Moving from Freshwater to Saltwater

[gullmo]

Yikes cichlids in a 10 gallon. That makes me cringe. I hope there is no more than one.

Anyway, I too recently switched over my 20 gallon from fw to sw. Just to give you an idea this was the cost.

Lights: New 65w smartlite $80 and an old 15w ballast with a URI actinic 03 for $15 (my lighting is intended for low light corals only keep in mind, anything else would require a lot more $$$ for the lights.)

Filtration: CPR bakpak skimmer $120 (I feel a must have for beginners, mine is great) and two powerheads from previous use.

30 lbs of liverock from gulf-view.com for $130. This stuff is great and I would highly recommend this company.

One large bag of aragonite sand $20

Misc items: Test kits, salt, thermometer, heater, hydrometer cost who knows, got most of it from helping a friend move.

So as you can see I have spent quite a bit of money (around $400) and all I have right now is rock cycling in my tank. Had I upgraded the lights I could have easily spent twice that much.

Hope this gives you an idea of what you're getting into. An expensive but rewarding hobby.

And please get those cichlids into a bigger home!!!! LOL

Pete

[Dazed1]

I currently have 3 freshwater tank's.

1 20Gallon community tank, and 2 10 Gallon African Cichlid tank's. Of the two tank's I bought one since I thought the Cichlid was pregnant, but guess not.

Now, I've alway's wanted a Saltwater tank. I'm not too sure what I would like to keep in it. Maybe a small Coral and 1 or 2 fish(max). What are the thing's i'll need additionally to what I already have? Since the tank I have is running with fish in it, this is what I have :

10 Gallon regular with a Whisper power 10 filter, Airstone. And a hood with a light (will find out the wattage/power when i get home) (not much eh:D ) .

I would have to move the gravel out and clean the tank thoroughly ?

Any help would be great.

[Goofnut]

ahhh.. dazed and confused! You had best put down the pipe, cause there's no way you'll end up with just ONE coral in your tank. heheh.. If there's one thing about reef tanks, you'll spend and spend until your wallet is dry!! (I am just kiddin' with ya, BTW!)

 

Seriously though, you'll want to avoid the airstone. SW and air bubbles makes for a VERY messy hood.

 

You might want to read a couple of SW primers. Here's a fairly good one to start:

 

http://www.netpets.com/fish/reference/thie...k/thieltoc.html

 

I don't always agree with everything a single author says, so read a couple and ask questions if you see conflicting info, etc.

[Mnesarchus]

Read 'aquarium corals' by Eric Borneman. It's a great book and has helped me pick my corals. If I were you, I would mount some PC's (Powercompact Fluorescents) in my hood. One Normal Output (NO) Fluoro tube isn't enough light for 99% of corals. Good luck! This hobby rules.