OK here goes...ive only been keeping fish for about 6 weeks now and i am loving it. added my fish and cycled my tank and i have been adding fish weekly or there abouts depending on chemistry of water...oh BTW i have a tropical tank.

The whole reason for me setting up my tank was i decided i wanted marine fisg but as it costs so much i was weary and decided to learn the basics with the tropicals first.

Who has a marine tank, is it really as time consuming as they say and please post some pictures

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Yes theres more to the marine set up. Although i think like the tropical tanks once set up and cycling properly are ok to keep. But it costs alot of money if things go wrong and the fish arent so hardy as the tropicals and are more sensitive to small changes.

I've kept them three times, it isn't as difficult as people make it out to be so long as you do your research. Obviously it is more expensive than freshwater fishkeeping however a small tank can be quite cheap to set up, especially if you buy some of the equipment second-hand. I'm setting up a Pico reef in a couple of weeks and eventually I'll be working on my fifth system later on this year which is going to be a 60cm cube with a sump.

Cool.......well you will have to post some piccies too. I will have to set about taking pics of my tank too...not that its all that exciting lol.

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I've done both. I had 4 tropical tanks at one time, plus 8 2g betta tanks... and swapped them all for one 50g marine tank.

The bottom line is, even cheaply done with no sump/refugium, you're looking at £300+ to set it up. But once you've done it, it's not hugely more expensive to take care of. The fish are much more expensive and your electric costs shoot up though. Also, I did a fish-only set up with no corals. If I'd gone with corals I'd have had to fork out for much better lighting etc - more money and more electric.

Time-wise, you'll still do the same weekly water-changes, but it takes longer because you're waiting on RO water running off, and then waiting for the salt to be mixed, checking the salinity etc. Otherwise, it's no different and it is NOT as hard as people think IF you get yourself onto a good support forum with people who are experienced and can guide you... and of course do your research before you start.

Well worth it in my opinion, we loved ours... but we stripped it down and sold it about 6 months ago due to energy costs, the credit crunch etc.

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Mummy to four cats ~ Angel, Baz, Chester and Whisky

awww such a shame...bloody credit crunch battering peoples lives at the minute....but im optimistic we will come out of it on the other side a much better country

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Ah the credit crunch, one of the many horrors of the fishkeeping hobby.

We have them, well several but with different tanks! A BIG no no is moving them but we've done it about three times now! It IS as expensive as everyone says even outright or second hand. We are having a major algae problem at the moment

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I've got marine, and have had my tank for nearly 4 years. Two of my current fish have gone through two moves and survived ok.

It is expensive (i suffered an expensive loss of all fish when a new fish infected the whole tank), but i've kept the number at 5 fish and had these for some time now (no corals) - fish are only expensive if you keep buying them. Plus if you shop around for the equipment you can get some good deals. I don't skimp on the water though as i don't prepare the salt water myself (i tried once really unsuccessfully) so i buy it ready prepared from my local aquarium shop.

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Most of our original fish survived. We've had a green carpet anemone that's still going and they're notoriously hard to keep. It's looking a little washed out at the mo. We started out with one then two seperate ones then a 7 footer now were back to a 5 foot! All the while we still have the damsels not surprising as they are hardy fish.

You can never do enough research on them. In fact I'd say get a chemistry degree and you still wouldn't know enough!

It reminds you how uniquely balanced the natural marine environment is.

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