Going from Fresh water To Saltwater. Help

[bart687]

I am looking at going from fresh water to saltwater, as I would like to start up a tank with coral and fish in it, but I do know that it all takes time, what I really need to know is what sand,E.T.C to use as with been just straight stone with fresh water tropical. I also hav read through five books that basiclly say the same thing (and are all overseas) so I need a hand from a kiwi please.

[Feelers]

Haha the topic of sand gets a lot of coverage here.

Basicially there are a few options with sand that all have different pros and cons. You can have no sand at all - BB (barebottom), SB(shallow) DSB(deep sand bed).

It all depends on what system you are after/what you want to keep.

I would say come up with a basic idea of what you want, - fish only, soft corals, hard corals(sps)?

I think generally noone goes straight to sps, so it sounds like you probably want to go soft corals.

Have you decided if you want a sump? If you give a budget it helps, I think $5K is what(most :roll: ) people here reccommend for a good quality (sps capable) system. DIY can help out with cost alot.

Make up a plan and it will make it a lot easier.

I'm in the process of making my first aquarium (on minimal budget) and lots of research/reading is necessary.

If you haven't found it already reefcentral.com is a very good american site.

Maybe the pros here can give you some more info,

[petplanet]

What equipment do you have at the moment? You may just be able to reuse most or all of it.

The best sand to use is not the local stuff. Go for coral or marble chip. Your local store will be able to order it in. Comes in different grades. Comes down to what look you like. Marble chip is the cheapest by far. They can order it from Kong's and it is called marine substrate. Comes in a 25kg sack so they may cut you a deal if you take the whole sack. Comes in 1 or 2mm sizes.

Same applies to rock. You are best using coral rock. If you have no joy, I can send to you but the freight is pretty steep from the north island to the south.

[wasp]

Hi Bart there are a lot of different theories / methods and the hardest part for a newbie is sorting it all out.

Here's what I think for a basic set up. Others will suggest other ideas and they may also be "right" because there is always more than one way.

When converting from fresh water some equipment you can use and some not so good to use.

A basic marine set up is like this. don't mess with anything less than a 3 foot tank. Smaller can be done but it's hard. 4 foot up is best. The filtration is done by bacteria that live in "liverock". Liverock is rock made from old coral skeleton and is porous. You should have somewhere around a kilogram of liverock to each 8 litres of water in the tank. The liverock is in fact dry and dead when you buy it at the LFS, but becomes "live" when after a few weeks in the tank it gets a bunch of bacteria living in it that eat the waste products from the fish.

So one way to set up a tank is to put a thin layer of sand in the bottom. Put in the correct amount of rock, then fill with seawater. The seawater will need to have 10% freshwater added as our water is saltier then the ideal level.

Then you need all this water to be moving, both to assist liverock filtration, and because most marine organisms need it to be moving. So you add a few pumps, enough to pump the entire volume of the tank ten times per hour (10 x times flow) This is the minimum, 20x or more is better.

Then you need a marine grade light, most of the corals we keep are photosynthetic and need correct light. 1 watt of light per litre of water is a rough guide to the amount of light you need, but this may vary (upwards mostly) depending on what you are keeping.

Don't use your old cannisters for biological filtration, leave that to the liverock. Cannisters and such do aerobic filtration only and do not supply the anearobic filtration important in a marine tank. Cannisters can be useful for using carbon, or phosphate removing resin though.

The other thing you need is a protein skimmer. A good one is expensive, but the success of your tank will to quite a degree hinge on how good your protein skimming is. A good one will last you for life, get a needlewheel one they are the best.

As I said you will hear other contradictory ideas and they will likely also work. I've just suggested one way to get a basic system going.

Glad to hear you've done a lot of reading, that's the big thing, there's a lot of learning to do.

Good Luck!