Freshwater fish keeper thinking of taking the plunge to marine

[josh23]

Hi all!

 

This is my first post on this message board, although I have been hanging around here reading past posts and the various articles for several weeks now. First, a little about me, I've been successfully keeping freshwater fish for about 3 years and I'm interested in taking the plunge from freshwater to a marine reef tank. I'm planning on converting one of my established 29 gallon freshwater tanks into a marine nano-reef tank. I've been interested in doing this for quite some time but it all seems a bit confusing to digest at times and it's going to require me shelling out a pretty good little chunk of change. However, I've made up my mind that I'm going to go through with it soon. I do have a bunch of questions that I hope some of you can help me out with. I want to make sure I have this well planned and do it right from the beginning because I know there are a lot of things that can go wrong. I want to do as much right from the start as I possibly can. I'll just go through what equipment I have at the moment and what type of fish and other organisms I plan to keep in the tank so that some of you can offer your opinions and advice on what type of equipment I should get and if I have made good choices in the type of fish and other organisms I plan to keep.

 

The tank I plan to convert

 

29 gallon high that has been set up and running as a freshwater tank for just shy of 1 year. It has gravel substrate, a millennium 2000 HOB power filter, HOB heater, and the plastic hood and light strip that it came with and of course a matching stand.

 

Now, I would imagine that I will probably have to upgrade my lighting for coral. I'm not sure what I will need so any suggestions will be appreciated. I'm also going to get a glass hood to replace the plastic one so that I can cut down on evaporation as much as possible. I will also need to add a protein skimmer and I will likely add more filtration. I've read that a person can use a HOB power filter in a reef tank (or any saltwater tank) and I was wondering if this type of filtration is adequate. If it is I will add a second power filter when I convert the tank to run along side the one that's in it now to provide extra filtration. If it would be best for me to invest in some other type of filter that would be more suitable I'm open to suggestions. I think I will also need a powerhead of some type for water circulation and I will have to change my gravel over to some other type of suitable substrate. I'm kind of partial to that black sand looking stuff that I saw at my LFS, but I would appreciate some advice on this because I'm don't know if there is a particular type of substrate I should use or not. I like the black sand because of its aesthetic appeal. I'm also going to get a saltwater safe submersible heater to replace the old one. Some other items I think I will need include a hydrometer, a saltwater test kit (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, hardness, etc.), some type of salt mix, a suitable container for mixing my salt in when performing regular partial water changes and some live rock but I don’t know how much I will need. If I have left anything out please feel free to inform me.

 

The type of fish and other organisms I want to keep

 

Note: below is a list of the fish and other organisms that I like that could live happily in a 29 gallon tank that are reef compatible. I will pick certain fish from this list when it comes time to stock the tank.

 

Black & White Percula Clownfish

(Amphiprion percula var.)

 

Ocellaris Clownfish

(Amphiprion ocellaris)

 

Luther's Watchman Goby

(Cryptocentrus lutheri)

 

Firefish, Purple

(Nemateleotris decora)

 

Firefish, Helfrichi

(Nemateleotris helfrichi)

 

Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab

(Paguristes cadenati)

 

Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab

(Calcinus laevimanus)

 

Blood Red Fire Shrimp

(Lysmata debelius)

 

Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

(Lysmata amboinensis)

 

Any thoughts or advice will be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 

Josh

[dickie52]

Run Josh, run, and don't look back. It's too late for the rest of us, but you can still make the break. Once this saltwater bug bites you, you will never be the same......

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/

[tinyreef]

you might want to try one (or two) of the CSL 2x65W PC units. the new ones with integrated moonlights look sweeet! altho that one only comes 1x65W. or you can get a mh with actinic supps and never worry about upgrading again.

 

you might want to consider two to three (or even more depending on your aquascape) small PH's to add to the water current. you could also go with one larger PH (dominant flow) and 1~2 smaller PH's for lesser flows (my pers pref setup). hth, welcome to reefing!

[pitbullpooch]

do alot more searching here before you start.alot of your questions show you havent researced a lot.one thing is that if your tank has been treated with certain chemicals used in freshwater it will harm your saltwater inhabitants.like copper for one.filtration is not much more then live rock.i run poly in my filter just to clear up the tank once a week for a couple hours other then that your live rock and critters will clean your tank and as you added your skimmer which i dont even use. theres alot of other things that i could add but it would be to long to list every thing you need to know.i surfed the board for a couple months then i started my first tank and started slow.let your tank cycle then add clean up crew and then wait atleast a month to add anything else.alot of people think that a clean up crew only cleans your tank but snails actually add alot of amonia to your tank whick means you will have high nitrates till your tank can handle the bioload.anyways do alot of reading and in no time you will be ready and dont rush into it or you will be one of them people posting about how your corals are looking bad and you dont know why.atleast you are trying to get help.hope you have a big pocket book and alot of patience.good luck and hope it works out.

[tylernt]

You're on the right track. Most of that stuff sounds reasonable except the filtration. Throw it all out, that's what the LR and LS is for.

 

I have black sand in my 10g. It looks really cool, except for all the brown snail and crab crap that collects on it. If you can live with that, or siphon it out every other day, go for it. "Once you go black, you never look back"

[josh23]

Thanks for all of the responses thus far. They are appreciated!

 

Now, one thing I wanted to clear up. As I earlier stated, the 29 gallon tank that I will be converting to a reef tank has been set up and running as a freshwater tank with a few of my zebra plecos in it for a year. This tank is already completely cycled, so I won't have to cycle it once I convert it to saltwater and add live rock and live sand. However, I will have to keep the power filter running for at least a little while since that’s where most of the bio filter is at or maybe I could just take the bio grid out of it and float it in tank. Am I incorrect regarding this?

 

Josh

[Ehawk]

I think you are misguided here. When you convert from freshwater to saltwater you will have to cycle the tank all over again. The addition of the LR and LS will make the tank cycle, which is why many people like to add all of their LR at once, to avoid "mini cycles" each time they add new rock. You will probably need all new RO/DI water to make your saltwater with, not reuse the "cycled" you have.

 

The exsisting bio media you have should not be needed, as the LR and LS will do the biological filtering. Occasionally some people will run carbon in their existing HOB filters, but not constantly.

 

Keep reading, and asking questions. If you have a question, search first, as you will either get it answered or learn something else to help.

[tylernt]

I think freshwater nitrifying bacteria will quickly die in saltwater, causing an even bigger ammonia spike.

 

Dunno if anybody has scientifically tried it though.

[josh23]

Hello,

 

thanks for your replies. I was asking because I read in a beginner's saltwater book that sometimes it's a better option to cycle a new saltwater tank as freshwater and then add saltwater once the nitrogen cycle has completed. I think this was mainly if you were going to be using live fish to cycle the tank, it said it was better to cycle it with freshwater because ammonia is much more toxic with saltwater because of the much higher ph. Unless I'm badly mistaken and several sources I considered reliable are all wrong (and they could be) the nitrifying bacteria is the same in both fresh and saltwater. I'm going to look into it further and let you guys know what I find.

 

Josh

[Dingo]

The nitrifying bacteria are not the same, but even if they were, the osmotic shock of adding all that salt would kill them.

 

Throw out all the media in your filter, as well as everything you had previously in that tank. Your live rock will provide all filtration.

 

If you have ever used any copper medication in that tank, you must buy a new one.

 

Trust us on this, we collectively know how to cycle a tank.

1) Mix the salt into RO or DI water, NEVER TAP

2) Watch the temperature and salinity for a couple of days until you are satisfied that everything is stable, you wouldn't want to ruin $50-$75 of live rock.

3) Add live rock and arrange

4) Pour in sand around live rock

5) WAIT 4 WEEKS testing for ammonia, nitrite (if you want) and nitrate.

6) when your nitrate is gone, start adding livestock SLOWLY.

 

Good luck.

[josh23]

Dingo,

 

Thank you for your advice. The only chemical I have ever added to this tank is seachem's prime to eliminate chlorine. So, copper won't be a problem. You guys know better than me regarding the nitrifying bacteria so I'm just going to take your word for it that it isn’t the same in saltwater. Although, I don’t know why it has contradicting information in that beginner's saltwater book I recently bought. I guess I should trash it and get another one.

 

So, here is what I plan to do:

 

1) Get my new equipment

 

100 watt Ebo Jäger TS Automatic Aquarium Heater (the one I have in the tank now isn’t submersible so I want a new one so it can be somewhat hidden)

 

SeaClone Protein Skimmer

 

SeaTest Hydrometer

 

2 Power Sweep powerheads

 

All-Glass Black Versa-Top (the one on the tank now is plastic and I want to replace it with glass to reduce evaporation)

 

AF Saltwater Master Liquid Test Kit

 

New light strip lightstrip (130 watt, 2 65 watt builbs that will slightly over 4 watts per gallon)

 

29 gallons of RO water (I found a LFS that sells it for .50 a gallon)

 

2)

 

Remove all my gravel, decorations, and filter inserts from my tank

 

Drain the water from the tank

 

Mix salt into RO water getting the specific gravity to 1.025 (any suggestions on what type and brand of salt I should use?)

 

Fill the tank with the mixed saltwater

 

Install powerheads, protein skimmer, and heater

 

Get temp to a stable 78 F

 

Let the tank run for a couple of days making sure the temp is stable and there are no problems with the tank

 

Add 45 lbs of live rock

 

Add sand (should I use live sand or regular sand)

Test water every couple of days until ammonia spikes and falls to 0, nitrite spikes and falls to 0, nitrate shows up and falls to 0

 

Add some start up coral

 

Add some fish

 

Does this look good?

 

Josh

[Jahkaya]

Josh:

 

Less rock, more light. Depending on the density of the rock 45 pounds may be a bit over kill. I would go with 35-40 pounds. I would start off with a 175w halide and a PC actinic or even 2 24" NO Actinic. The 175 halide will only be a few bucks more than the 2x65 if you look in the right place. You may have to build your own hood, though.

[tylernt]

100 watt Ebo Jäger TS

 

SeaTest Hydrometer

 

All-Glass Black Versa-Top (the one on the tank now is plastic and I want to replace it with glass to reduce evaporation)

Good, good, excellent choices. I have all of these.

2 Power Sweep powerheads

Uh-oh. Let me just say this. I bought two ZooMed PowerSweeps. After 2 days of incurable buzzing from both, I ordered some MiniJets. The PowerSweeps have been removed and are now awaiting terminal ballistics testing.