What's the difference between FW and SW?

[Bluebeard]

i think quite a lot of us here was keeping or still keeping freshwater tank. and a lot of people say there the principle between freshwater and saltwater is very different.

so what's the difference?

i do see a lot of common place though.

[Phang]

One got salt........ one no salt........haahaahaa

[Bluebeard]

hahaahah.. ya lor ya lor... actually its more like one got more salt and one got less salt.

i also add salt to my plant tank you see, a lot of bumblebee goby there.

actually i am more of into the idea of a planted marine tank but marine plant not much choice leh.

right now i only have 1 kind of plant in my tank. there is a lot of plant/algea which don't really have leaves, just small green bulbs. they grow easy with aqua lights?

[bawater]

wait a min- there are soooo much diff...firstly saltwater is a much more unstable medium & parameters must be monitored -

oxygen saturated,temp,calc,ph...etc..etc.

then there is lighting........

then there are solving mysteries...why fish dying,missing,corals shrinking,dying. Trying to play god & recreate nature's elements.

water movement........phew!.

As AT noted...heavy metals build up in substrate.....

if u only think of the basics e.g PH,ammoinia,nirites,nitrates then yes- but when u go deeper...its endless.

i'm in the midst of a book i got from amazon.com its an academic textbook for public aquariums(to me it looks like PHD level),cost me a bomb on freight cause of its weight(i think book was only US$50 but shipping was SGD$100)- its called building ecosystems by H.adey (2nd edition) ...got charts on solar radiation,what kind of lighting is used by corals at what time of day(cloudy,afternoon sun,sunrise)- moon effects of tides...effects on corals...fraggin parameters..algae scrubbers. damn deep. haven't even got to seawater makeup yet. designs of huge inter-linked ecosystems & results of trials on 3ft/4ft systems- ( they even got pics of a 10yr old 2ft clam in a 4ft grown from 2")- i got indigestion,sometimes have to re-read chapters twice.

All solutions & findings backed by intensive experimentive results.

u can never stop learning...SW topic is so wide.

[Bluebeard]

hahaha.... ok ok.. maybe i'm comparing my saltware FOWLR tank with my freshwater planted tank which also need to monitoring lighting, CO2, etc, etc.. heehe.. it's kind of unfair la.. hehehe...

i do agree that for a reef tank, it's much more complicated than a freshwater tank, but a freshwater planted tank also got a lot of things to look out for.

but i feel that planted tank is also not easy to do.

[bawater]

no- i still reading, haven't reached reef stage yet, can't seem to stay away from fishes- still trying to balance between the 2.

i find the fish catches the eye most & thus i fill the backdrop wif soft corals.

just by personal pref.- although thinking of going pure FO.,but soft corals are pretty easy. Still can't make up mind. hmmmmm.

well- here's one diff i found between a SW & FW. Which one do u feel is exciting to watch u need to ask ? planted is relaxing while SW-..........entertaining.

[Morgan]

The major different between fresh and saltwater I think is that fresh is more forgiving if you made a mistake but not for saltwater.

[Achilles Tang]

I hate the smell of freshwater tanks, especially planted tanks! Reminds me of ponds!

Saltwater tanks... reminds me of the beach!

[kelstorm]

SW fishes are nicer in colors.. shapes.. and taste!!!!.. as compared to FW.. all i can think of is LH... <_

[Tanzy]

Adey is a big advocate of algae turf scrubbers! That is not feasible in a small aquarium unless you can convert your roof into a giant filter. His systems are huge! Overkill!

Equipment use is different for fresh and saltwater is different. Protein skimmers only work in saltwater, calcium reactors only used by SW. Carbion dioxide reactors are rarely used in SW whereas it is a common thing in FW. When was the last time you heard about a refugium for a FW?

[Achilles Tang]

?!? ?!?

Tanz... you post wrongly in here or what?

[Norvin Ng]

I always just tell people this when debating about SW and FW (especially LH) - we are different "levels"......

[Tanzy]

The topic was what's the difference right? So I say the equipment used is different.

[Achilles Tang]

Doh! I need my caffeine fix... COKE!!!

[Tanzy]

What have you been smoking?

[Achilles Tang]

Da Bomb!