PDA

View Full Version : Converting a freshwater tank to Marine - any top tips?


JKC67
12/29/2008, 08:20 AM
I have previously kept a Marine Reef system for about 18 months, but had to give that up when I moved abroad. I have been back into fishkeeping for about the last 6 years now and I currently have a 5ft x 2ft x 2ft (100 gallon) Tropheus tank. I have 2 large externals, 2 heaters and good lighting. Inside the tank the substrate is coral sand, the rocks are either lava rocks of ocean rocks.

I realise that I am going to have to upgrade my lights, buy a skimmer, get some live rock, refractometer, salt, test kits, etc, etc
(I already have an RO unit, oh and one of my filters has a built in UV)

But what is the easiest and most cost effective way of converting this tank over ?

I have been advised that if the filter media is cleaned properly, then that will suffice - is this true or do I need to get completely new media or some additional specialist media?

Re the substrate - I will get some live coral sand, but will I have to replace all that I have already or can this just be cleaned and re-used?

I presume that the rocks I have can just be boiled and then used as base rocks ??

The water that I have in there at present is very good, I do a weekly water change and a larger monthly change with the filters being cleaned completely on a regular basis. I have never had any diseases or had to use medication in this tank. Can this water be used or partially used to make up the salt water or will I have to make up another 50+ gallons of RO water ? Once the water has been removed and the tank cleaned, is there anything else I should be doing before starting to fill with water and substrate?

I realise that the above makes me sound like a novice to all this, but I do have over 15 years experience of fishkeeping - I just want to make sure I am doing everything properly and that I don't waste any substrate, rocks, media or equipment that I already have.

Thanks

Jon

Juruense
12/29/2008, 08:39 AM
All you have to do is dump the proper amount of salt in, seriously...

JKC67
12/29/2008, 08:54 AM
Seriously ?!?!?

What about the substrate will that not need to be boiled clean ? And the rocks or will any algae on them just die off ?

If this is true, this will be a lot easier than I'd first imagined - although to be honest I couldn't think of any logocal reason why the water could not be used.

So I could literally get the water to the right salinity add some live rock in there asap and leave it a few weeks to settle in - whilst in the meantime shopping around for some better lighting and a skimmer.

Thanks for your help.

Jon

Michael
12/29/2008, 09:06 AM
well jon id start again, id put aragonite sand in and 150 pounds of live rock, get a skimmer which can handle a 200 gallon tank and get rid of the old fresh water, its contaminated with all sorts of crap and when doing marine everything needs to be spotless and dont take risks, firstly id add the new freshly made water which is at 26 degrees and has a sg of 1.026 and then the rock and sand, let it run for approx 4-6 weeks monitoring the params and when ammonia and nitrite is 0 for 2-3 days do a 20% water change with top quality salt and this will reduce the nitrate formed, then get a dozen turbo snails and go from there, and

[welcome]

mikalis
12/29/2008, 09:07 AM
I am fairly new to saltwater myself and I converted my 55 gallon from freshwater to saltwater and all I did was add salt and let it run. So to start all that was in the tank was sand substrate(which was in the freshwater tank) and saltwater cleaned and replaced filter media(hangon) and ran it then got live rock and base rock and added them then a few fish and new lighta and protien skimmer... you get the point, but I haven't had any problems as of yet(knock on wood). I am however changing my tank to a drilled reef ready(same size 55) so I can have a sump and increase my water volume, but no other things have really changed.

Hope this helps
Michael

nmbeg
12/29/2008, 09:09 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14034180#post14034180 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Juruense
All you have to do is dump the proper amount of salt in, seriously... um.... i am not so sure about that..... you could probably get by with that, but I think it would be far from ideal.... substrate and rock should probably be cleaned/changed.

One more thing.... have you considered flow? what about a sump? what are you planning on keeping in there? .... ok that's more than one thing.

JKC67
12/29/2008, 09:09 AM
Thanks for the comments - think I'll try and go the same sort of route and just take things slowly with getting the livestock in there.