Longtime freshwater aquariasts moving into saltwater

[amydrossie]

Hi there!

My husband and I have been keeping african cichlids for 15+ years or so. Our 10 year old inherited our love of fish, but he has fallen in love with all things saltwater. He spends all day after school looking up different fish, how to keep them, who gets along with who and has set up 4 old tanks and cycled them with snails and one little clownfish. He begs us to take him to various LFS every day, and is ready to get everything. So, here I am trying to learn so we can have happy fish, happy reef and happy son.

Looking around for fish/coral etc for a nice Christmas present for him, though he has a lot of very specific ideas. Anyone want to take a super curious 10 year old under your wing and give him some good advice, bc as his parents, its the blind leading the blind here.

My husband and I never quite wanted to dive into saltwater because we knew there was a lot more nuance and work vs freshwater, but he is VERY passionate. So here we are - open to any and all advice to help him get this going!

 

[billyocean]

That's awesome! Plenty of information on this site in threads and knowledgeable members that can help. Personally, I would recommend building it up with the basics. Test kits for water quality (nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, phosphates,... alk, magnesium, calcium can come later). The biggest/most important thing is good maintenance. It's 90% work and 10% relaxing/enjoying just watching the tank..lol. Patience is the key, rush nothing. Plan out what corals you want to have and the requirements they need. Don't buy something that spreads around the tank that you may want to get rid of later just to "have something" now. Although he's 10 and maybe that's the route to go for now? Every tank and owner do things slightly different and everyone fails at some point on something...but most of us figure it out enough to have some awesome tanks. Maybe more of a bit of mental advice more than exactly 1+1=2..but a good mindfulness and foundation to start. I'm sure more will have better advice on a good starter plan i.e. equipment, fish, corals. It's a never ending learning curve..but in a good way.

 

[billyocean]

Also forgot to mention..there are great looking high end systems with all the bells and whistles. There are also great looking systems with regular water changes and a hang on back filter or with a canister filter. Things get pricey quickly but they don't have to for a basic start up and getting the feet wet so to speak.