Thinking Of Going From Fresh To Marine

[GShorty1981]

I have never kept marines before,nor know anything about them but i have kept FW fish for about ten years.

I currently have the tank in my sig,what would i need to make this into a small marine tank?

All i want to keep is 2 clowns and a few invertebrates.

Could you tell me exactly what i would need to convert my FW tank to SW,how much it would cost me and maybe suggest me some common (easy to get hold of) but pretty inverts i can have in my set up?

 

[GShorty1981]

I want something like this http/uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kd4_8Q4H1G0&...feature=related

Can i use my current filter and heater?

 

[VictorMeldrew]

Read a few journal's i found them a great help. If your tank is only 20g then this will be classed as a nano tank, you could check out that section. I believe that the smaller tanks are normally best with the more experienced saltwater keeper, more water = more stable, but i'm sure you allready know that.

Good luck

 

[GShorty1981]

Yeh ive read some stuff but just wanted to keep it simple,everytime i try and google this type of stuff it just gives me masses of unhelpful info.

This is what i think i need...correct me if im wrong.

Live Rock (dont know how much)
Coral Sand and Live sand mixed (inch and a half deep)
Salt
Power head (hopefully just one?)
Fish/Inveterbrates after a cycle.
Live rock rubble or floss to go inside my filter(?)

I was thinking of getting a couple of fake corals or something.

How much money will this kinda stuff cost? is my list correct? i dont think i need a protien skimmer ,what am i missing?

I dont want to over complicate it,i just want a basic tank liek the one in the vid without real corals.

Just 2 common clowns i think will be ok aslong as i dont have anymore fish...(from what i read)

Would a tank this size need water changes more than once a week?

 

[VictorMeldrew]

You need about 10 kilo's of live rock, thats proberly about £90

I think you might need different lighting as well which could be pricey, The live sand is not required, its expensive and apparantly contains little life. I an new to this aswell so i will let others take over from here.

 

[GShorty1981]

What would the different lighting do tho? as im not growing anything

 

[VictorMeldrew]

What would the different lighting do tho? as im not growing anything

If you are growing nothing at all then i guess you don't

 

[GShorty1981]

No i litrally just want 2 clown fish and some small cleaner snails/shrimp/crabs nothing else.

then just coral sand and rock as decor.

i saw some pretty convincing plastic corals in the LFS so may add 2 or 3 of them.

 

[n3ont3tra]

For some unanswered questions:

You can do find with one powerhead, Something like a hydor koralia two should be enough, they're about $40.
You can use your current filter I would put rowaphos or some other phosphate remover in it to help with algae.
The live rock is your main filtration, so you'll want about 20 pounds of that. Liverock is usually about $5 a pound, so it should be around $100.
You can use your current heater and lighting. As long as you don't try any kind of coral or anemone it should be fine.
You can get just plain coral sand, no live sand is nesecary because usually it's been sitting in a bag on a shelf for a month, ya know? It's not really 'live' after that. Your liverock will seed the coral sand by itself.
You could actually have three fish if you wanted, maybe four but you don't want to push it. For a third fish I would recommend some type of goby like a yellow watchman goby.
A member named steelhealr made some posts on different types of crabs, snails, and shrimp, those are very useful in deciding what types to get and what to avoid.
You'll also need either a hydrometer or refractometer to measure the specific gravity and salinity. Hydrometers are much cheaper (less than ten dollars I think) but they aren't as relieable or as easy to use (apparently.) Refractometers are more expensive (about $40) but mine is easy to use and they are pretty accurate and reliable.
You'll also need a test kit to test for ammoina, nitrates, nitrites, and all that stuff I'm sure you're familiar with.
10% water change every week or two should be fine.

 

[GShorty1981]

Wicked thats what kinda info i wanted,gives me a good idea of what i need now.

So really all the money is going to go in the Live Rock..the rest sounds like peanuts so shouldnt take me long to save up for!

 

[n3ont3tra]

Yup, I'm thinking the same thing. I have a 29g freshwater community but i'm gonna switch it up since I've had the same fish 2 years now. I think I'm gonna try shellies instead of marine though. Since I already have on saltwater tank.

 

[n3ont3tra]

WAIT I forgot something lol. If you're going to have inverts and stuff, I would suggest buying a Reverse Osmosis unit. It basically filters your tap water so that you have completely pure water to mix the salt into. The RO water removes the metals and everything that can be fatal to inverts. It's not totally nesecary but it's a good precaution and it will also help with algae issues.

 

[GShorty1981]

I assume your talking about copper/zinc and other metals that can be in tap water? you know when i say Inverts i mean clean up crews not corals yeh?

Are marine snails/crabs/shrimps more sensetive to metals than freshwater cherrys and bamboos? cos they live happy in dechlorinated tap water.

Everywhere that i have looked tells me RO water and protien skimmers are two things you dont need on a nano tank

RO units are proper expensive and expensive to fit so im starting to think if its essential i might not bother with a marine tank! lol

 

[n3ont3tra]

Pretty sure it's essential, unless you have really clean tap water. For a time I kept a 10g fresehwater shrimp tank and they did fine on my tap water (well water). I used RO water on my marine tank, but when my RO unit failed, almost all of my cleanup crew died, including my snails, shrimp, crabs, and starfish.

Protein skimmers are entirely different and aren't needed on small tanks. RO water is. You could also get RO water from your lfs, some stores will even sell premixed saltwater. Count on about 3 gallons a week of evaporation (approximately) and 2-3 gallons for a water change. It's really not that much so that would probably be a better option than buying a whole unit.

 

[GShorty1981]

Meh I'll stick to freshwater sounds like to much hassle.