I have a 75g freshwater tank and I am thinking of converting it to a saltwater tank soon so I can upgrade my 40g. My local pet store said it would cost up to $1000 just to get it started. Is that true or is there an easier way? My 40g has a hanging filter a heater and works great.
Need advice
- Thread starter mlabadie
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twilliard
Tank pests..
Welcome to R2R!
This is a great community for information
Have you ever treated your tank with copper?
You can make the change but the money involved is dependant on the equipment you purchase for the tank.
For instance.. the lighting and skimmer may be the biggest investments you will make.
This is a great community for information
Have you ever treated your tank with copper?
You can make the change but the money involved is dependant on the equipment you purchase for the tank.
For instance.. the lighting and skimmer may be the biggest investments you will make.
#1-Dry Rock, there are a few hitchhikers on Live Rock that people want to stay away from, so they opt for using Dry Rock, or Dead Rock. Macro Rock is a good place to start looking for that. Either way you go you will need a minimum of 1lb per gallon. You can use Fully Cured Live Rock, and have the tank cycled in just a few days also. Other way is to use just a couple of pounds of Live Rock and the rest Macro or Dry Rock.
#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.
#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads.
#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume. Unless your tank is under 30g, in which case you can do 10% water changes a week to rid the system of detrius. But, you'll have to watch the water parameters close, if things go haywire, you'll have to do more water changes.
#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.
#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.
#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one
#8-Rubber kitchen gloves
#9-Fish net
#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets
#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.
#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock.
#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.
#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water.
#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank
#16-Heater rated for your size tank.
#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.
#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash.
#19-Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, or GFO and such)
#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 1-2" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep.
http://www.scaquariums.com/category-s/103.htm
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Nitrogen_Cycle.html
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=aquarium+heater&_sacat=20754&_odkw=power+heads&_osacat=0
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=power+heads&_sacat=0&_odkw=salt+water+refractometer&_osacat=0
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-0-10-Sa...905?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a792587d1
http://www.marcorocks.com/
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-dry-live-rock.html
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=393
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-substrate/ps/c/3578/9805
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html
http://live-plants.com/
http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/what-your-coral-needs/
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=t-5+lighting&_sacat=0
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=cree+led+aquarium&_sacat=0&_odkw=t-5+lighting&_osacat=0
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/saltwater-aquarium-salt-water-mix/ps/c/3578/4685
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15473
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4749
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4145
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/4/chemistry
http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/about-corals/what-your-coral-needs/
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php
#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.
#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads.
#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume. Unless your tank is under 30g, in which case you can do 10% water changes a week to rid the system of detrius. But, you'll have to watch the water parameters close, if things go haywire, you'll have to do more water changes.
#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.
#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.
#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one
#8-Rubber kitchen gloves
#9-Fish net
#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets
#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.
#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock.
#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.
#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water.
#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank
#16-Heater rated for your size tank.
#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.
#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash.
#19-Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, or GFO and such)
#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 1-2" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep.
http://www.scaquariums.com/category-s/103.htm
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Nitrogen_Cycle.html
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=aquarium+heater&_sacat=20754&_odkw=power+heads&_osacat=0
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=power+heads&_sacat=0&_odkw=salt+water+refractometer&_osacat=0
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-0-10-Sa...905?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a792587d1
http://www.marcorocks.com/
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-dry-live-rock.html
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=393
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-substrate/ps/c/3578/9805
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html
http://live-plants.com/
http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/what-your-coral-needs/
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=t-5+lighting&_sacat=0
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=cree+led+aquarium&_sacat=0&_odkw=t-5+lighting&_osacat=0
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/saltwater-aquarium-salt-water-mix/ps/c/3578/4685
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15473
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4749
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4145
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/4/chemistry
http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/about-corals/what-your-coral-needs/
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php
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twilliard
Tank pests..
Excellent!
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
WindeyD
Active Member
If you have no intention of making it a reef tank ( no corals) and will make it a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) then you could do it quite economically. You could probably find a used hang on the back skimmer and powerheads, buy some live sand and rock, and get started slowly. There is a big jump in complexity going from fresh to salt IME so do plenty of research/reading before getting started. BRS has a good video series on getting started.
