salt water fish ideas

Well i am soon to start a 30 gallon saltwater tank. And i have a few simple questions...
First, is it ganna be tough? Maintence/fish?
2nd what kind of fish do i start off with to practice saltwater
3rd how much will it cost to get everything set up besides filter light tank and heater?

-Mice

Thanks

 

Reading a few good books will help you out greatly. A couple books come to mind such as The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner

It depends on the individual setup, but generally you have to perform reqular maintenance. If you do your research, and take things very slowly a saltwater tank is not that difficult to run. Maintenance depends on the tank, inhabitants, and what equipment you have but here is some of the maintenance that I do for my 20g reef tank:

- Weekly water changes of around 10-15% although it varies from week to week

- Top off with RO water evey few days

- Clean collection cup from skimmer every few days

- Clean powerheads every month or so.

- Test Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, and pH as well as measure salinity every so often.

Gobies, certain species of Clownfish, Wrasses, some Blennies, and Dartfish are some good beginner fish. For a 30g tank depending on your filtration, maintenance, etc I would only stock the tank with 2-3 small fish. Remember to add fish slowly over a period of time. Give maybe a month or more between each new fish.

Again it depends on the setup but here is a small list of things I can think of:

Marine Salt

Hydrometer or refractometer-Used to test the salinity of the water

Test Kits(Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, pH, etc)

Substrate-I prefer sand, but you can use crushed coral

Live Rock- Although some people may argue this I highly recommend
live rock for pretty much any saltwater tank

Powerheads- Creates flow

Thermometer-Glass or digital

Food-A good variety of food. Pellet, Flake, Frozen, etc.

That is all I can think of at the moment. If you give me some information about what type of setup you want, stocking, etc I could offer more help.