Is Saltwater Aquarium Hobby Tough: The WISEST Answer

In this article, we answer the number one question of the new tank owners. Is saltwater and reef aquarium hobby hard?

Different Aspects

If you ask a hundred experts, you will get a hundred different answers ranging from easy to nearly impossible. So, the quick answer is that you have selected one of the most difficult pets possible.

Saltwater tanks and reef tanks, with corals in particulars, are not goldfish bowls or hamsters. This is a section of the ocean reef. You are recreating your home as a symbiotic ecosphere of life. Most people don't even have the chance to see in their entire lifetime, and you will do it in your living rooms.

Difficulty: Not the Hurdle

But, the difficulties are what make it cool, rare, and most interesting and rewarding hobbies. This is not something that an average person does. Difficult why it is so interesting. It is a perfect hobby for someone who has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, passion for applying that knowledge, and the zest to achieve the type of result anyone can be proud of.

All that combined with an artistic and creative flair, a bit of great or tool junkie DNA, and a truly unique group of pets that can live for decades and feel like a part of the family.

Until now, if you have decided this is the right hobby for you and wonder how you can get started. Or if you checked up and are thinking that this is way too much for what you signed up for, then you should quit it now, before killing some innocent wet pet and straining your wallet any further.

But, if this is for you, we can tell you exactly what really difficult means.

What Does Difficult Mean?

Maintaining a saltwater reef tank is simple and requires minimum effort. 80% is just about feeding the fish, changing the water every couple of weeks, adn cleaning the glasses needed. The other 20% is a couple of cool filtration and chemistry elements. Simple to implement and part of what often gets perfected as you dive deeper. The challenge of reefing is not any different than any other hobby, and it is captured in a difference between acquiring knowledge and applying knowledge.

Acquiring the knowledge to do these things can take many years. Learn, attempt, fail. Learn, attempt, succeed. Learn, attempt, master!

Master the Art

There is no way around it. It takes years to master anything, but some paths are just harder than others. The easiest approach is finding someone who's done it before and is willing to share a working, easily replicable recipe or technique.

In a matter of hours, it can take that knowledge and produce similar results. For instance, you don't have to be bass mater to catch a fish, if a guide or good friend brings you to the right spot and shows you the right technique. 

Saltwater aquarium and reefing are no different. Application of knowledge and the actual act of maintaining a tank is what we refer to as easy and requires way less time and effort than most common pets as long as you find a solid guide.

Happy Reef Keeping!

 

 

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