Hi I have wanted a saltwater tank for a while but the cost was always too much. But can I convert a freshwater tank into a salt water tank and is it really as hard to keep up with as i hear? Do i need extra lights? Whats the cheapest fish you could ever buy eveeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrr for a salt it has to be small (small tank[30-45g]). And i need a skimmer and a special filter right? Sorry about all the questions.
Want to start salt
- Thread starter chicken_boy_Kurt
- Start date
well if your looking to go cheap. might not make it far. you can get real cheap fish, not eye pleasing, you can get more expsnive ones wich are eye pleasing. you dont NEED a skimmer, but they are great to have.yea you will need higher powerlighting ( keep live rock and sand live, also if you plan on corals ect. ). also with converting, youll need R-O water ( dont need it, but it helps controll ph ect and as for cycleeing the tank the live rock and sand do it rather quickly ( when i got my tank the man at my local petstore said i could get fish that day ( i wouldnt recomend it tho ) but i added my rock and sand within a hour or so (maby more) all the levels were great. i just had to tweak with the salt mixture ( B4 adding rock and sand ) i keep mine @ approx. 1-024. everyone does it diffrent.
but as for prices on fish
i find this a great site i recomend it to everyone ( i only got a cleaner package and a clown fish from them but great very happy with the product. )
www.saltwaterfish.com
but as for prices on fish
i find this a great site i recomend it to everyone ( i only got a cleaner package and a clown fish from them but great very happy with the product. )
www.saltwaterfish.com
You can do a saltwater setup cheaper but its hard to do cheap. You could start by buying dried out base rock and and just a little liverock to seed the base rock. This could save you hundreds of dollars. If you plan on keeping corals or an anemone you will need special lighting. If you are going to do a fish only with liverock (FOWLR) than you can use any lighting you want. A skimmer isn't needed for that size of a tank, if you keep up your water changes, but it will definately help keep all your water parameters in check. Using ro/di water to make your water would be the best. You can get it at the LFS or you can buy your own unit. If you don't use ro/di water you might end up fighting algea. Filtration in saltwater is different than freshwater. In most saltwater tanks the only filter you will see is a protein skimmer and maybe a filter sock. The filtration in saltwater tanks is mainly done by the liverock and the protein skimmer. Also a way to save money is buy things used. Look on ebay, find a local reef club, check the classifieds here and on other sites. The thing with saltwater is that it takes time and requires patience. I suggest you buy a couple books and read as much as you can online about saltwater setups. There are many different ways to run a successful saltwater setup. Read a lot and ask a lot of questions. Mistakes can be very expensive in this hobby.
Thanks for all the great info guys, but u still haven't answered my most important question: is it really as hard as everyone makes it out to be? If its really hard I m sticking with fresh.
No its not hard when spend the time to learn about what is going on in the tank. I actually spend more time on my 90g fresh tank than I do on my 125 fowlr sw tank. If you use the right water from the start and cycle the tank completely, atleast 3 weeks. Be patient and resist buying a lot fish and be patient. The hardest part is doing right and taking your time. Nothing good happens fast in saltwater.
RO/DI stands for reverse osmosis/deinization. a ro/di filter filters out all of the total disolved solids (TDS) in your water. I know the water out my tap has a TDS around 120. After it goes through my ro/di unit it has 0 TDS. So you pretty much end up with pure water.
my two small sw tanks(12 gal-24 gal)require more attention then the 1000 gals of fw in my home.i didnt say harder just more attention to details.its totaly different sw-fw. it might just be that im new to sw but still im asking lots of questions myself and learning lots.im having lots of fun with my sw but spending lots of $ too. go slow and be patient are the best advise i got.gl
i dont think salt is that hard as its cracked up to be. tho im still new at it, its not all that bad. be sure to read up on stuff. GL