New To Marine

[HendrixTheOscar]

Hi all marine fans.

I currently have a tropical set up with an external filter and internal heater etc, etc.

I have a 42" x 14" x 20" tank.

I'm looking to get rid of my tropicals and move swiftly on to marine.

So, what else do i need? I've heard a protein skimmer and a load of pre-treated salt water (which i can buy from my lfs). Also a marine light. Is that everything?

Will i be able to use the same sand and gravel strata mix and the same bogwood etc?

Thanks for your help,

Pete

 

[SkiFletch]

Hey hendrix, to the salty side of things. There are lots of similarities between saltwater and freshwater, but there are also lots of differences . I'd encourage you to have a read through some of the stickies in the marine chit chat section to get an idea of whats required for starting up a slatwater tank. Also when preparing a saltwater tank, remember the following about saltwater aquaria: "Beauty takes time but disaster happens quickly"

Having said that I cant fully reccomend what you'll need to start until I know what you want livestock wise in the tank . Are you interested in fish, corals, invertebrates, or some combination thereof? Do you have your heart set on some exotic animals that are going to require specific hardware, or are you just looking for a basic change of pace?

There are however some things common to all saltwater tanks that you'll need:

Live Rock (1lb/gallon) acts as your main filtration. Its head and heels above man-made filters.
Aragonite sand as a substrate (probably 20-30lbs for your footprint)
Powerheads (enough for 10-30 times tank turnover per hour depending on livestock choices)
Heater which you prolly allready have
Properly mixed saltwater which you can buy from your LFS or make yourself
Pure freshwater for topups (again, made yourself with an RO unit or purchased from the LFS)
Protein skimmer (useful for almoast all stocking choices of a tank that size)
Testing equipment (TDS meter, hydrometer or refractometer, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH test kits, other testing supplies may be livestock specific)
Lighting (very livestock specific. Fish only tanks dont require much of an upgrade while many corals and inverts will require better lights)

Unfortunately, your old gravel and bogwood are not suitable in a marine aquarium. Aragonite sand offers buffering capacity to keep your tanks chemistry and pH stable that normal freshwater gravel or sand does not, and bogwood will rot away quickly in a saltwater environment.

Lastly, let me just ask that before you go making quick purchases of hardware and especially livestock that you ask first. There are so many compatability, diet, predator/prey, and other complications with livestock that you dont want to go buying a $40 fish to find out that its the prey of something you allready have in your tank

 

[HendrixTheOscar]

Well thanks for you comments and it all sounds good so far. I didn't realise i'd need new sand and live rock to be honest but i do now. What exactly are powerheads dare i ask?

Also the fish i'm thinking of getting i don't think has too many predators.

I either want a Dog Face Puffer or a Lion Fish.

Any more handy tips?

PS: I was looking for the stickies but couldn't find them

 

[SkiFletch]

Most of the prudent stickies for you will be in the Reef chit chat section

Dont get a dogface puffer with a tank that small, stick to a lionfish, prefferably a dwarf lion. Dogface puffers get too big for a tank that size IMO, and can be more trouble than their worth. Dwarf lions will still let you stock some other larger fish in a tank like that.

Powerheads are small submersible pumps to push water around the tank. Seios and Tunzes are the best powerheads on the market IMO.