How Hard Is A Saltwater Aquarium?

One of the most frequently asked questions about reef tanks is "How hard is a saltwater aquarium?" So in this video, i'll tell you the honest truth of how hard it can be to maintain a saltwater aquarium, so you can decide if it's the right hobby for you!

I'll tell you the difficulties in keeping fish and corals, show you the maintenance involved and give you all the information you need to know if this is the right hobby for you/ So how hard is a saltwater aquarium? Let's find out...

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0:00 How hard is a saltwater aquarium?
0:33 freshwater vs saltwater difficulty
2:12 Equipment and maintenance
3:13 Fish difficulty
4:20 Keeping corals
5:19 Is saltwater right for you?

[-Wreckanize-]

Saltwater aquarium difficulty can range from "somewhat difficult" to "playing god"

[Langenbergh]

I just love how hard it is to maintain a reef, certainly when you start seeing the results of your hard work. Very satisfying ☺️

[Richs_reef]

‘Reef dork you handsome bastard’ 😂 love your humour in your videos

[lazyking]

It just takes a lot of research and learning from mistakes. Never had a freshwater tank. I started off with saltwater last yr and first pet was an octopus. Unfortunately it past a few months later from unknown reasons but my tank is not filled with fish and everything going well. Also got a second tank with a peacock mantis shrimp and that's going very well too.

[rolisreefranch]

Preach, brother! I really enjoyed this funny video filled with the truth. Unfortunately, this hobby is driven by new hobbyists who may not know what the care requirements are for these amazing creatures, or understand the level of dedication necessary for them to thrive. I've heard failure estimates as high as 80% in the first two years. Sadly, this is mostly what the industry relies on to sustain itself. Only a very small percentage will achieve tanks of your status and prestige (tongue in cheek), and to do so, one must be truly obsessed with a passion few will every attain. It doesn't feel like dedication if you are enjoying the hobby. This is what keeps me coming back for more. Every. Single. Day. And, of course, the insanity of it all... Thanks for putting out quality information that'll help people be successful, Alex!

[AdamEwart]

I have to say, given that I've built my first reef recently, after many years in the FW scene, SW has been pretty bloody easy by comparison. I have the luxury that I could take an entire year to get the setup right, build the support system into my garage, and take my time enough to make sure I had covered as many contingencies as I could.

I just the other day took receipt of my first ICP, after the tank running for about 8 months, and aside from slightly elevated Phos, the water is pristine. Corals are healthy, fish are healthy, and the tank is cruising along and maturing steadily and nicely. I do what I think to be minimal maintenance, and basically feed and just enjoy the views from within my lounge room.

For someone starting out, as I still very much am, take as long as you possibly can before getting the tank wet. Build every possible redundancy and fail safe that you can think of. It may not make the experience flawless (I definitely had the ugly stage, a few water spills and worrying moments over the past months), but it absolutely set you up as best as possible for something resembling success.

[ncoppens]

I started my first little reef tank in January this year after almost a year of watching video's like this one and reading a lot.
I have had issues, but no real problems and only a really short ugly phase with some brown algae. What I found the hardest is to not panic and act rash if there are issues like higher nitrates and phosphates. As long as my corals and fish are doing well and all other parameters are in check I sit on my hands and wait. I think that helped me a lot, but was really hard to do.

[Jacobdonnelly]

I feel like with my freshwater I don’t really care about it, but I reckon if I went salt I would be doing everything I could to keep it going

[uploadsbytom]

Close to a well deserved 50k subscribers. Great content 😁

[alaskacosplay]

As a beginner saltwater keeper, I think its a mix of easy and really difficult because of the factors of what fish I want to keep to what is the most manageable. I always keep a record book about my methods and trial-and-errors so I know what my issues were and what I can do to become better in the future. Certain fish, such as butterflies and dwarf angels, are hard to keep because they tend to not eat prepared foods while tangs and damsels and triggers seem to be the easier ones to keep since they love their prepared foods and gobble them up quickly. I currently have some tangs, a pair of clownfish, and a female blue jaw trigger and they all are getting along quite well, no aggression to each other apart from the tangs occasionally chasing each other as a show of dominance.

[MrMastavida]

A taste for saltwater with the cat XD thats hilarious

[alarsen]

'Fish are wet' 😁 Had a chuckle with that one

[Val_Halla]

Man…LoL. If YouTube and videos like this existed when I switch to saltwater 20yrs ago..I definitely would’ve had second thoughts.

I guess I’m glad I went in blind/naive thinking I could keep it simple and then slowly became obsessed with gear and harder corals etc.

This video sure made me reflect on things. Cheers

[scottdre]

In now on 14 weeks from I set up my first marine tank and so far all is going great . Got coral and fish and not lost any yet . I was lucky and got live rock from another tank to help my cycle so I’ve not had any ugly stage . I use all for reef manual dose and weekly water changes with coral pro salt . I think if u are want to spend money getting set up yea it’s dear but wen u have all your equipment then it’s really just maintaining the tank and enjoying ur hard work . And lots of learning that will never stop but it’s a great learning experience aswell as a hobby so dnt let the equipment or prices put you off . There’s always full set ups for sale also wich can save you a ton of money to get started 👍keep up the good content m8 😊

[Jaystars]

Gordon's AWC was a game changer for me 53ltrs every two weeks mostly keeps my water incheck

[justasimpleengineer]

Agreed with everything. The hobby is the maintenance and upkeep. If all I wanted was to look at pretty fish I’d just go down to the pet store every so often to look at theirs.

Also.. the growling puffer fish was the best part of the video.

[TheDesertraptor]

As a 12 month reefer I think the hardest part is under estimating costs involved.
Getting a setup is cheap enough but it's the test kits, salt, ICP, equipment and worst of all keeping up with tech that adds added unnecessary cost.
Help is abundant

[sisimonm]

Great Video Alex. You’ve sumped (excuse the pun) up the hobby perfectly and what makes it so great 👍
Thanks for being a superb champion of the hobby

[Arborpress]

Being “the guy into fish tanks ” My friend just showed me a video on TikTok of a girl starting a saltwater tank. From the very start of the video she instructs to mix the salt with tap water and stirs it into a pitcher like she’s mixing lemonade for a few minutes. My mind was blown from the fact that it wasn’t a “dory” or “Nemo” that you’d expect to be in the tank first but JELLYFISH. You had many people in the comments asking where to get them for their kids or themselves. I almost wanted to make a TikTok to rage on the video.

[Jacobson]

I love this video and you know what I ordered my first reef light last night so I'm committed now. I can't wait to see where this hobby takes me!