[justafarmer]

Hi everyone.

I live near an estuary on the south coast of Australia. I've been busy with life's events and haven't had an aquarium for 2 decades.

I've just bought a 4' X 2' X 2' tank and am considering my options while setting up the tank in its location in the wall in front of my kitchen.

My options are
a tropical freshwater set up (what I know fairly well - but I'm amazed at the technology that's now available!) or
a cold saltwater reef/ lagoon tank or
an estuary tank

The advantage of the latter two options are that I can add animals/plants taken from the numerous rock pools on the shore or from the rivermouth near where I live.

My main concerns in a still busy life are ease of setup and automated maintenance where possible. So the main disadvantage of the non freshwater alternatives I believe is the complicated maintenance issues.

Seems like I have some months of trial and error ahead.

Cheers.

 

[gypsyfla]

Hello and welcome to the site

 

[MediaHound]

G'day mate! Thanks for joining, hope you enjoy our forums.
That sounds like a really nice tank. It's no secret that the saltwater equipment takes a little more maintenance, like cleaning out your protein skimmer's collection cup and neck.
But its really not all that bad when you compare what you need to do with salt vs what you need to do with fresh. It's just a few extra minutes of maintenance to do what you need to do.

Whichever you decide, I'm sure it will turn out beautiful and enjoyable. Please share some pics with us when you're ready. Looking forward to hearing what you decide.

 

[petlover516]

Welcome to the site! I think u should make an estuary-paludarium! Make a basic aquarium that is shallow than most, use sand as a substrate and slope it up above the water in 1 area and decorate both areas like an estuary!