Newbie question converting freshwater to reef

[Dave_P]

Hi All

This is my first post so be kind

First I will introduce myself, I live in the UK and I have been keeping fish for the last 25 years. During which time I have been going backwards and forwards from tropical to marine. Although the last time I kept marines was 11 years ago (dismantled the tank when moving house). I had a break then about 5 years ago setup a freshwater tank. I did this as I didn't want the extra maintenance. However shortly after I setup the tank, I knew I had made a mistake and yearned for a reef tank. Well the time has come for me to change. You will have to forgive my questions as I a bit out of date as far as products go, which are best methods etc.

Anyway currently I have 400L (88Uk gallons 60" x 20" x 24") Jewel freshwater aquarium which I want to convert to marine reef tank (hard/soft corals, few fish for movement etc). My first question, is this tank suitable for a saltwater aquarium. I seem to remember reading in the intructions and it stated that it wasn't suitable for saltwater, although I just can't think why

My intention would be go for a berlin setup i.e. live rock, live sand, skimmer, replace the lights with overhanging metal halide units. What units do people recomended?

Also how many and what size power heads would people recomend?

In the Jewel aguarium there is an internal box filter in the corner stuck to the glass, this comprises of a power head with replacable filter medium and the heater. Should I leave this in place and use it or remove it?

What size, type of protein skimmer external internal? do people recomend for this setup?

Is there anything else people would add?

Thanks for your time
Dave

P.S. these smilies are good B)

 

[fraservet]

I have a juwel rio 400, and it makes a good marine tank. The only possible problem is if your tank is an older style which I suppose might not be salt friendly?

Powerheads - well you will want at least 20x tank volume per hour. the type isn't too important, but the bigger brands tend to be more sturdy, and expensive.

I think it is a good idea to leave the box attached, with the powerhead on, and use it to keep your chemical media etc. and also your heaters.

Protein skimmer is a contentious subject. I have heard good things about the deltec mce600 (I think that's right), which is a hob skimmer like the prizm, but apparently much better, and should be ok for a 400l tank.


Ideally, you would add a sump/refugium as well.