its not harder, its more involved for a lil while, then the work becomes second nature as with freshwater and its really easy, just more things to look at skeptically and more things people tell you that you need that you may not, so its not really harder, but just more involved and more research is always good, know waht you want before you go shopping be open to ideas, but dont do whatever the first thing you read or are told , always double and triple check your info, theres no one way or right way to do it, but there are successful tips that are usually pretty common amoung saltkeepers,