I currently have a well estabilished 55 Gallon Cichlid tank and I am in process of getting a 80 gallon tank build in one of my living room walls which would be viewable from both side and would be 36.5 long and 29.5" tall. The new tank will be SW ready and has a Proclear 125 wet/dry filter and Supreme Mag Drive 700 pump. The question is how difficult is it to maintain SW aquarium and is it really costly. The fishes seem to be more expensive and therefore I am scared that if it become unstable it can become costly. My current aquarium is in excellent condition, I do 50% water change every week but it much easier as I just need to add conditioner and buffer and then connect a hose and add water. With salt water I probably have to add salt in a bucket and then fill it up. How difficult is it maintaining a SW vs FW. I would really like some advice from you pros out here. Also, what would a good starting fish. Thanks in advance.
Converting from Cichlid tank to Saltwater
- Thread starter rahimsach
- Start date
Well I will give you my thoughts but I know everybody else will disagree with some of what I do. I will say for the first 6-9 months they can be alot of work depending on how you set it up but after that they can be fairly easy. I do about 25% WC's about every 8 weeks depending on how things are doing, I have decent flow about 30x display volume, I have a large sump/fuge and I have a skimmer rated for twice my total water volume and I have a lite bio load. They can be very expensive when and if mistakes are made as I have seen people lose 200-300 dollars worth of fish do to ich outbreaks and up to 500 dollars worth of corals do to adding the wrong fish, also buying equipment because it was cheaper and then ended up buying the correct items later so they paid twice for one item. I will say do alot of research on what you want to buy and buy the best for you size setup and what you will be keeping.
My FW experience is nominal so can't saw how much more difficult it is although from what I've heard of discus care I'd say some FW tanks have high maintenance requirements as well. Marine tanks do require a lot of care but as Archer said some of that is highly weighted in the beginning. As your tank matures, your knowledge expands, and you perhaps add some automation to maintenance it gets less time intensive and your daily work is more of a visual check to see how things are doing. That check can sometimes be as simple as knowing your corals and seeing that one of them isn't opening as it normally would.
It is certainly expensive, I knew that getting into it but I had no clue how much I'd spend on it in the first year. If I had known I'd probably not have bought the tank, and I'm not keeping track of expenses because I'd rather enjoy what I've created than fret about buying a new frag or a new motile invert.
You'll want to consider some of the changes to your equipment if you do go SW, for instance wet/dry sumps are not popular these days. The trend is for more biological filtration with sump/refugiums and macros and live rock.
It is certainly expensive, I knew that getting into it but I had no clue how much I'd spend on it in the first year. If I had known I'd probably not have bought the tank, and I'm not keeping track of expenses because I'd rather enjoy what I've created than fret about buying a new frag or a new motile invert.
You'll want to consider some of the changes to your equipment if you do go SW, for instance wet/dry sumps are not popular these days. The trend is for more biological filtration with sump/refugiums and macros and live rock.
Archer/Grins
Thanks for sharing your experience. If I decide to convert, which filter and skimmer would you recommend. My LFS recomendded the PRO clear 125 wet/dry. Since this would be in the wall I will have to put something at the bottom. Proclear 125 runs around $180 and can be used for both SW and FW so in case if I decided to stick to FW I can keep it too, but it seems like there are some better filter out there, can you please menion a name or two.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your experience. If I decide to convert, which filter and skimmer would you recommend. My LFS recomendded the PRO clear 125 wet/dry. Since this would be in the wall I will have to put something at the bottom. Proclear 125 runs around $180 and can be used for both SW and FW so in case if I decided to stick to FW I can keep it too, but it seems like there are some better filter out there, can you please menion a name or two.
Thanks!
I'd run a sump/fuge under the main tank (drill the tank versus using overflow boxes) and I'd look at skimmers like the Euro-Reef most likely.
If you are going to do SW DONT get a wet dry go with a SUMP/FUGE, for a skimmer I would suggest an ASM, Euro Reef or a Octopus, I think bang for the buck the Octopus would be your best bet. The LR, SB, Macro algea and skimmer will be all the filtration you will need and aar as a sump/fuge goes they are simple to build and here is a link http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html
It would be easier if you would let us know what you would like your tank to be FO, FOWLR or reef and what fish you are interested in then we can help point you in the right direction for your fish.
I am leaning towards FOWLR, although I like corals but am not sure how high maintanance they are. I would like to start of with some inexpensive fish just in case. I was thinking about clownfish, butterflyfish, yellow tang to begin with. Would that be a good start?