Converting Fw To Sw

[-germ-]

Handy link for you StuColls, price guide and everything.
Selling your pound of flesh.

I've heard there is quite a high demand for cornea at the moment, maybe worth a 'look' ( ) in....

 

[xxBarneyxx]

lol handy link, especially as I just worked out the cost for what I want

Think it would be cheaper to just become a crack addict

 

[rhysiboy]

If you do want to start a nano then pop over to the nano section and put up a thread more of us then not are more than happy to help a begginer start. But basicaly i see you will be going FOWLR (fish only with live rock) The first thing of course is you will want to prepare the tank so that mean taking everything that was used in freshwater and taking it out. Then thoroughly clean it. Then what you have to do is add your sand (if its live sand then put the water in first and mix it), buy some RO water (reverse osmosis, available at pretty much all fish stores) then put in the correct ammount of salt in the water. Then hook up your powerhead - i suggest somehting like a seio or koralia, but these may be awkward in a hex due to the size of em. Thats pretty much the 'setting up side of things'

What you will need to buy

Test kits - made for saltwater, youll want ph, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia as the basics
Hydrometer or refractometer - refractometer are better, get one of ebay if you dont want to make your wallet a lot thinner
Powerhead - seio, koralia, maxi jet are all good products
Heater
Salt
About 9 kg of live rock, will probably cost you around £100 +
Thermometer

Now fish wise because its 20g you are slightly restricted in fish options and fish like lionfish arnt exactly suitable for a tank of this size, dunno about frogfish never reasearched them.
Basically id say you can have 3 - 4 small fish if your completely dedicated to weekly 2 gallon water changes. Look at gobies, clowns and some small blennies. You really get to broaden your choices if you go up to 30 gallons

hope that was some help

 

[Musho3210]

salt doesnt mean only salt (table salt) you need to get specially formulated synthetic sea salts that has other elements besides NACL (salt)......

Sounds like chemistry? No.... just go to your lfs or something, go to the saltwater equipment section, and you should see some big buckets saying, Instant Ocean, or Reef Crystals, or Oceanic, or Coralife, there are still lots more types of salt companies.

 

[stucolls]

Thats brilliant help, will I need a filter or does the live rock do that???

and whats the refractometer?
do I always need to do water changes with RO water?

I was thinking of clowns, gobies and I think they are called damsels? what about tangs? and inverts?

many thanks for your help
Regards
(a now gutted because chelsea lost) Stu

 

[kkyyllee]

would say 2-4 small fish max for a 20, tangs need at least 100 gallon tank, damsels are very aggresive and not very good looking, for stocking you could have a pair of perc/ocellaris clowns, and then a small goby or two, most of ur inverts will be ur clean up crew i would say 5 hernits, 4 astreaq snails, 3 nass**** snails, and then some skunk or peppermint shrimp if you like

 

[stucolls]

definately want a coplue of clowns, perhaps 2 different varieties though, and then 2 very colourful playful fish, whats the chance of any breeding??

Was definately thinking of a couple shrimps and crabs. So do I need a filter if they are cleaning up?

Also, will I need coral??

thanks

 

[kkyyllee]

you will need a filter they will just help with algea etc, you cant mix clown species in small tanks, either ocellaris or percula, since its a fish only you wanna keep stocking lighter since ur not using liverock, clowns are pretty "play ful" , coral isnt needed at all and ur tank wouldnt be suitable for coral, the clowns probably wont be very likely to breed in a FO tank, and raising the fry is pretty hard

 

[Tiggs]

based on your questions i assume you are aware you are a LONG way from getting a tank and a LOT of further reading is needed?

 

[stucolls]

Yes, I am aware, is that supposed to be you pointing and laughing or being helpful as im not quite sure? and whats research if gathering info on here isnt? I plan to gather as much info as possible on here then go away and research specifics, seeing as I ballsed up my tropical to start with by bot reading up im well aware of the need too. Thanks everyone else for your advice though

Stu

 

[kkyyllee]

get some books, do alot of research and then if you still have questions ask here

 

[SkiFletch]

definately want a coplue of clowns, perhaps 2 different varieties though, and then 2 very colourful playful fish, whats the chance of any breeding??

Breeding takes a lot of time, work, and experience. If you're seriously interested in clownfish breeding, have a look at "Clownfish" by Joyce Wilkerson


Was definately thinking of a couple shrimps and crabs. So do I need a filter if they are cleaning up?

If you have enough LR and flowrate, the LR does all your biological filtration for you. Canisters and external filters are still good for chemical filtration (carbon and phosphate removal).


Also, will I need coral??

You don't need coral.

 

[Musho3210]

Yes, I am aware, is that supposed to be you pointing and laughing or being helpful as im not quite sure? and whats research if gathering info on here isnt? I plan to gather as much info as possible on here then go away and research specifics, seeing as I ballsed up my tropical to start with by bot reading up im well aware of the need too. Thanks everyone else for your advice though

Stu

hes just making sure....


And to add on to what ski-fletch said, enough live rock is about 1-1.5 pounds per US gallon of water. You could add some base rock and take out some live rock but you will need to wait a while before the base rock becomes live....

 

[rhysiboy]

woow a flood of info here for you to take in. Also we arnt laughing - at least im not, as we all were where you are now at one point . So yer you should be looking at 9kg of live rock - take it your in the uk so you dont want the ahssle of converting lbs into kg