Advice on first Saltwater set up

[jimmywheelo]

Hi guys

I've just set up a 30G freshwater tank and started cycling with Amonnia. I've transferred some mature media from my bedroom tank to my brand new external filter to hopefully speed the process up.

I'm less than a week in and my brother calls to offer his 20G marine tank and all of it's contents! He has lots of live rock and Coral which is 2yrs matured. His filter is also very stable and mature. He also has about three fish which are all doing fine.

My preferred choice is to upgrade all the rock and filtration equipment from his tank into my new setup, thus having a Marine set up in my bigger tank.

Question is - can i simply add salt to the freshwater setup as it is now and fill the tank with the remainder of my brother's smaller tank?
I've read conflicting views about doing this (adding salt to an already Freshwater setup) Will the salt kill the freshwater bateria or is this simply the same bacteria found in Saltwater setups?
Bearing in mind the ammonia cycle is only a week in. (last cycle took me five weeks)

I then plan to use his mature filter to continue where it left off in the smaller tank. Might even leave my running too to seed it.

I've noticed that the salt solution seems very expensive to buy too. Instant Ocean is £48 for 750 litres worth. Is there a cheaper solution than this?

Thanks for any pointers

[thegrun]

I would start over for a few reasons. First off you should use RO/DI filtered water as the base for the saltwater you make. Simply removing or neutralizing the chlorine isn't usually good enough to prevent major problems in your saltwater tank, use RO/DI water and save yourself a lot of grief. The bacteria is different in saltwater than in freshwater, so whatever bacteria that may be in the tank now will only slow things down, not speed them up. Saltwater tanks are MUCH more expensive to run than freshwater tanks, take that into account before you start. Please read all the articles at the top of this forum regarding how to set up a saltwater tank, you have a lot of homework to do before you take the plunge into saltwater.

[Xavibear]

Saltwater & freshwater bacteria aren't the same. Just drain the freshwater & add the the stuff from your brother's tank. Having stuff your your bother's tank might help you avoid a cycle or just have a small one.

[jimmywheelo]

Thanks for the replies guys

[xCry0x]

I've noticed that the salt solution seems very expensive to buy too. Instant Ocean is £48 for 750 litres worth. Is there a cheaper solution than this?


Honestly, if you think the salt is expensive I would probably stick with freshwater tanks.

Reef tanks are going to be more expensive, there really isn't any way around that. If you are questioning the price of salt or if you have to spend the time refilling the water in a 30G tank I would have a lot of hesitations about your willingness to buy all the various test kits you need for a reef tank, buying RO/DI water for not only water changes but daily water top offs, buying/making salt water for the water changes, upgrading equipment when you realize you want different corals, etc.

**** isn't cheap, hell I just realized I didn't close the bottle on my alk test kit all the way so have to buy another $30 kit just to make sure parameters are correct like I am 99% sure they are =)

With all of that said, it is -worth- it given how much cooler a reef tank is than a freshwater tank (generally speaking...). But as with everything in life, cooler **** usually costs more.

[E46Twist]

As stated above this hobby costs money and time. People are not joking when they claim a good setup is close to if not more than a grand said and done. Salt and test kits should not even register as a significant expense if you have done things right. Also it is not uncommon for me to spend 3-5 hours a week on my tank. Mixing, testing, and cleaning and if not given the right amount of attention a tank will not do well. Just and FYI a set of good test,I use Red Sea, was about $100 for like 6 tests, while you can go cheap I am pretty sure my API kit would read the same thing if I put gravy in the tube.

Not to discourage you, but this is not an easy half hour every other week thing.

[M28cruiser]

Honestly, if you think the salt is expensive I would probably stick with freshwater
:thumbsup: ..Money pit..

Best source - Ocean water a few miles off the shore.