Converting my freshwater to saltwater

[Airwolfjohn]

Hello everyone. I currently have a 75 gallon freshwater setup with a Fluval 407 canister filter. I was seeing on YouTube that some tanks use canister filters. So it got me wondering if I could convert my freshwater into saltwater using my current tank and canister filter? And would it be worth it? I know it may be cheaper for me to do this versus selling the tank and spending around $5K on a sump setup. Any advice or wisdom on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance, John.

 

[Miami Reef]

You do not need a sump to have a saltwater tank, although having one makes hiding equipment and adding equipment easier.

For example, you can fit a pretty large skimmer in a sump, but there are also HOB skimmers that work for the sumpless folks.

Do you plan to keep corals and inverts? If it’s just going to be a fish only, saltwater isn’t much more difficult than freshwater. It’s the adding corals and inverts that makes it more “hands on”.

 

[Airwolfjohn]

I do plan on having rock and getting corals inverts in time. I am currently cycling a Fluval Evo 13.5 now. I find freshwater alil boring and want to go bigger, but budget wise, I cant afford getting a sump tank setup and was hoping my canister could handlethe work load. I was planning on using rock to hide most of the plumbing and heater.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The main filtration on a saltwater tank comes from rock and flow. Google the Berlin Method for full explanation. The canister filter can be used but not necessary and I wouldn’t. Just rock and powerheads. Maybe get a hob filter for mechanical filtration and running carbon, or use your canister if you want, but it needs to be cleaned often, it’s a pain IMO to clean a canister weekly. That’s all you need. Later on you will want to look into a protein skimmer and lights for corals. That’s how I switched from fresh to salt myself.

 

[Idech]

I have done the same. Look at my build thread here : https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/build-thread-converting-75-gallons-fresh-to-salty.846706/

I chose not to use my canister filter (Fluval 407) because it would be a pain to service every few days to keep nitrates at
bay.

Drilling wasn’t doable so I bought a Tunze 3168 internal filter and Tunze 9012 docline skimmer. Both are very powerful for that size tank and do a good job.

Here is what it looks like (never mind the hose on the right side, that is my UV sterilizer. It will come out when I no longer need it).