a new salt water tank out of a old freshwater tank

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proycraft

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Nov 27, 2002
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i have an extra 20g freshwater tank that the small fish i had in it grew up and moved to a bigger tank can i take that tank a turn it into a salt water tank.
if so what can i do,
if not oh well
 

Max

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Jan 26, 2004
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Mars
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Just treat it like you would any other new salt set up. I'd go with a deep sand bed and around 40 lbs of live rock for filtration aquascaping. . You can probably use the filter you have on it now just remove all the media and use it to move water around. I don't know if you want to keep inverts or not but, if so please take all materials out of the tank and wash it out A LOT if you've ever used a copper based medication. The photosynthetic inverts will also need a lighting upgrade depending on what you'd like to keep. Give us a few more details about your plans and we can help you more. Also please keep in mind," if you didn't know", that s.w. fish need a lot more room than the old f.w. axiom of 1inch per gallon
HTH
chris
:)
 
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proycraft

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thats great.
i plan on keeping two small fish and a shrimp. live rock filters the water thats good. what about a protien skimmer, the lady at the lfs told i had to get one and a light. i have a life glo 15 w do i need another one.
 

Decz

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Aug 15, 2002
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I don't use a protein skimmer on my 20 gallon setup, if I had a bigger tank, I would have one tho.

I do use the HOB filter, with a sponge, and have a power head... as well as live rock. Mine has been setup for what seems like forever and the only problems I have ever encountered is that many snails didn't survive the last few months. It's all back on track now, and my fish have been happy and healthy for many months now.

I run the powerhead right on the surface, to keep the oil slick to a minimum.... and I do a 2 gallon water change once a week, and I have to top off close to 2 galllons a week due to evaporation....

p.s. mine was a freshwater setup before too.

hth

_Decz
 

Decz

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17 pounds live rock. I'm still looking for a place up here to buy an additional 3-5 pounds non-live base rock....
 

Adonis Mt

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Feb 19, 2004
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skip on that deep sand bed, the bio load will be way too big, imo..

Plus, think about how much volume youll lose to that sand, youll turn your 20g into a 10 with all that rock and sand.

1-2 inches, thats all. The live rock will provide all the filtration you need.
 

Decz

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Aug 15, 2002
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Good point Adonis!
I only have 1.5 inches in my 20 gallon......... sorry, forgot to mention that earlier!
 
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