How much time does it take to maintain a salt water tank?

[albertski]

I'm in the research phase of purchasing a saltwater tank (30 gallons as an example) and I was just wondering how much time/effort does it require on a weekly basis for a beginner. The way I understand it is about 15 - 30 minutes a day for testing/glass scraping and then 2 hours once a week to change out the water and clean the filter. Would that be correct?

 

[andiesreef]

it depends.

a 30 gallon tank with a pair of clownfish and soft corals only will require much less time than a 30 gallon sps dominated system with 8 fish in it.

the tank can fit into your schedule. add only as much as you have time for.

personally, on my 20 gallon mixed reef with 5 fish i spend about 10 minutes a day feeding fish, scraping glass, and testing alk and about 1-1.5 hours on weekends changing water, doing all my testing, cleaning filter pads, etc.

 

[Kellie in CA]

If you asked my husband, he would say that it takes ALL my time. haha

But, for actual necessary maintenance? Your estimation is probably about right.

 

[Hogan]

First off, congratulations! Saltwater tanks are a great hobby.

Your question though is like asking, "How much time does it take to clean a house?". Just like a house, it depends on how dirty is it, the size of it, what's in it, what equipment is being used, etc. Answers could be from 5 min a day to a full time job.

It would help us give some more useful feed back if you could tell us a little more about the tank.

 

[JumboShrimp]

@andiesreef said, “the tank can fit into your schedule. add only as much as you have time for.“ I like that perspective, plus for a 30-gallon, I think your estimations can work.

 

[Goaway]

It only takes me 30 minutes a week to do maintenance on a 112g setup. I don't have a lot of corals. Or a lot of fish.

personally, on my 20 gallon mixed reef with 5 fish i spend about 10 minutes a day feeding fish, scraping glass, and testing alk and about 1-1.5 hours on weekends changing water, doing all my testing, cleaning filter pads, etc.

This is as true as it gets. My glass is only a 3 minute scrape job each week. Don't let things build up and it goes smoothly with a nice algae magnet.
Water testing is the pain in the a... That can take 10's of minutes or hours depending if you mess up the test.
Some tests are very simple. Other's can have a magnitude of steps.
Once the tank is established. This is when things get a lot easier. Less testing, less water changes. But all depends on the stock load of the aquarium.

 

[flashsmith]

I have a 30, 50 and and 80 on the way I spend about 30 minutes a day for both doing general house keeping and feeding. Bi weekly water and media changes 2 hours and that's enjoying and taking my time. Most of that is waiting on rodi and mixing salt.