Those who don't do freshwater tanks, why?

[stanlalee]

I kept freshwater fish my whole childhood. Started with goldfish then the common guppies, tetras, angels etc and from there moved to south american cichlids like Jack dempseys, convicts, fire mouths, jewel fish. They were great but it took such precision in sizing, timing and temperament to keep them together without killing each other. My next progression was going to be african cichlids but then in college (early 90s) one of my best friends was a marine biology major. I got my first bag of crushed coral over an underground filter and a damsel around 1994l and never looked back. It was natural progression for me. The kind of freshwater fish that interest me now would require a minimum 210g.

 

[K7BMG]

I like both but have only time for one.
Like many I feel SW is much more vibrant.

I have always wanted a large 50+ gallon tank with a mass of Cardinal's.

 

[SebastianReefer]

I did freshwater for years and I still have a 55 gallon tank but it just doesn’t compare to saltwater I have 5 saltwater tanks and one fresh and the only reason I haven’t taken down the fresh is I have no time so for now it stays

 

[BullyBee]

For me, it’s all about fish. Mostly all the fish I want for salt require Atleast a 120g tank. I already have a 90 (planted) and a 32g (for axolotls) and a 25 cube (planted). So doing a 120g tank is out of the question right now. In the future perhaps.

My current project, a 48 gallon tank is gonna be for a brackish tank. I’ll be doing a green spotted puffer.

Now if I was into corals That would be a diff story. 48gallons is fine for that, I just don’t ha e much desire to do so.

 

[robbyg]

I think that people who look at some of those lush green FW tanks are forgetting that your looking at the best of the FW tanks. That is kind of like looking at some of the best reef tanks and thinking this is what I want.

Those FW tanks take a lot of work to maintain and keep. My good Bud has two and he spends more time on them than I do on my reef tank. My personal feeling is that FW tanks just don't have the ability to get nearly as diverse as SW tanks in terms of ecosystem. Also IMHO the fish personalities are not on the same level as SW fish and not as diverse.

 

[ReefBeta]

freshwater planted tank is harder than reef tank on the same calibrate.

In reef tank, algae control have some many solutions, CUC, tangs, refugium, ATS, skimmer, carbon dosing, etc. In planted tank, there is really only one, start with algae free plant, CO2, and plant heavily from the start, hoping algae never got the chance to take hold. Once algae take hold, the best suggestion is to restart. There aren't a lot of thing you can do to really get rid of algae. And because you need plants to out complete algae, you need to basically planted the whole tank full from the start. It's like you have to buy coral colony to fill up the tank from the get go. It doesn't have the fun of growing out from small specimens.

Then if you get the tank running well, you have to trim it like every month. That's lots of work needed to be done pretty regularly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ive had Many years of FW from livebearers, to odd balls (elephant nose, sharkes, clown knife) to african cichlids and even discus.
Cant beat the appeal and variety available in the marine side of aquaria !

 

[excell007]

I started FW before SW, I have a 120G tank for almost 15 years. I tore it down late last year and gave it away, not enough time to maintain 2 tanks now.

 

[dani5]

I had planted tanks for many years. I went very high tech with my tanks. I also built my own led lighting systems and tailored the led light spectrums to produce lush growth, color and flowering. You can have more than just green plants. I would mineralize my own soil for my tanks and I would dose various nutrients. I also grew and sold plants online to support my habit. I had sophisticated CO2 systems with Mazzei injectors and I used sumps vs canister filters on most of my tanks. I didn't have AWC, I wish I did, but I got my water changes down to a science. I would start multiple tanks with siphon hoses setup to remove a certain amount of water. As water was coming out of some tanks, new water was going into others. Still it took me 4-5 hours to do my water changes with all the tanks I had. I also looked for unique plants and fish. I was a member of a local FW club and we would meet on a monthly basis and swap plants. My one brother had a 27 acre heavily treed property with a large amount of deadwood that I would search through each spring to find unique wood pieces for my tanks. I would also go each spring with members from a local fish club I attended and we would collect local fish (yes we had special permits) So I also had native fish biotype tanks. One of my favorite native fish were the dart fish. I would transition the native fish from live foods to pellets over time. At the height of my FW tank career (lol), I had a 200 gallon, 75 gallon, 65 gallon, 40 gallon and a 20 gallon tank on the main level of my house. In my basement I had a room that was 18'x24' dedicated to FW tanks. I had a 150 gallon, 3 - 55 gallon, 6 - 10 gallon, 4 - 30 gallon and 5 - 20 gallon tanks. Personally I felt my FW tanks were way more work vs my SW tanks. Plants would grow quickly and needed lots of trimming, hence the online sales. I would raise FW shrimp and breed SA cichlids. I also had a 5000 gallon pond full of all types of aquatic plants in my yard with Koi and native fish.

Where I was at I had decent city water and well water for my tanks, so I didn't have to mess with making special water. I did have an RO/DI setup for my top of water. I would pump the waste water outside and water my landscaping with it. Where I am at now in AZ, our water is liquid rock with TDS levels at 650. I would have to use my RO/DI water to create the proper water conditions for plants and fish. It would be just as time intensive as my SW tanks and I would need additional water storage containers to do it. So for me right now having FW tanks is not an option. At some point down the road if I get tired of my SW tanks, FW is always an option. Most of my equipment would transition over with some tweaks.

I was a joy reading your post. It's sad you had such a "fortune" and had to abandon them. Did you miss them?

I'm also in AZ so I can relate! Sometimes our tap reaches TDS of 800. It was insane. I struggled a lot with keeping plants alive and I blamed hard water for that, though I always heard people say hard water has nothing to do with that. Now I only use RO and my plants are thriving. Not sure if that was the cause though.

 

[dani5]

@KenO I just edited my comment by the way.

 

[Sailingeric]

Did freshwater for years and years... just... got... bored...

Finally made the jump to Saltwater that i'd been scared of for years and was shocked by how manageable it was. Now the only freshwater we have is one small long exotic shrimp tank.

I totally agree! I did FW for a year but when I went SW, there was no looking back. Once you get it set up, I think it is easier, granted I have mostly a softie tank since I don't want to be a slave dosing and parameters plus I am more into the fish. Sw fish seem smarter and have more personality.

 

[KenO]

I was a joy reading your post. It's sad you had such a "fortune" and had to abandon them. Did you miss them?

I'm also in AZ so I can relate! Sometimes our tap reaches TDS of 800. It was insane. I struggled a lot with keeping plants alive and I blamed hard water for that, though I always heard people say hard water has nothing to do with that. Now I only use RO and my plants are thriving. Not sure if that was the cause though.

Hard water is the death to most plants.
I was moving from the east coast to AZ, there was no way I was going to move everything.
I do and I don’t. Right now my focus is on my SW tanks. Originally I planned on doing one FW planted tank. The more I thought about it, the more I talked myself out of it. The amount of work because of our water conditions just didn’t make it feasible to do. I didn’t want to have another water storage container for conditioned FW.

 

[Subnautica]

From what I've heard the lifespan of planted tanks is not long, probably 2 years or less. I could be wrong though. After that the plants start to die down, then people tear the tank down and start over with a new scape. That requires too much of a headache for me. Once I stick with one style I want it to last for years.

Back to the topic , I've never seen a fw tank that lasts more than 3 years though, unless it's a fish only tank. What about reef tanks? Look at people on here, some of theirs are even 40+, like Paul B's.

 

[Timfish]

I don't have all the reef tanks I want yet.

 

[KenO]

From what I've heard the lifespan of planted tanks is not long, probably 2 years or less. I could be wrong though. After that the plants start to die down, then people tear the tank down and start over with a new scape. That requires too much of a headache for me. Once I stick with one style I want it to last for years.

Back to the topic , I've never seen a fw tank that lasts more than 3 years though, unless it's a fish only tank. What about reef tanks? Look at people on here, some of theirs are even 40+, like Paul B's.

With FW planted tanks I made my own mineralized soil for the tanks using soil from my backyard. It's an interesting process. It takes sometime to do it. I did mine in a greenhouse during the winter. The mineralized soil I used lasted years and grew amazing plants. FW planted tanks evolve and mature a lot faster vs SW tanks. So they tend to get rescaped more often vs a SW tank. At first I tried a lot of different plants. As time went on, I started to focus on a specific set of plants and stayed with those plants. I experimented with different light wavelengths to see how the different wavelengths would affect plant growth, color and flowering. Yes certain underwater plants will bloom underwater. Look up Bucephalandra plants online. They are an awesome species of plants.

 

[rusgum]

I love both the sea and the insipid theme. Due to lack of time, the herbalist removed, but left the aquarium with fish.

 

[Kehy]

Well it's a lot harder to justify putting a dinosaur in a saltwater tank!

Really though, I love my freshwater tanks and just the absolutely ease of maintenance. Get that plant/ bioload level balanced, and you basically don't have to worry about a thing. I find them incredibly easy to handle- no fuss about chemistry or nutrients (unless you've got a nitrogen hog).

One thing I really do love is being able to go TINY. One of my most successful "tanks" is a 120ml bottle. You just can't match that, salt world. I also love Ripariums and paludariums. Want to intentionally run out of nitrates? That's how to do it.

 

[stanleo]

Ever thought of a female betta "harem?" My favorite lfs has a giant one (maybe 200 gal or more) with at least 60 female betta, loads of shrimp and Cory cats. It's sort of mesmorizing.

That would be interesting. I am going to the LFS today to get new fish for my nephews FW tank and I will be looking for an interesting species of fish that I have never kept before. Maybe that will spark my interest.

 

[reefingBeAmazin22]

Well it's a lot harder to justify putting a dinosaur in a saltwater tank!

Really though, I love my freshwater tanks and just the absolutely ease of maintenance. Get that plant/ bioload level balanced, and you basically don't have to worry about a thing. I find them incredibly easy to handle- no fuss about chemistry or nutrients (unless you've got a nitrogen hog).

One thing I really do love is being able to go TINY. One of my most successful "tanks" is a 120ml bottle. You just can't match that, salt world. I also love Ripariums and paludariums. Want to intentionally run out of nitrates? That's how to do it.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-cookie-jar-continues-to-flourish.747061/
Mhm

 

[Kehy]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-cookie-jar-continues-to-flourish.747061/
Mhm

Sure, nice little jar. But that's absolutely massive compared to the bottle. The bottle is 120ml. It sits on a windowsill, and zero equipment. Been set up since April, 2017. I still don't see a comparison