Help Setting Up Salt Tank

[trimacdevilconvict]

Hello all i am thinking of setting up a salt water tank i was wondering what id have to do to transform my freshwater to salt

the equipment i have at the moment is
1 rio 400 tank and cabinet( 5ft 400 ltr 100 us gal approx)
1 standard box fliter (came with the tank)
1 300 watt heater
1 250 watt heater (back up)
1 fluval 404 external filter (replacing with a ehiem wet and dry filter and heater ;or as well as )
1 whisper 801 air pump

A reasonable amount of money can be spent by myself to create an ideal environment for the fishes to live in .

I have 15 years experience with freshwater fish , and have always been told that salt water is too hard to keep.
However i have found out, a long time ago the people that told me this cannot keep a cold water tank clean and healthy.

All your help is much apperciated, I like to gain as much knowledge and background information, before i try a new set up .

 

[fraservet]

the main expense for you would be live rock.
I think you would need at least 50kg for a tank that size.
at about £10 per kilo that's £500 for a start!!!

other than that you would need
- coral sand/aragonite etc. for substrate and to act as a buffer
- reverse osmosis unit for water
- salt mix
- extra powerheads
plus a few other bits and pieces

the other thing is the lighting.
if you want to keep corals you will probably have to invest in a couple of metal halide units.
if not then just replacing the tubes with an actinic and a white marine will be ok for fish only.

 

[trimacdevilconvict]

the other thing is the lighting.
if you want to keep corals you will probably have to invest in a couple of metal halide units.
if not then just replacing the tubes with an actinic and a white marine will be ok for fish only.

ok sounds fine the live rock would i have to add this all at once if so would it be advise able to set the tank up and cycle it till as an empty tank for a while

do i need a protein skimmer as well thanks for the imput dude

i can get the RO machine for about £130 from a shop near me

 

[fraservet]

oops - yes I forgot the skimmer.
I like the v2skim models - they are good quality and good value.

with the live rock - you can add it over time but you will be limited in stocking until you have a good amount.
alternatively you could buy half LR and half reef bones ("dead" live rock) which is much cheaper. The live rock will seed the rest over several months. You will still have to stock slowly while it matures, but at least you wont be adding rockwork all the time.
if you do decide to add LR over time, be careful not to add too much at a time once you have fish in the tank. Die-off from organisms in the rock can cause spikes in the water chemistry.

I would recommend RO-man for a RO unit. Excellent value and quality.
I have the 4 stage 50 GPD model and it is great.

RO-Man 50GPD Unit

only £75.

A lot of people get rid of the built in filter with the Juwel tanks, but I would recommend keeping it.
It is a great place to keep heaters safe from the fish, and can be used for chemical filtration media when nec.

 

[trimacdevilconvict]

oops - yes I forgot the skimmer.
I like the v2skim models - they are good quality and good value.

with the live rock - you can add it over time but you will be limited in stocking until you have a good amount.
alternatively you could buy half LR and half reef bones ("dead" live rock) which is much cheaper. The live rock will seed the rest over several months. You will still have to stock slowly while it matures, but at least you wont be adding rockwork all the time.
if you do decide to add LR over time, be careful not to add too much at a time once you have fish in the tank. Die-off from organisms in the rock can cause spikes in the water chemistry.

I would recommend RO-man for a RO unit. Excellent value and quality.
I have the 4 stage 50 GPD model and it is great.

RO-Man 50GPD Unit

only £75.

A lot of people get rid of the built in filter with the Juwel tanks, but I would recommend keeping it.
It is a great place to keep heaters safe from the fish, and can be used for chemical filtration media when nec.

thanks for the link very much apreciated