Why do you choose to do planted over marine?

[andrewtyr]

Let's hear why you guys rather do planted than marine

honest opinions, ok

[Justikanz]

Cost. Relative ease.

To me, keeping a planted tank is almost like a fish-only tank. I don't really care of the parameters as long as I know I am not keeping fish(and plants) that require the extreme to survive. Thus, as I don't care about pH, hardness, the many different ppm readings of different chemicals, life is relatively easy for me. I just have to make sure there is as little algae as possible and there is enough CO2 and trim the plants as and when they grow out of hand...

For marine, such bo-chap-ness is not possible... I cannot imagine myself testing water for salinity, specific gravity, amount of trace elements, top-ups with reverse osmosis water, find distilled water, measure amount of salt, etc etc... Then the lighting also... With marine, one would think of buying corals etc, nice pretty fish to go alone, etc and these can often be difficult to maintain and feed...

Thus, for me, it is the ease and the relatively cheaper prices that keeps me from ever going to marine... (Though a simple tank with stones, algae and pipefish-look-alike and sailfin mollies is cool too )

[richietay]

i prefer greenery over corals! planted easy to kick off, and cost is the other reason.

[kemp]

for me, the main reason would be the cost

[Nicky]

Cost and personal-Ethical issues.

Re. Cost. Most of us can understand why cost is an issue. For me, if I want to do anything, I like to do it well to my standard. For marine it is almost impossible to do a good looking and sustainable tank without at least $10K.

Re. Personal Ethical issue.. Most, if not all, of livestock, LR and coral of marine hobby are obtained from the wild. These are usually from un-sustainable sources. Some of the fishes I saw dying in large qty in marine LFS are so rare that I seldom see them when I was diving pretty frequently in reasonably remote and exotic places many years ago. Take for example the mandrian fish. Ask any diver friends you know how many such fish have they seen in the wild and you will get an idea.

Unlike fresh water plants, it takes long time for LR to be created and even longer time for a coral to grow. So it is not economical to culture coral, maybe marginally economical for LR. Plus it is not easy to make coral spawn.

But I must say that I love the color of a marine tank.

Yes, many fishes of planted tanks are wild caught too but they are generally from sustainable sources or sources that will be destroyed for other reasons anyway. Example: betta are obtained from streams/stagnant peat swamp but in places in Malaysia and Indo, trees are chopped down and habitat are destroyed along with the betta, because people want the wood. In Sourth Amercia, if cardinal tetra are not harvest they will die in large numbers when dry season comes along anyway.

[theodore]

I have no patience.

1. A marine tank requires proper cycling to be done before lifestock can be added (slowly) since ammonia is a lot more toxic when pH > 7. With planted tanks, I usually plant heavy and add some fishes within the same day.

2. The bioload limits are extremely low when compared against planted tanks, even with a sump. I have > 100 fishes in my 4ft planted. For a marine tank of the same volume, you will be pushing the limit at 20.

3. You can't revamp a marine tank as easily as planted. I redo parts of my tank every once in a while and had even revamped it once. Try a complete revamp on a marine tank and you may find all the survivors to be clowns.

Then again, I do miss my clowns - I kept them more than 15 years ago. Maybe I'll go back to them when I'm sick of planted? ... Nay, guinea pigs will come first

[juggler]

Planted tanks are relatively easy to maintain and cost less.

I have no knowlegde on marine life. And not very interested in them. I grew up catching fish from my grandmother's pond and the drains. So sticking to freshwater for the memories...

[cairocks]

Firstly, ethic issues. Read a lot about how marine fish collectors uses poison to stun the fish and also distroying the natural habitat of the marine environments in the process of getting the more valuable fishes. Don't want to contribute into the demand part of such activities.

Secondly, cost. Heard a lot about how expensive about keeping a marine tank properly, although the cost of keeping a planted tank isn't low either, especially since I have added a chiller into the system.

Thirdly. I prefer a green tank than a grey/purple tank.

[Fei Miao]

All of the above and I have this fear having marine tanks corrodes electrical plugs (don't know how true is that?)

[elmike]

Negatives

1. Very troublesome to mix saltwater. I actually thought every week must change water and mix saltwater just like freshwater tanks.
2. Marine fish not readily available, lfs into salt water few and far between, also very pricey, if die very heart pain.
3. More equipment, more costly initial outlay.

In fact, my kids have been pestering me to convert my tank to salt water as they are tired of freshwater, but I don't forsee I'll ever go marine.

[BFG]

My 2cents contribution to this thread.

The marine hobby has evolved over leaps and bound to come to what it is today. Education has played a major role in this trade. So does technology that would assist a reefer in maintaining water parameters that is the same or exceed to what mother nature has provided. Research has also helps to improve the lifespan, provide knowledge for the upkeep and requirement for fishes and coral. With the internet, information on the upkeep of livestock is constantly being updated with fellow reefer constantly exchanging ideas and experiences with one another through forums.

Marine Fishes-In the past, fishes were caught by using cyanide. Since these fishes do not survive very long in captivity, the fish catcher were educated to use other means of catching fishes. Healthy fishes arriving into the lfs translate to more business as the quality of the fishes arriving has been raised. In the wild, certain areas of the reef were marked as sanctuary to prevent over fishing. These areas provide avenues for fishes to increase in their population. When space has become premium, they will move out of their territory in order to inhibit new areas. The areas outside these protected sanctuary are where these fish catcher await to harvest. More and more of these protected sanctuary are being created by governments who are aware of the benefits these protected sanctuary provide.

Corals-On the contrary, much have been learnt about these animals. From providing excellent water parameters to their diet requirement, to their reproduction, there are more information now about keeping these animals than say about 10 years ago. There are equipment being made to provide exactly what they require. Methods have been shared to increase their population through the likes of fragging. This is one method whereby a single specimen, if cut into portion and allowed to heal will generate an increase in the number of the said specimen. But only some specimen of coral can be produced in such a way. In this way, lesser specimen of corals are harvested from the wild while the fragged specimen are traded among reefer.


Hope this helps!

[richietay]

so Rohaizal, which of the two interest you? are you into marine too?

[richt]

I do both, planted and marine. Both similar water volumes.

I find that there is synergy between planted aquaria and marine. I believe that the "basic" knowledge of marine could add interesting possibilities to planted aquaria, esp in terms of setting up an ecosystem rather than what is in comparison a very sterile environment. My marine tank contains 100s of species and constant surprises, my planted, including plants, probably 10s of species and no surprises! (A surprise is finding a shrimp/crab/clam/starfish/jellyfish/worm in your tank after six months and not having a clue it was in there - bad surprises happen sometimes too)

Ethics: I agree with all that has been said on this. I tend to err on the cynical side, so my target fish species are very common and hardy shallow water shoaling species that cost a few pounds/dollars each. I have one pygmy angel fish and two tank raised anemone fish. All pretty hardy, most from areas that experience salinity and temperature fluctuations, so don't need too much pampering.

I have a reef tank, which is mostly soft corals, again species that are easy to keep long term, most will survive exposure to air for hours. Finding out what to avoid is hard, but you have to research and in some cases dip into scientific texts. Just don't believe what the LFS tells you.

Wild caught: Fish are hard to breed because they have a planktonic larval stage, for the most part, but most anemone fish these days are tank raised. There are many others that are now being farmed commercially. Some even bred by hobbyists!

I give away things I over produce and there are lots of people out there willing to swap stuff, so in terms of sustainability there is potential to expand in this arena and people are conscious that this is important.

One interestingly perverse idea is a marine planted tank using macro algaes. There are some very interesting macros out there and you could make Amano proud on a similar budget to a high tech planted tank.

While there is a lot more to learn, marine isn't that hard for anyone who has wet and green fingers IMO.

[BFG]

so Rohaizal, which of the two interest you? are you into marine too?

I was into planted tank for a couple of years or so. But Murphy decided to visit my tank at 4am and to cut a long story short, I am in the midst of setting a 4 footer tank. Most of the equipment have been bought except for the tank and cabinet. I'm taking things slow with this setup as it is a completely new experience to me.

[Plantbrain]

I do both planted and marine, and I do planted marine tanks:

[Plantbrain]

How do you like them apples?

Regards,
Tom Barr

[|squee|]

They look like exotic forms of freshwater algae

I do planted over cost too. For a student with a weekly income of $50 you can't do much.

[jacquetlc]

Great to stump upon this thread... I'm currently toying with the idea of a 2ft - 3ft new tank setup, either freshwater (I've got a 1.5x1.5 already) or marine tank setup.

freshwater tank setup is a bit easier as I've grasp the concept of balancing the eco-system etc.

a Marine tank because it will add color to my house and i simply love the bright blue, yellow and orange!

anyone can PM/email me to advice me on the very basic setup of a marine tank and as well as the basic budgeting etc.

[email protected]

Thank you lots!

[Justikanz]

For bright blue, yellow and orange, you can also consider a hard water African cichlid (especially Malawis) setup. Personally, it will save you money and heartaches (and a lot of hard work. )

[jacquetlc]

For bright blue, yellow and orange, you can also consider a hard water African cichlid (especially Malawis) setup. Personally, it will save you money and heartaches (and a lot of hard work. )

What is that??!!? ... You mean all the colors are found on the same body/unit? Sounds weird... like a person dressed up in haywired totally unmatched clothes walking down orchard road... (sorry... when i was reading about this malawis thingy... I visualized this image) ... hahahahaha

is this african tribe expensive?