Changing From Tropical To Marine?

[StandbySetting]

20x the tank volume for a standard reef with soft corals, so you're looking at 4000LPH.

 

[fishy55599]

20x water volume

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok, and skimmers? The same volume?

 

[seffieuk]

Patience is a virtue,

Its a great saying and never truer than in the salty world - it can be really good fun looking for bargains over a period of months, researching whilst you are saving up etc and asking loads of questions (and yes we do enjoy answering them but enjoy seeing alovely tank evolve even more )

Rock is always best to get in one go, but, many have collected rock over a few months, probelm with that is you end up having several cycles

 

[StandbySetting]

Ok, and skimmers? The same volume?

Look for a skimmer which is rated for a tank of your volume, If I remember rightly a TMC 400 would be suited to your tank.

 

[seffieuk]

Deltec 300 second hand although Lord Sorgan was talking about that slim job he likes, no, no, talking about skimmers, tut, tut

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok. So I will start saving now for rock, then in a couple of months time I will buy it. Now live rock, if I find any free stuff. I know very unlikely, I presume I will have to have a marine to put it in otherwise it will die. Am I correct?

 

[seffieuk]

Whe I upgraded from a nano to a five footer I just put my live rock acqusitions in plastic boxes, with salty water, a powerhead and heater, also had some in a tank in the hall and then some in my nano - it was like rock heaven

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Skimmers are about £60 minimum. But that doesn't have to be put in straight away as the LFS said there isn't actually any protein for it to skim. Or is he wrong?

 

[seffieuk]

Skimmers are about £60 minimum. But that doesn't have to be put in straight away as the LFS said there isn't actually any protein for it to skim. Or is he wrong?

Well, yes he is likely to be wrong - protein skimmers remove organic waste, so unless you have a pristine tank with nothing in except water............

However, many people add a skimmer later - if you do good weekly water changes you should be fine for a while as long as you are not heavily stocked

 

[fishy55599]

you can add em later if you do w/c every week like i am doing

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok, so list of what I need:

New saltwater testing cards
1x protein skimmer (between 200 and 400 litre tank)
2x power heads ( 1000 LPH each)
25 kg of live rock.
200 litres of RO water + 40 each week.
Refractometer
Marine salt.

Am I missing anything from this list?

 

[fishy55599]

heater

sand

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

I've got a 200 watt heater in my tropical already. I have got about 5 50 watt heaters as well. However I'm not sure if they all work lol

 

[StandbySetting]

You'll want a reef salt if you want coral, and you'll need 2*2000LPH power heads.