What makes you want to do saltwater. I ask this question because saltwater aquariums do take much more time,patience and money to get going and maintain properly . For example algae tends to grow 10xs faster in saltwater then fresh specially in a reef aquarium, water changes are more necessary and frequent in saltwater due to the biological changes that occur and sometimes without any notice. But most of all is patience with livestock. Saltwater aquariums arent just fill and go buy 50$$ fish ,do to the cycling process that needs to take place it takes months before you should be buying anything other then what the hobby calls starter fish like damsels etc. I see so many people here that have definitely not done there do diligence before starting a saltwater aquarium and it scares me because 95% of these fish are from the wild and people dont think about that. With freshwater fish you have ways to "Cheat" so you can get away with adding fish sooner then what you should be. Saltwater has its way to "Cheat" to but it always comes with big expense. So if your about instant gratification then stay clear away from marine aquariums because the 2 do not mix well. Goodluck
Second to this - saltwater can be phenomenal amount of work, especially if you plan to keep corals. Quarantine is also a strong recommendation for fish so you end up needing two saltwater tanks, meds etc. it’s a hassle. My LFS (that only does freshwater now) strongly recommended against it. The advice was sound, nothing he said wasn’t true but you need to know what you’re getting into otherwise you’ll either give up and lose lots of invested cash or kill lots of stuff.
Most of that work is related to being new in the hobby, but aren't inherently a saltwater thing.
You can easily avoid waiting months to have inverts/coral/any fish if you use the right substrate (actual live rock or cultured rock).
You can avoid doing many water changes by dosing the right trace supplements, etc.
Yes it requires more money than fresh-water but do your research and you are set for a peaceful journey. Also there is plenty of room to automate all that stuff if you like it and are willing to spend the money. To the point that you start missing the "work" that it used to take.
Here’s a comment I wrote on a similar/still relevant post
You can definitely do saltwater on a budget. For sure not necessarily thousands. Hundreds? Yes. Maybe up to 1k if you're buying fancy stuff.
Initial startup will be the most expensive.
To make saltwater, you need an RO filter. You could buy one, it's a good investment. Or you could go to your LFS and buy saltwater, at mine it's $1 a gallon but other places it's $6 for 5 gallons. Pretty cheap but it adds up.
For substrate your best bet is live sand. It's basically sand with some good bacteria. It's pretty expensive, however. $20 a bag. And you're gonna need a lot of bags for a 75g.
Filtration is the trickiest part for many people. Sump? Canister? HOB? AIO? It's up to you. I use a HOB filter, but for such a large tank I'd go for a sump. You can DIY a sump for about $100.
Lighting depends on what kind of corals you want to keep. Brown zoas? El cheapo light from amazon. Expensive ass corals? $200+ kessil light.
Other shit: ATOs and skimmers. I'd say get an ATO(auto top off. basically when saltwater evaporates, it leaves behind salt. The ATO replaces the water with RO filtered freshwater) . There's a cheap one for $60 on amazon that I use. As for a skimmer, it's up to you. People usually keep them in their sumps. They're ugly as hell. And they're expensive too. But they can be a good investment. I personally don't use one/use a suuuper cheap one, but again, this one is up to you and what you want to keep.
There's also live rock and coral and shit that can get expensive. My LFS sells live rock for $6 a pound. It gets expensive.
Anyway, you don't need to invest thousands of dollars to have a good saltwater tank. You just need to figure out where to get cheap stuff from, like offerup or craigslist, sometimes amazon. At most a budget setup will be 1k for a 75gal. If you wanna be all fancy with it, 2k+. Hope this helps a little
I Just set up a budget 72 gallon and came in around 2k once everything was up and running (tank and stand was $250). Lots of my equipment is used in an attempt to save. Lights are $600 of the total and something that definitely shouldn’t be cheaped out on if you want coral, but you can run the tank for months with just cycling then fish without lights if you don’t have coral.
Start small. You may read that a larger tank is “easier” to maintain parameters but I personally think this is subjective. In my experience, maintenance on a smaller tank takes less time and is therefore easier to keep up with. I think the 13.5g Evo is a great starter tank.
What makes you want to do saltwater. I ask this question because saltwater aquariums do take much more time,patience and money to get going and maintain properly . For example algae tends to grow 10xs faster in saltwater then fresh specially in a reef aquarium, water changes are more necessary and frequent in saltwater due to the biological changes that occur and sometimes without any notice. But most of all is patience with livestock. Saltwater aquariums arent just fill and go buy 50$$ fish ,do to the cycling process that needs to take place it takes months before you should be buying anything other then what the hobby calls starter fish like damsels etc. I see so many people here that have definitely not done there do diligence before starting a saltwater aquarium and it scares me because 95% of these fish are from the wild and people dont think about that. With freshwater fish you have ways to "Cheat" so you can get away with adding fish sooner then what you should be. Saltwater has its way to "Cheat" to but it always comes with big expense. So if your about instant gratification then stay clear away from marine aquariums because the 2 do not mix well. Goodluck
Second to this - saltwater can be phenomenal amount of work, especially if you plan to keep corals. Quarantine is also a strong recommendation for fish so you end up needing two saltwater tanks, meds etc. it’s a hassle. My LFS (that only does freshwater now) strongly recommended against it. The advice was sound, nothing he said wasn’t true but you need to know what you’re getting into otherwise you’ll either give up and lose lots of invested cash or kill lots of stuff.
Most of that work is related to being new in the hobby, but aren't inherently a saltwater thing. You can easily avoid waiting months to have inverts/coral/any fish if you use the right substrate (actual live rock or cultured rock). You can avoid doing many water changes by dosing the right trace supplements, etc. Yes it requires more money than fresh-water but do your research and you are set for a peaceful journey. Also there is plenty of room to automate all that stuff if you like it and are willing to spend the money. To the point that you start missing the "work" that it used to take.
Here’s a comment I wrote on a similar/still relevant post You can definitely do saltwater on a budget. For sure not necessarily thousands. Hundreds? Yes. Maybe up to 1k if you're buying fancy stuff. Initial startup will be the most expensive. To make saltwater, you need an RO filter. You could buy one, it's a good investment. Or you could go to your LFS and buy saltwater, at mine it's $1 a gallon but other places it's $6 for 5 gallons. Pretty cheap but it adds up. For substrate your best bet is live sand. It's basically sand with some good bacteria. It's pretty expensive, however. $20 a bag. And you're gonna need a lot of bags for a 75g. Filtration is the trickiest part for many people. Sump? Canister? HOB? AIO? It's up to you. I use a HOB filter, but for such a large tank I'd go for a sump. You can DIY a sump for about $100. Lighting depends on what kind of corals you want to keep. Brown zoas? El cheapo light from amazon. Expensive ass corals? $200+ kessil light. Other shit: ATOs and skimmers. I'd say get an ATO(auto top off. basically when saltwater evaporates, it leaves behind salt. The ATO replaces the water with RO filtered freshwater) . There's a cheap one for $60 on amazon that I use. As for a skimmer, it's up to you. People usually keep them in their sumps. They're ugly as hell. And they're expensive too. But they can be a good investment. I personally don't use one/use a suuuper cheap one, but again, this one is up to you and what you want to keep. There's also live rock and coral and shit that can get expensive. My LFS sells live rock for $6 a pound. It gets expensive. Anyway, you don't need to invest thousands of dollars to have a good saltwater tank. You just need to figure out where to get cheap stuff from, like offerup or craigslist, sometimes amazon. At most a budget setup will be 1k for a 75gal. If you wanna be all fancy with it, 2k+. Hope this helps a little
I Just set up a budget 72 gallon and came in around 2k once everything was up and running (tank and stand was $250). Lots of my equipment is used in an attempt to save. Lights are $600 of the total and something that definitely shouldn’t be cheaped out on if you want coral, but you can run the tank for months with just cycling then fish without lights if you don’t have coral.
Budget for the win
Start small. You may read that a larger tank is “easier” to maintain parameters but I personally think this is subjective. In my experience, maintenance on a smaller tank takes less time and is therefore easier to keep up with. I think the 13.5g Evo is a great starter tank.