salt

[penguinpimp1990]

i have been pondering if i should convert my 15 gallon tank (currently freshwater) into a salt water tank..... but would the bacteria be ok with salt? (i know that salt water tanks have bacteria but i dont know if theres any differnce between fresh and salt water bacteria) EDIT NOTE: I have no experience with salt water tanks what-so-ever

 

[plecoguy]

if you have no experience with salt water tanks i do not recommend a 15 gallon one, smaller is harder. little problems in a big tank normally stay little problems, but little problems in a little tank become big problems fast. if you really wanna do salt water, i would read up a lot on it and try with a bigger tank, just my opinion

 

[Erised]

Just to answer your question, the bacteria in a freshwater tank are different than a saltwater tank You'd have to recycle your tank (I believe it's done with live sand and live rock). You might want to read through the pinned topics in the saltwater section

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Do you want marine or brakish?

 

[sinistral]

Just to answer your question, the bacteria in a freshwater tank are different than a saltwater tank

Hmmm...from what I understand, it's all the same bacteria in freshwater or saltwater (nitrosomonas and nitrospira sp.). Those bacteria would be housed on live rock, but it is still the same species. You would most likely have to recycle your tank if you were converting it over to a saltwater tank, but that would be for logistical reasons (you'd have to wash the tank out, sell or give away your fish, the filter might dry out without a source of ammonia, etc).

I do agree with plecoguy that saltwater tanks are exponentially more complicated (and expensive) than freshwater. It's best to do some research now to see if you have the capacity to start one up.

 

[andywg]

As far as my knowledge goes the bacteria are different that live in FW to SW. However, if you gradually increase the salinity at a rate of around 0.001 per week or less then the dieoff of the FW bacteria is counteracted by the cultivation of the SW bacteria.

However, with cured liverock you can instantly cycle a new tank and as such it is usually easier to do this (and avoid the nitrate factory that most FW filters become).