12 replies to this topic

[Mausberg]

how difficult is the switch from fresh to salt water tank? what are the basic differences and what would i need?..i already have tank, canister filter and your usual fresh water stuff , what else do i need?

is it as hard as i think?

Edited by Mausberg, 23 September 2011 - 08:09 PM.

[joey]

i recently got a marine tank, and to me. Its not much harder at all.
-Protein Skimmer
-Powerheads
-Good lighting (for corals)
-Good amount of live rock
-Heater
^ thats basically all you need, equipment wise. (well thats all i got )
Depending on where your tank is situated you might need a chiller.

All of the filtering stuff other than the live rock just sits in the sump,

The only hard thing about it is cleaning the tank more regularly and looking after your water levels better.
Someone with more experience can elaborate on the stuff ive said im sure.
But dont let the thought of it being hard stop you, thats what i did for a long time, turns out its not hard if you have the right idea.

hope this kinda helped
Joe

Edited by joey, 23 September 2011 - 08:34 PM.

[Riggers]

Hey bud

It's easy to switch with the main difference being increased flow. For a basic fresh to salt conversion all you really need to add is a skimmer and some extra flow.. There's a couple of threads with conversions in the marine section, the main thing to think about is what do you want to keep and then set your tank up according to your desires what do you want to keep? then I can give you a little more specific info for your hardware etc 

Cheers
Nick

[Mausberg]

tomato clowns? black clowns...not sure really

Edited by Mausberg, 23 September 2011 - 09:40 PM.

[joey]

any corals man?

[Riggers]

A clown tank is a pretty easy switch. The basics you'll need are.. Skimmer, powerheads or wavemakers, live rock.

The simplest setup would be as follows, tank with 3-4 inches of substrate, live rock to your liking, plenty of flow to prevent any 'dead spots and a hang on type skimmer. A lot of skimmers are dual use so can be used as hang on or in your sump.

A good thing to think about with any new marine tank is water storage, many people set up a marine tank and SW storage is often an afterthought, usually around the time of the first water change.. Unless your going to have someone come and maintain your tank for you, you'll need some way of storing SW for water changes. It's also handy to have on hand for emergency changes as marine tanks can often go bad fast.. I use an IBC with a pump inside it for water changes so even for a big change it only takes a short time to drain a tank with a large siphon hose then refill using a long length of hose from the IBC. I store it in the carport so the guys can refill it for me while I'm away I also keep 5x 25lt drums on hand which are great for all sorts and I take one up to seaview every so often to get my RO water

Good luck mate once you go marine you'll be surprised how easy it is

Cheers
Nick

[Mausberg]

so you can make SW? or do you have to fill tanks from the ocean.. is RO water Reverse Osmosis?? is it wiser to start off with a smaller tank or bigger???

[Riggers]

Yeah you can make your own SW with salt you can buy from places like vebas and seaview but I find it more cost effective to have mine delivered. It's not recommended to get SW from the ocean, you never know what your bringing with it....

RO water is reverse osmosis water, I had a 12lt unit for a while but the waste water was too much for my liking so now I use an inline filter from the tap to remove heavy metals etc before I do my fresh water top ups.. I found this works quite well

My first marine tank was only 80lts so it's really up to you what size you want but there's always stability with larger water volumes

Cheers
Nick

[Peckoltia]

G'day

The biggest hurdle you have to get over when going salt water, is exactly that; salt water. You don't have the convenience of getting water straight from the tap. This was the big nuisance for me. Especially because I was running a 8x2 and a 8x3 salt water tank at the time.

On the note collecting your own salt water. Where do you think that the salt water comes from that is being delivered? some secret contaminant free resevoir? It is coming straight from the local ocean, don't kid yourself. Just be smart where you do it.

I'm not going to name names, but one of the main salt water distributers here in Perth and the guy I used to get my water from used to tell me he pumped it straight from the ocean and filtered it. Yet when I went to his facility for a tafe excursion many years ago... i failed to see where the filtered tanks were, because they didn't exist. Having said that I never had a single problem with the water that he delivered to me. The main problem with collecting your own water is actually lugging around large quantities of water is a massive pain in the backside.

Alex

Edited by Peckoltia, 30 September 2011 - 12:21 PM.

[Riggers]

As has been pointed out in other threads getting salt water from the ocean can be done but not recommended, I keep 1000lts on hand that is delivered, I get it from the freo ocean farm and it's filtered to 5 microns, this eliminates the possibility of particlulant matter in the water. No denying it comes from the ocean the only thing to watch for is taking it from close to shore around developed areas... get yourself an IBC and you can store it for ages!!

Cheers
Nick

[Peckoltia]

The bonus is you can keep some pretty cool preds. Like this undulated moray eels. Was about 4' long when I sold it. Just watch your fingers!

[Conda]

hi its an easy conversion but the fish are very expensive to buy nowadays

[simmoman]

As with most things if ya got da money, no probs. I recently ask how much to buy the gear alone for a 6x2x2 reef aquarium without the installation, live sand, live rock or fish.
Vebas with the best prices was approx. $3500 which included 3x$350 LED light panels. No problems at all after I win lotto, but better still have both.