Brackish vs FW

[coop]

Ok, so how much more work is it to maintain a brackish tank for a puffer vs a freshwater tank? Again, I had a freshwater tank before, but what more would be required for the brackish. How much more would be required for full marine? I guess I would need to know how much more as far a physically and how much more equipment. Thanks all.

[Boxermom]

Saltwater is much different and much more expensive to set up initially, with a lot less room for error. Low end brackish isn't much more expensive or difficult than freshwater. Just need marine salt and a hydrometer or refractometer that measures from 1.000.

[coop]

So basically same thing as fresh, just need to keep marine salt in it and keep an eye on the salinty?

[Boxermom]

For low end brackish, yes.

[CoreyK]

For a "proper" marine setup, in addition to the things you need for freshwater, you are looking at ~ 2-3lbs of cured live rock per gallon, a protein skimmer, powerheads, preferably a sump of some sort, SW testing kit, a hydrometer (preferably refractometer), and salt obviously. This is all very expensive - for a 50g tank, cured live rock alone is probably going to cost you $500-$800.
If you want to keep corals, lighting gets very expensive as well.
And like Boxermom said, a marine system is far less forgiving, and a 50g in SW terms is pretty small and unstable, especially for a beginner.

Not trying to scare you away from doing it, but I'd just want you to know what you're getting into if you plan on keeping a puffer.

[Pufferpunk]

I would think 1 1/2-2lbs of LR/g would be fine. You could also just add enough salt to make it high'end BW & add a skimmer but you'd still have to do large weekly water changes, costing $$$ too. I used 10 cups of salt weekly, on my 55g.

[coop]

wow. this is what i was looking for. i am not trying to make it sound as if i am lazy, but right now the military occupies majority of my time, so i have to find something that doesnt require a lot of maintenance. I guess i need to stick to the freshwater, lol. I really want a tank again bad though...Thanks all.