Those my friend are some loaded questions! :)
But I’m happy to answer. In my opinion there are three types of tanks. Freshwater, saltwater with just fish (often called FOWLR - fish only with live rock), and a reef tank (has corals).
My tank is a reef tank. Freshwater and fish only saltwater tanks are cake. Mixing saltwater being the main difference. Corals add probably 2 or three orders of magnitude in challenge, knowledge, required maintenance, and money. Some corals are pretty forgiving and easy to keep, others are downright difficult.
My tank is a small one - 20G. Small tanks are less $, but in my opinion they are extremely hard. Everything about keeping corals is about stability - fish tolerate wide ranges of water parameters, but some corals die overnight if the temp rises a degree, or salinity moves just a bit, etc. Nanos are hard because of the small water volume, one drop of something in my tank moves the needle - one drop in a 200G tank is undetectable. On the plus side, I can “fix” a problem with a large water change (I can mix 20G of water, I can’t mix 400G).
I spend about one half hour per week doing water changes, scrubbing, and doing maintenance. I’ve gotten good at it, when I first started I probably spent 5ish hours a week. It’s worth noting I’ve spent considerable effort building mixing stations and creating a system to do maintenance quickly.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely-as long as you have a few things:
- You REALLY like saltwater fish and corals - like you don’t get bored of looking at the same fish for coral for 30 years (because that’s how long they live)
- You are willing to commit to learning a lot first. If you just do it without learning, you’ll fail. I recommend watching the BRS 52 weeks of reefing on YouTube.
- You have the time and desire to do the maintenance-bigger tanks take more time than mine.
I’ve always wanted a reef tank. I could watch it all day long everyday. Long ago, I realized the $ and commitment required, and backed off because I wasn’t ready. As I got older with more disposable cash, I took the plunge and I’m super happy I did. But it’s been the hardest hobby I’ve ever tried to be successful at and at times it’s been heartbreaking. But I think I’ve figured it all out at this point, and I’d encourage anyone who has the fascination for these animals to take the plunge-it’s worth it if you enjoy these creatures.
I’m literally arguing in another thread now about how weird corporations are about this. And here’s a prime example. The company shares their content on the internet freely. A medium where its inherent design is to consume the bits and pieces of the giant mass of data that you are interested in (and ignore the rest).
But because we choose to not watch the ads, and only the interesting parts (that they published freely) - THAT’S a reason to go after BPC with govt. action? Give me a break. If your content is so good, grow some balls, put it behind a hard paywall, ask me to pay for it, and stop leaving it laying around on the ground for all to view.