Converting From Fw To Sw

[stucolls]

Hey guys, I know its expensive, but how eas a task is it to switch a current FW tank into a saltwater one??

Am I right in thinking if I have enough liv rock I wont need a filter?

.

 

[SkiFletch]

Correct, LR IS your filter

Marine tanks can be as easy or as complex as your livestock decisions dictate

 

[stucolls]

ok....

I have just measured the tank its:

L: 55cm
W: 41cm
H:50cm

so approx 113 litres or 25g.

No I have worked out I would need around 12-15k of live rock as my filtration.
I also have a lamp is currentlyformy turtle funnily enough, its one of the heat/uv spot lamps, could I use that or is that solely for turtes etc.

Aside from the live rock and lighting, would I necessarily need anything else in a tank that size? ideally I wanted a mixture of corals, small fsh and clean up crew.

Many thanksand apologies for my somewhat novice questions (which have no doubt been asked countless time before!!)

Stu

 

[AQUAKING]

You cant use the turtle lamp, its more for reptiles that need UV light and heat. You will need an aquarium heater and aquarium lights depending on what coral you want.

sand, salt, a hydrometer/refractometer, an ro unit, powerheads

thats all i can think of lol, someone will be along with more experiance

 

[SkiFletch]

ideally I wanted a mixture of corals, small fsh and clean up crew.

Which Corals?

 

[stucolls]

to be honest corals are the one inhabitant I have not reall looked into as yet, I have done some reading around the fish and cleaners (although I couldnt give you any names yet lol) but as for Corals, I like the look of all the different polyps and also one that sounds something like xenon??

as for the above recommendations about equipment, I was aware of the sand and salt lol and had thought about water circulation, what I was after really was, as its technically a nano, will LR alone be enough filtration, can I use the lamp (which you answered) and I wanted to double check f I would need for instance the hydrometer/refractometer and RO unit, I didnt think I would need them being nano??

***Got it....not Xenon but Xenia!!!***

 

[stucolls]

ok just had a very brief look and read on corals......

so far i hve picked out:

Live finger leather coral
Red Tonga mushrooms
purple and green favia favities
Halloween Zoas
candy cane coral
Hammerhead coral
blue star zoas
pom pom xenia

apologies for names but I found most of them on bay so they could be wrong

 

[orange shark]

you would definately need a hydrometer/refractometer in any sized tanks.

ro units are not neccesary in smaller tanks as they do not work out cost effective but it i find it much less hassle to have an ro unit

 

[stucolls]

lol I didnt even really know what the hydrometer was, now I know (after looking for one) thats its just another thermometer type thingy im not to worreid about the price it might be lol

So it looks really like its only the lighting thats gonna cost me a packet!

 

[SkiFletch]

If you're getting corals, you'll want to invest in a refractometer, trust me

Corals will require some decent light. Don't forget you'll need something like 20 times turnover in powerheads for those corals

 

[orange shark]

you can get a refractometer of ebay for around £20, it's well worth it

 

[stucolls]

Cool I wil pick up a refractometer then......now im looking into all this marine, im getting tempted to convert my big tank rather than the one mentoned above. My other tank is 40G its 152cm long, 31cm wide and 39cm tall. So a nice long tank.

Do you think id be better off setting this tank up? and if I did, would I still only need the refractometer, RO water, Salt, Live Rock, Heater and suitable lighting??

 

[ben1987]

bigger the volume the more stable and a bit of comfort room for any errors.

you will need test kits and thermometor aswell

 

[SkiFletch]

, you can have a lot more options in that 40g

 

[stucolls]

I have thermometers already and a test kit but im guessing I need one specific to marine rather than FW.

Im getting incredibly tempted by the 40g, I can still use live rock as the sole filtration right? I read somewhere its best to use just rock as filters can harbour to many enemies!!!