First bloom is opening

[rbarata]

Impressive, indeed. One of these days I'll buy myself a tank again. I find relaxing watching the fishes.

[estación seca]

I've been told salt water tanks are in some ways easier to care for than fresh water, because fresh water require weekly partial water exchanges, but salt water once balanced only requires adding distilled water to compensate for evaporation. Is that true? I have fresh water tanks now but have stayed away from salt water.

[Telemarcer]

Topping off with freshwater (I had a 5 stage RODI unit) tied to a float valve maintains salinity levels (salt doesn't evaporate) but unless you have a really good protein skimmer to remove waste plus high circulation and a low bio load you still need to do water changes. I generally did 10-15% weekly when tanks were new and then went to the same but every 2-3 weeks once a tank was mature and bio load was fixed (i.e. number of fish, invertebrates etc). There are lots of good salt mixes out there and some great forums for info like this one if you want to try it. My last tank was 500 gal display and 650 gal total. Was not as successful as the smaller one in the photo but its a really rewarding pursuit and the fish and corals are amazing to watch and care for.

I would say saltwater tanks are only marginally harder to care for than fresh but require more equipment (filtration, circulation and lighting for corals) and planning to automate the added requirements. But that planning and "engineering" is part of the fun.