Changing a Freshwater to a Saltwater

[Eelzor]

My 2 questions are,

1. How much more effort do you have to put into taking care of saltwater species than you do with freshwater species?

and

1. What do you have to add/change to a freshwater tank to make it a saltwater tank?

Sry bout the noob questions but tnx for a clear answer.

 

[ste2k3]

I takes very litle effort to look after a marine tank as long as you have the correct equipment.

Idon't know what you have already so i'll just make a list of equipment.

1 large external filter - biological
1 smalexternal filter or medium internal filter - chemical
good amount of cured live rock
a GOOD proterin skimmer like the deltec or aquamedic ones
if you want a fish only then 1 or 2 normal light tubes (i.e 1 blue 1 white)
if you want a reef, the halide or T5 or a combination of both.
a couple of powerheads to create water movement round the tank.

then there are things like hydrometers, salt tubing etc...

If you give us the size of our tank and what equipment you already have we may be able to help a bit more


I think thats everything

good luck

 

[Eelzor]

Well, mainly I just want to know the things you would need for as saltwater tank that a tropical tank would not need. Don't note things that tropical tanks have. By the way if it would help, I am considering owning seahorses, starfish and clownfish. Is this a good combo?

 

[ste2k3]

well, I'v listed all the equipment in my first post and as for stocking this combination will not mix. the clown fish can be aggressive and the seahorses are delicate requiring a low flow species tank. the starfish will be ok with either.
hope this helps

ste

 

[Equalizer]

I second ste2k3

 

[Eelzor]

so, do you think taking care of seahorse and starfish will be easy together? I figured because they are both slow and seem to be easy to take care of, not to mention attractive, or am I missing something?

 

[ste2k3]

you could keep the seahorses and starfish together no problem. you may need to feed the seahorses live brine shrimp for a while because they can be fussy feeders. the only starfish I would say avoide is the green brittle star which can get to nearly 18" diameter. although they will be ok in a small tank, they may take slow fish which definatly includes seahorses. the red brittle should be ok though.

 

[Great Lakes]

The thing about a saltwater tank is that by the time it reaches a level of difficulty that requires constant care, you have increased your knowledge along with it.