Converting From Tropical To Marine - Idea?

[neilw_uk]

Hi..

Ok, i currently have an AquaOne Tank and iam looking into converting...

Speaking to my LFS the guy there said it would be easy to convert... He said all i would need to do is add an under gravel filter with a powerhead, get the salt, coral gravel, and an extra powerhead for water movement. He said the current filter system would be fine to use together with the under gravel... I asked about a skimmer and he said no need. they dont use them on any of their tanks in the shop and have no problems. (i feel a big debate comming on here!!)
All in all he thinks it would cost about £100 to convert and 2 months of my time (no livestock)
In terms of cleaning.. he said once every 6 weeks do a 25% water change.

Anyone got some thoughts on this?

 

[andywg]

There must be a thousand converting posts on here, but here goes any way

Hi..

Ok, i currently have an AquaOne Tank and iam looking into converting...

Speaking to my LFS the guy there said it would be easy to convert... He said all i would need to do is add an under gravel filter with a powerhead, get the salt, coral gravel, and an extra powerhead for water movement. He said the current filter system would be fine to use together with the under gravel... I asked about a skimmer and he said no need. they dont use them on any of their tanks in the shop and have no problems. (i feel a big debate comming on here!!)
All in all he thinks it would cost about £100 to convert and 2 months of my time (no livestock)
In terms of cleaning.. he said once every 6 weeks do a 25% water change.

Anyone got some thoughts on this?

It all depends on what you want to achieve.

A far better set up would be Live Rock and powerheads for filtration. Add on a skimmer and you have the Berlin method, one of the most common methods of filtration around. I myself would avoid an Under gravel like the plague.

The use of skimmers is up for debate, but without one you really need to address the rise of nitrates in anotehr way, either through growth of algae, a deep sand bed or increased water changes.

 

[tmreynolds]

Hi..

Ok, i currently have an AquaOne Tank and iam looking into converting...

Speaking to my LFS the guy there said it would be easy to convert... He said all i would need to do is add an under gravel filter with a powerhead, get the salt, coral gravel, and an extra powerhead for water movement. He said the current filter system would be fine to use together with the under gravel... I asked about a skimmer and he said no need. they dont use them on any of their tanks in the shop and have no problems. (i feel a big debate comming on here!!)
All in all he thinks it would cost about £100 to convert and 2 months of my time (no livestock)
In terms of cleaning.. he said once every 6 weeks do a 25% water change.

Anyone got some thoughts on this?

I think its best if you look through the marine section and use the search facility, everything you need to know has been posted very frequently

But...I can say this without doubt, it will cost you a damn site more than £100

You should also do water changes more than every 6 weeks.
You should avoid an undergravel, and use live rock for filtration, and ideally get a skimmer.
You need 20x tank volume per hour movement through the powerheads

You will need about 2 months to set up an get water right, so he was right there...but I'd say do as much research as you can before buying anything.

I am still setting up my first marine tank after having fresh water fish for years. My advice would be spend a long time reading on here, then ask loads of Q's.

It is worth the effort though

 

[rhysiboy]

£100 !?!?! jesus i just setup an aqua one 620 thats a 90 litre tank and its cost best part of £450 (brand new htough) also those tanks do well in saltwater as aqua one make there tanks for saltwater use aswell. If you are a newbie to salt water then get a skimmer it will give you that slight room for error and will help keep everything healthy. worth there weight in gold once they are all setup also if you do buyy a skimmer you can mod the hood (i just chopped of a template for the room id need for all te tubes and 'hangers') Also what type of setup are you looking for corals? agressive fish? shrimp? or a community tank? if you want corals then you should upgrade your lighting to something like a metal halide or you could slap some t5 tubes in there that are n the correct marine spectrum (usualy 12k - 14k blue/ triphosphor and marine white (can range from 7k to 10k by the way k stands for kalvin)
but yers as others have mentioned
#1 gonna cost more than £100 youll probably spend more than that on live rock try to aim for 1kg per 10 litres / 1lbs per gallon
#2 skimmers are used in saltwater for a reason they are verygood (as long as you chose a good make)
#3 good lighting is always good so your gonna want to upgrade

a lot of info there lol

 

[neilw_uk]

Thanks for all the info....

So if i should keep clear of undergravel filters what do you recommend to use along with the tanks own filtration system?

Lights... I forgot to mention i would need to upgrade these..

Live rock... Can you buy a little at a time?

Tank type... I am looking for a community tank with maybe a hermit crab.

Any ideas how many fish i can get in this tank.. I'm look looking for any thing big, just your run of the mill community stuff. (would love a puffer, but i think the tank is too small)

Cheers for all the advice - I just need to convince the Mrs to let me take away her tropicals!

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Look THis reef tank is 36 years old and uses diy skimmer,lights,intank alge fuge,and rock.It also uses a rugf with crushed coral at a flow rate of 50 gph.It has no sump.


Vary cheap to set up tank on a small scale

 

[tmreynolds]

Thanks for all the info....

So if i should keep clear of undergravel filters what do you recommend to use along with the tanks own filtration system?

Live rock is the only filtration you would need. I use the internal filter to house a filter bag of rowaphos and one of activated carbon only

Lights... I forgot to mention i would need to upgrade these..

Depends if you want to keep corals

Live rock... Can you buy a little at a time?

If you add live rock to a tank with livestock in it, you risk an ammonia/nitrite spike (called a mini cycle) from die off on the rock. best to add all your rock, wait for the cycle and then add livestock

Tank type... I am looking for a community tank with maybe a hermit crab.

You can have several hermits, aswell as snails crabs, shrimps. do a search for clean up crew (CUC). Average is 1 CUC per gallon

Any ideas how many fish i can get in this tank.. I'm look looking for any thing big, just your run of the mill community stuff. (would love a puffer, but i think the tank is too small)

155 litres? 5 or 6 smallish fish, you could have small puffer, but you'll have to watch what to put with it, or not as it were...

 

[neilw_uk]

Look THis reef tank is 36 years old and uses diy skimmer,lights,intank alge fuge,and rock.It also uses a rugf with crushed coral at a flow rate of 50 gph.It has no sump.


Vary cheap to set up tank on a small scale

What a post!! I'm on page 8 at the moment!!!

So UG filters are possible for a SW tank... How much cleaning is involved with UG filters? Do you need to get under the gravel at any point?

Or do you think the live rock is just the best option? if so then £155 on live rock is getting over budget with all the other things i need!

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Live rock is the way to go .

Even paul B uses live rock with his rugf

 

[richard t]

Hi..

Ok, i currently have an AquaOne Tank and iam looking into converting...

Speaking to my LFS the guy there said it would be easy to convert... He said all i would need to do is add an under gravel filter with a powerhead, get the salt, coral gravel, and an extra powerhead for water movement. He said the current filter system would be fine to use together with the under gravel... I asked about a skimmer and he said no need. they dont use them on any of their tanks in the shop and have no problems. (i feel a big debate comming on here!!)
All in all he thinks it would cost about £100 to convert and 2 months of my time (no livestock)
In terms of cleaning.. he said once every 6 weeks do a 25% water change.

Anyone got some thoughts on this?

20KG 0f live rock will give you all the filtration you need. £150-£200
3000-4000lph would be a good target for flow rate. seio pumps are good.£50-£100
A good skimmer V2 by TMC do a very good hang on skimmer.£80-£100
A RO unit saves time and money in the long run(unless your water is metered) £50-£100
Salt, refractometer, substrate, £75
As you can see £100 is a little off the mark for the stuff you will need. And this this is just the tip of the iceberg if you want to upgrade lighting or add a uv/ozone.
In my opinion the only way to go is the berlin method. If you can purchase cured LR you will be able to start stocking your tank with in days of setting up.

 

[rhysiboy]

Look THis reef tank is 36 years old and uses diy skimmer,lights,intank alge fuge,and rock.It also uses a rugf with crushed coral at a flow rate of 50 gph.It has no sump.


Vary cheap to set up tank on a small scale

wow thatarticle has got me thinking about modern day reefing it just shows that just because our ways are new doesnt mean that the old ones are complete rubbish. Hmmm i think that should be a #1 read for anyone who wishes to start up a tank as it teaches alot about reefkeeping.

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Look THis reef tank is 36 years old and uses diy skimmer,lights,intank alge fuge,and rock.It also uses a rugf with crushed coral at a flow rate of 50 gph.It has no sump.


Vary cheap to set up tank on a small scale

wow thatarticle has got me thinking about modern day reefing it just shows that just because our ways are new doesnt mean that the old ones are complete rubbish. Hmmm i think that should be a #1 read for anyone who wishes to start up a tank as it teaches alot about reefkeeping.

Exactly, i love this tank because it makes you think.

 

[andywg]

However, far more people have had problems running UG filters (especially in marine) than with the Berlin method. The other main thing about the Berlin method is nitrate control through the anoxic areas of live rock and the skimmer (which removes Dissolved Organic Compounds before they can break down into nitrogenous waste). UGFs will deal with ammonia and nitrite fine, but I fail to see how it will help deal with nitrate.

That tank in the link is effectively a Berlin method with a substrate subjected to flow. So it isn't so old fashioned after all. In fact, with an algae fuge, skimmer and a whole load of Live Rock, it is going to do fairly well. Also the owner states that he keeps corals that prefer lower flow rates than SPS corals.

Another thing I didn't see in the thread (though have not read every post) is how much of the 50 GPH flow rate is from the UGF. To power that will require some water movement and it seems to me that the two powerheads (of which only one is often running) are iun addition to any thing that runs the UGF (which has essentially just become a plenum as the main biological filtration is handled by the Live Rock, just as everyone normally suggests on this and other boards).

 

[Redstratplayer1]

The 50gph is what is going throgh the rugf he has about 25x in the tank.

Here is the original tank article look

Meny Experts have said that his tank will crash ,but his tank is the oldest i have ever seen.That is why it is interesting .

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Also i posted this link becasuse every very thing is diy rock,skimmer,alge thingy.