Question about going from freshwater to saltwater

[Wwright]

Ok, so here is the deal. I currently have a 125 gallon African Cichlid tank that I would really love to turn to a saltwater aquarium. How hard and how expensive is this going to be for me? Be brutally honest please. I am mostly confused about filtration. Right now I am running 3 huge canister filters that filter enough for around a 500 gallon tank. I am assuming those will not be of any use to me going to saltwater though. What do I use to filter then besides live rock? Any help here would me much appreciated. I have done freshwater for over 20 years but not done a saltwater yet. I guess go big or go home right? Thanks for any help in advance.

William Wright

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

Expensive is a relative term that applies to each person differently. I honestly can not tell you the exact price you will pay for items. But, anyway about filters. Most people choose to not run canister filters because they can end up being nitrate factories. If you do choose to use them remember to clean then out often. For filtration a sump would help to store your equipment in. You will need a good skimmer. Some people choose to run reactors for carbon or GFO, while others do not. Refugiums or algae scrubbers can help keep nutrients down too. Go into BRS or marine depot and look and some of their recommended skimmers. If you plan on doing a reef tank you will need lights. People like to use many different forms and all have had reasonable success. Just to give a perspective on price my 90 gallon tank cost me around 1500$. I saved up forever for this and bought pretty good equipment. You already have some stuff so I'm sure price could be cheaper.

 

[Reefing Madness]

[TABLE="width: 1761"]
[TR]
[TD]#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.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#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.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#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.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#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[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#8-Rubber kitchen gloves[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#9-Fish net[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#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.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#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[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#16-Heater rated for your size tank.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#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.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#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)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#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.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.scaquariums.com/sc-aquariums-sca-301-65-gallon-protein-skimmer.html[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Nitrogen_Cycle.html[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=aquarium+heater&_sacat=20754&_odkw=power+heads&_osacat=0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=power+heads&_sacat=0&_odkw=salt+water+refractometer&_osacat=0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-0-10-Salinity-Refractometer-Salt-Water-Aquarium-/251140605905?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a792587d1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.marcorocks.com/[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-dry-live-rock.html[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Live Rock: Live Saltwater Aquarium Rock[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-substrate/ps/c/3578/9805[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://live-plants.com/[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/what-your-coral-needs/[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=t-5+lighting&_sacat=0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=cree+led+aquarium&_sacat=0&_odkw=t-5+lighting&_osacat=0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/saltwater-aquarium-salt-water-mix/ps/c/3578/4685[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15473[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4749[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4145

How to set up a saltwater reef aquarium tank- REEFEDITION

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[Mike J.]

Welcome to Reef2Reef. Saltwater tanks are IMO much easier to maintain than freshwater tanks. Don't be intimidated. Patience is required to cycle a tank for a couple months and add livestock slowly. With saltwater time is measured in years or at least months.

 

[3dees]

many of us have gone from fw to sw. I converted my 120 gal. wild discus tank to a softie/lps reef. I am sumpless with a hob skimmer, two powerheads, heater, and a undersized canister for carbon only, and two 120w dimmable led fixtures. 150 lbs of live rock is my filter. I don't dose anything. this tank is so much easier to keep. I don't miss doing 75 gal. wc's twice per week. like Mike.J says take your time and research everything before adding to the tank. ask lots of questions. it's not as hard as you may think.

 

[Wwright]

So realistically, I can just use live rock as my filter and just put a protein skimmer on it? Another question is that I am currently using sand as a substrate. It is just play sand from Lowes, will I need to get rid of that and get live sand or will the sand that is in there turn into "live sand"? Thanks for the replies so far. I am sure that I will have a million other questions.

 

[Mike J.]

You'll need to change out sand. I would thoroughly clean the tank with a bleach solution before repurposing it. It doesn't have to be live sand, but aragonite. Yes, rock and skimmer are main components.