Opportunity knocking... but do I answer?

[DefStatic]

A little background... So I have always wanted to start a salt water tank. But I always knew it required a bit more knowledge than a freshwater, and of course is IMO twice as expensive.

I have been keeping freshwater planted tanks for 2 or 3 years now. I have a 30 gallon community old Perfecto I restored (it was my parents from the 80s, hadn't been used since 90s, upgraded lighting to LED) , two 3 gallons with a betta in each (one marienland and one Evolve 4, both acrylic), and now a 10 gallon (I felt my 30 gallon was over-stocked so moving some fish to this new tank).

I tend to stay middle of the road as far as equipment. Not the cheapest I can find but not the most expensive. All LED. All custom filter media setup. All my fish are fairly low maint, hardy fish. Same for my plants. While I have pretty nice LED lighting (typically FINNEX), I only attempt low to med-low light plants. Do my water changes regularly (although they had to go 3 weeks without a water change once, all survived although I am still undoing the damage a little, and I understand that is a big no no for Saltwater, but I did have someone topping off the water). Test my water regularly.

I'd like to think I have been a pretty successful at the hobby. Yes I have made mistakes, and learned from them. Usually nothing that cost me an entire tank or livestock.

Anyways...

I have the opportunity to obtain an Innovative Marine Nuvo 8, with a nice heater and 10 lbs of substrate. This is from a LFS, and the owner is very nice and very knowledgeable and always willing to help at all times. It is a barely used tank, a person he does work with had it for like a month or two and decided he didn't want it. Also, there is a TINY TINY TINY chip in the glass at the base. Like a pea sized little chip. The price is well below what I would think all that would cost based on looking up prices on line.

 

My question is, should I bother? Is this a good tank to get into the hobby with? Or is going nano for salt water not a good idea to start with? From what I have read for both saltwater and freshwater (but especially more for salt) nano tanks are harder because if something goes wrong it goes wrong quicker. I find from my searching it is often suggested for beginners to get a larger tank to start.

[bradsreeeftank]

Go nano bro, i see 100s and 100s of people who buy these big giant tank and you see pic of there tank and they have little 5 dollar frags because they spent thousands of dollars on equipment. Go small

[matt1977]

Do it! Leap of faith... in slow motion. Yes - Things happens fast in Nanos..

I also have FW, planted tanks - so patience has been already learned. My first Nano was 4 years ago and I went about it too fast... nothing major happened because my experience in planted tanks made me aware of what to look for. Once I felt confident with it, I wanted to upgrade the tank & equipment because I wanted more creatures... Corals are an obsession.

[le0p]

I say yes. I had been doing freshwater planted tanks for the last few years and always wanted to do a reef but thought I needed a huge tank to get it done. I couldn't afford it and when the wife agreed to let me do a nano, I decided to try it, nice and slow, see if I could handle it. I found it's totally doable for a beginner as long as you're willing to put in the time, for learning and maintenance.

 

As for equipment, the prices can be daunting but you don't need the best of the best. I am on a strict budget and re-used any equipment I had laying around that was useful. I don't think I spent more than 100$ on any piece of equipment other than lights (250$).

 

Do it! You won't regret it.