opinion, is somewhere between 30-55g, unless you are planning on getting larger fish.

 

[Kevbrew]

Whati mean the stones or sand u put at the bottom of the tank whats best is there something special to use? The tank size is 2ft wide 14inch deep and 14inch high. Whats that?

 

[redsea]

Whati mean the stones or sand u put at the bottom of the tank whats best is there something special to use? The tank size is 2ft wide 14inch deep and 14inch high. Whats that?

You could put sand or gravel at the bottom of the aquarium. In my opinion I would go with gravel because it is easier to clean, on the other hand, I think sand looks a little better. In my freshwater aquarium, I currently use gravel.

 

[reaperpilot2014]

Ah I see. Sorry about that then. What we're talking about then is substrate. The basic answer is, it doesn't matter what kind you get. However, if you decide to get a fish that likes to burrow in the sand, like my fahaka puffer does, gravel could damage him, and sand would be more appropriate.

For a fw tank, smooth gravel is probably the most common, safest bet. Gravel is nice for helping to keep your plants rooted as well, and is easier to clean than sand. You can get different colors at your local pet store. It's my personal preference and what I mostly use.

Anything you think looks good should work for most fish. You don't need to worry about "live sand" as you will hopefully cycle your tank.

 

[reaperpilot2014]

Oh, and as for the "2ft wide 14inch deep and 14inch high", those are just the dimensions and means you have a 20 gallon aquarium. They aren't anything to worry about really.

 

[Kevbrew]

I ended up going for sw i like a challenge, plus there is a lot more to sw than fw. With having a 20 gal tank though how much salt crystals do i put in as it doesnt say on the box and i cnt if find it when i google it? The name is tropic marin.