90g fresh to salt

[sidneyhill11]

Hello everyone I'm fairly new to the hobby 2 years in freshwater I have 12 running tanks with africian cichlids. I have a 90g that I would love to convert to saltwater, i know its gonna be expensive but I'm curious if i can use canister filters instead of a sump to eventually have reef tank? If so what would I have to put in canisters for a successful reef tank? Hiw many canisters should i run? Pretty much I need to know everything if anyone is willing to help me that would be outstanding.. hope to hear some input or even a mentor of sorts.

 

[kichimark]

I have used a canister before on a beautiful mixed reef. Some folks will be against it since if you do not clean them often they can serve as a nitrate factory. Sumps just make cleaning easier and add more water volume. I know in my old canister I had bio media with some mechanical filtration floss that I would change out weekly. What type of corals do you plan on having?

 

[sidneyhill11]

I have used a canister before on a beautiful mixed reef. Some folks will be against it since if you do not clean them often they can serve as a nitrate factory. Sumps just make cleaning easier and add more water volume. I know in my old canister I had bio media with some mechanical filtration floss that I would change out weekly. What type of corals do you plan on having?

Some sort of beginners coral waay to keep until I get the hang of it. I can not drill my tank due glass being tampered and I would rather not spend a fortune on equipment atm again until I get the hang of it then I'll eventually upgrade everything. I know there something's I'll have to buy and I'm fine with that hob skimmer lights wavemaker any kind of help would be greatly appreciated as I really want to go from fresh to salt and be successful.

 

[kichimark]

This was my old tank with just a canister which was drilled in the back. I did have an ati sunpower unit over it and some Tunze powerheads for flow but they were not fancy with wavemaking or anything like that. I did have a skimmer too which I believe was an octopus HOB unit. Water changes every week about 10%.

 

[LesPoissons]

You need to consider what "getting the hang of it" means. If you want corals, you need to run a stable tank for months with proper lighting and filtration. Lights, protein skimmer, and live rock are your big ticket items and what you need to start your tank. You can certainly use canister filters and put in what you want- usually filter floss, bio balls, carbon etc. Most reefers move away from them because it a lot of maintenance on the tank and cleaning and replacing is time consuming and costly, and those are usually factors that make people give up on the hobby.
Before you start I would set up a realistic budget with what you want for your tank. I totally understand the expense of this hobby is daunting so doing it cheaply to begin with is often the only way in- but I always wish I saved up and got the "right" things from the start.

Here is what you need (In my opinion) for the basics and to be sucessful:
Buy RODI water or buy an RODI unit that makes the water (you will need this to fill your tank, do water changes, and make top off water. Buy a unit. If you cant afford it- cheap hack is you will have to get buckets filled from your LFS, usually $1/gallon... and haul to and from your house. Doable, just a pain and more expensive in the long run).
You'll need around 9o-180#s of live rock for filtration and building a reef.
Decide if you want bare bottom or a sand bed
If Sand- need prob 70-90 pounds for a 1-2 inch sand bed?
Proper lighting (Lights are expensive. If you try to go cheap, your corals wont look anything like what you see in the store and you will have more algae issues. Seriously, #1 thing I wish I had not skimped on and really important for a successful reef, but $$$$$ because of their importance.)
HOB Protein skimmer if you are not going to do a sump
Canister filtration suitable for 90 gallon (always go bigger if possible)
Test kits (ph, magnesium, calcium, alk, nitrates, ammonia, phosphate)
Power heads (probably 2) for flow
Heater, thermometer
Refractometer for salinity
Also decide how you will be topping off the tank with fresh RODI water. (Ex, my tank evaporates 1-2 gallons per day. That needs to be replaced to keep the salinity and levels constant. some people calculate it and do it manually, most people buy an ato (automatic top off unit) that pumps in fresh water as it evaporates out.) (usually 100-200$) + a container for the top off water (use an aquarium or a food grade container- otherwise it can leech junk into your water).

If you decide you want to do fish only instead of coral- you can do cheap lights as they arent sustaining life and you can even do fake rock if you want. Still need the rest though.

Hope this helps!

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

It can be a expensive hobby but the way I look it buy it once and be done or buy it 3 times and spend 3 times the money. Used quality equipment is a good place to start. Lights and flow are the places to spend the money. Sumps make life easy. Soft corals then lps once you can grow them then you will catch the sps bug. You can frag corals once you have some desirable stuff and help pay for it. Some starting points to look at are older ecotech lights, Kessil, AI and ATI if you want T5. I’d recommend a older used model of a quality light over cheaper new lights such as black box leds or a no name T5 fixture. Same with powerheads, more flow is better then less. 2-4 powerheads placement is key. Having deadspots and not enough flow will cause headaches. I see nothing wrong about hang on the back skimmers as long as you maintain them.

 

[sidneyhill11]

You need to consider what "getting the hang of it" means. If you want corals, you need to run a stable tank for months with proper lighting and filtration. Lights, protein skimmer, and live rock are your big ticket items and what you need to start your tank. You can certainly use canister filters and put in what you want- usually filter floss, bio balls, carbon etc. Most reefers move away from them because it a lot of maintenance on the tank and cleaning and replacing is time consuming and costly, and those are usually factors that make people give up on the hobby.
Before you start I would set up a realistic budget with what you want for your tank. I totally understand the expense of this hobby is daunting so doing it cheaply to begin with is often the only way in- but I always wish I saved up and got the "right" things from the start.

Here is what you need (In my opinion) for the basics and to be sucessful:
Buy RODI water or buy an RODI unit that makes the water (you will need this to fill your tank, do water changes, and make top off water. Buy a unit. If you cant afford it- cheap hack is you will have to get buckets filled from your LFS, usually $1/gallon... and haul to and from your house. Doable, just a pain and more expensive in the long run).
You'll need around 9o-180#s of live rock for filtration and building a reef.
Decide if you want bare bottom or a sand bed
If Sand- need prob 70-90 pounds for a 1-2 inch sand bed?
Proper lighting (Lights are expensive. If you try to go cheap, your corals wont look anything like what you see in the store and you will have more algae issues. Seriously, #1 thing I wish I had not skimped on and really important for a successful reef, but $$$$$ because of their importance.)
HOB Protein skimmer if you are not going to do a sump
Canister filtration suitable for 90 gallon (always go bigger if possible)
Test kits (ph, magnesium, calcium, alk, nitrates, ammonia, phosphate)
Power heads (probably 2) for flow
Heater, thermometer
Refractometer for salinity
Also decide how you will be topping off the tank with fresh RODI water. (Ex, my tank evaporates 1-2 gallons per day. That needs to be replaced to keep the salinity and levels constant. some people calculate it and do it manually, most people buy an ato (automatic top off unit) that pumps in fresh water as it evaporates out.) (usually 100-200$) + a container for the top off water (use an aquarium or a food grade container- otherwise it can leech junk into your water).

If you decide you want to do fish only instead of coral- you can do cheap lights as they arent sustaining life and you can even do fake rock if you want. Still need the rest though.

Hope this helps!

Thank you I wont be skimping on lights or the skimmer I'll be buying ai lights and octopus skimmer thank you for your input greatly appreciated

 

[sidneyhill11]

It can be a expensive hobby but the way I look it buy it once and be done or buy it 3 times and spend 3 times the money. Used quality equipment is a good place to start. Lights and flow are the places to spend the money. Sumps make life easy. Soft corals then lps once you can grow them then you will catch the sps bug. You can frag corals once you have some desirable stuff and help pay for it. Some starting points to look at are older ecotech lights, Kessil, AI and ATI if you want T5. I’d recommend a older used model of a quality light over cheaper new lights such as black box leds or a no name T5 fixture. Same with powerheads, more flow is better then less. 2-4 powerheads placement is key. Having deadspots and not enough flow will cause headaches. I see nothing wrong about hang on the back skimmers as long as you maintain them.

I'll be buying everything new and I'll be getting the better stuff so I wont have to keep buying I've learned that from the freshwater tanks haha I will be running sand substrate with dry live rock to start cycle

 

[sidneyhill11]

Thanks for the info guys much appreciated I'll be running 2 canister 4 power heads hob skimmer and 1 or 2 good lights. now can there be too much water movement inside of tank with 4 powerheads? What size of powerhead? I was thinking of getting gyros if those are any good. I've seen a 2 pack of gyros for $600 better way to go possibly?

 

[lapin]

Fresh to salt. Easy. The big differences are salt water tanks have more lighting and more water movement. You are going from lake fish and plants to reef fish and corals. Use the canisters. Clean them often. They dont produce nitrate (nitrate factories). They do filter your water and a reef tank needs to be a lot cleaner than a lake fish tank. You will want to change your water more often. Maybe 10% a week and keep the tanks salinity stable. (Top off every day with fresh rodi water.)
For a 90 you could get the 2 Grye's or 2 Jebao powerheads
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/3k-gyre-generation-powerhead-icecap.html
https://aquarium.bulkreefsupply.com/reefing/Jebao-Powerhead
You want random flow, so point them opposite each other or bounce them off the glass
You can have too much flow depending on what you want to keep. Some fish like fast current some like the lagoon. Same with corals. For starter I would stick with a few easy to keep corals. Medium flow. The fish, you have experience so you know diseases, compatibility and stuff. Live rock will handle most of your ammonia to nitrate conversion. The way you decide to export those nitrates can be a skimmer, vacuuming the sand bed, water changes, live macro algae. ect..
The lights dont have to be fancy things. The Chineese black box lights will work just fine if you dont get the super cheap ones. Something like,Ocean Revive T247-B SBReefBright, Mars Aqua, Viparspectra's will be just fine to start out with.
You will do just fine, so have at it.
Once you "get the hang of it" then get the big tank, sump and all the goodies

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I'll be buying everything new and I'll be getting the better stuff so I wont have to keep buying I've learned that from the freshwater tanks haha I will be running sand substrate with dry live rock to start cycle

While 100% dry is fine, I would do 50% live 50% dry. It will help the tank cycle and mature faster. I would also recommend live sand.

 

[LesPoissons]

Idk. I have the viparspectras and I pretty consistently wish for better lights. Any time I go to my lfs and see the tanks with kessils and radions, my lights absolutely cannot compare. Also I have a ton of gha issues seemingly unrelated to parameters so the general census is the lighting. Dont get me wrong, I am able to keep lps and some sps (montis and acroporas) but the color and growth is nothing like what you get with t5s or high end LEDs.

 

[sidneyhill11]

Idk. I have the viparspectras and I pretty consistently wish for better lights. Any time I go to my lfs and see the tanks with kessils and radions, my lights absolutely cannot compare. Also I have a ton of gha issues seemingly unrelated to parameters so the general census is the lighting. Dont get me wrong, I am able to keep lps and some sps (montis and acroporas) but the color and growth is nothing like what you get with t5s or high end LEDs.

What's gha?

 

[sidneyhill11]

Fresh to salt. Easy. The big differences are salt water tanks have more lighting and more water movement. You are going from lake fish and plants to reef fish and corals. Use the canisters. Clean them often. They dont produce nitrate (nitrate factories). They do filter your water and a reef tank needs to be a lot cleaner than a lake fish tank. You will want to change your water more often. Maybe 10% a week and keep the tanks salinity stable. (Top off every day with fresh rodi water.)
For a 90 you could get the 2 Grye's or 2 Jebao powerheads
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/3k-gyre-generation-powerhead-icecap.html
https://aquarium.bulkreefsupply.com/reefing/Jebao-Powerhead
You want random flow, so point them opposite each other or bounce them off the glass
You can have too much flow depending on what you want to keep. Some fish like fast current some like the lagoon. Same with corals. For starter I would stick with a few easy to keep corals. Medium flow. The fish, you have experience so you know diseases, compatibility and stuff. Live rock will handle most of your ammonia to nitrate conversion. The way you decide to export those nitrates can be a skimmer, vacuuming the sand bed, water changes, live macro algae. ect..
The lights dont have to be fancy things. The Chineese black box lights will work just fine if you dont get the super cheap ones. Something like,Ocean Revive T247-B SBReefBright, Mars Aqua, Viparspectra's will be just fine to start out with.
You will do just fine, so have at it.
Once you "get the hang of it" then get the big tank, sump and all the goodies

Thank you muchly lol so if I run 2 canisters and a hob tidal 110 what would you recommend putting inside of canister and hob? Would crushed live rock be better than say bio max or ceramic? May phosphate and nitrate pads? Or just some course foam pads?

 

[sidneyhill11]

thanks again everyone appreciate everyone's responses I'm gonna go ahead and jump into this I wanna do everything right the first time if I can and do the best I can

 

[lapin]

First I would work on establishing bacteria in some type of media in one of the filters. Something you can rinse off when you clean the filter. Crushed live rock , bio max or ceramic would be fine. I dont know if one is better than another. I would run carbon from the start and add GFO if needed. I have never used Zeolite in anything but a black worm tank and it seemed to keep ammonia at bay. You could try that to reduce nitrates. Then as the first or second layer some filtering media to filter out all the junk in your water before it gets to the media.

 

[Adventures In Reefing]

Idk. I have the viparspectras and I pretty consistently wish for better lights. Any time I go to my lfs and see the tanks with kessils and radions, my lights absolutely cannot compare. Also I have a ton of gha issues seemingly unrelated to parameters so the general census is the lighting. Dont get me wrong, I am able to keep lps and some sps (montis and acroporas) but the color and growth is nothing like what you get with t5s or high end LEDs.

I ran those for years and you are absolutely right. I went from 3 banks of viparspectra to a T5 hybrid with 3 Primes and wholly molly the tank exploded with awesomeness in comparison. I was able to keep and maintain with the black boxes but thrive is I think what we are going for.

 

[Adventures In Reefing]

thanks again everyone appreciate everyone's responses I'm gonna go ahead and jump into this I wanna do everything right the first time if I can and do the best I can

Something I have learned (many times because i'm thick headed sometimes) is it will cost you less to have the right equipment then it will if you start losing corals and fish. I am not saying you need the best equipment but rather the right equipment and a mind set that it takes patience and maintenance for a long time before it becomes easier. You will have all sorts of issues starting out while your tank matures it happens to all of us. Just stick with it and it will reward you.

 

[sidneyhill11]

Something I have learned (many times because i'm thick headed sometimes) is it will cost you less to have the right equipment then it will if you start losing corals and fish. I am not saying you need the best equipment but rather the right equipment and a mind set that it takes patience and maintenance for a long time before it becomes easier. You will have all sorts of issues starting out while your tank matures it happens to all of us. Just stick with it and it will reward you.

Thank you thats what I'm shooting for maybe not top of the line but equipment that will work well for my intended use .

 

[sidneyhill11]

First I would work on establishing bacteria in some type of media in one of the filters. Something you can rinse off when you clean the filter. Crushed live rock , bio max or ceramic would be fine. I dont know if one is better than another. I would run carbon from the start and add GFO if needed. I have never used Zeolite in anything but a black worm tank and it seemed to keep ammonia at bay. You could try that to reduce nitrates. Then as the first or second layer some filtering media to filter out all the junk in your water before it gets to the media.

What is gfo?