converting a brackish tank - help ;)

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AwCrimety

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Hi,

I've used the brackish forum some in the past, but now I want a marine tank, so here I am. I wish to convert my tank to salt water, but i'm not sure what i will need, and what i have that i can still use. here's what i have

I have a 50 gallon 48x12 tank, that is currently brackish 1.010 which I used instant ocean salt to get to. It has been up and running for a year or so now. For filtration i have an aquaclear 300, and a fluval 303. i'm also using a powerhead just for additional water movement. For lighting I have a double ballast canopy, that i have been told i should use one Marine-glo, and one power-glo bulb in. For substrate i just have white gravel right now.

okay,...i think that says what i have. what do i need?

as far as what i'm going to put in the tank, It will likely just be fish for now, but i don't want to be stuck later and not have corals or anything like that. Basically i want to leave my options open. I'm hoping to not spend the money on a protein-skimmer, at least yet anyway.

Also, i wanted to know about cycling,....since it is already brackish, is it possible for me to just empty the tank of fish, and dump in more salt to get the right salinity and still have the tank healthy?

any help would be appreciated. thanks
 
No, your question wasn't too stupid, no question is stupid, I just haven't been around this forum in the past couple of days. By white gravel what do you mean? Do you have crushed coral/aragonite or just plain white gravel? If you have just plain white gravel then you will have to switch to aragonite/cc to stabilize pH in a saltwater tank. The arag or cc buffers the pH to an extent to keep it within range. You will also need live rock since live rock will hold MUCH more bacteria than any filter. Live rock is mother natures filtration system in the ocean. You will eventually need a protein skimmer but that can wait for awhile. As for rapidly increasing salinity that will kill off bacteria since there is too much of a drastic increase. The average salt tank should be 1.022-1.025. So IMO the best thing to do is slowly increase the tank with fish still in tank and do it no more than .02 increase per day. The easiest way to do it is do small daily water changes and add more and more salt every day. One thing you will definetly need is a Hydrometer (made by SeaTest-Aquarium Systems among other brands) if you don't have one already. Anyway, hope this helps and I hope I got all your questions.
 
Hi Mono, thanks for the reply.

Your suggestion about raising the salinity sounds great, i'll definitely do that. As far as keeping the fish in there though, I have two monos that will be going back to the store. And my puffers and butterfly gobies will be going into a 20 gallon brackish. So i won't have any fish to leave in there. Will that be a problem with cycling?

Gravel,...it is just crappy ol regular gravel. I'm not sure which one i should put in my tank between the aragonite sand, or the crushed coral. The coral sounds easier, and i like the way it looks, but if i use that, should i use an undergravel filter? When i change the water, should i use a gravel vacuum? umm, same questions for the sand, and in the future can i have corals in a tank with a crushed coral bottom, i think i read somewhere that the sand is much better. I'd like to do the easiest seeing as i'm new at SW.

And lastly, LR (liverock?) it seems to be pretty expensive at my lps, $10 a pound or something like that. Is that ridiculous? How much SHOULD i have, and how much can i get away with to start?

Christ,...here comes more questions. In my aquaclear, and the cannister filter, which media should go in it? I have read on here to only use the charcoal when there is a problem. The guy at my LPS told me to use lots of sponges and bioballs. Any thoughts?

Thanks again
 
The cc and sand run differently. CC is great for stabilizing pH, and is okay in a FO tank when there are no big, messy eaters to deal with. For reef tanks, or tanks with messy fish, sand is better. CC allows small particles to work down into the substrate, and can contribute to nitrogen in your tank--cleaners are not as effective in cc as they are in sand. CC will not harbor the bacteria that break nitrates down--too many gaps, too much water movement.

For filters--I would run them with no media, just for water movement, and for emergency use of chemical filtration.

If you won't have any fish in there, use fishless cycling--a chunk of raw shrimp, etc. The bacteria in your tank should reproduce and be fine, so you likely won't see extreme spikes, but you'll want to make sure you have a good bacteria bed before adding SW fish anyway.

What fish are you looking at getting?
 
Yeah that's another reason for no puffer. I obviously haven't yet decided which fish i put in. Rest assured i will research them and make sure it will be a great home for what i do get! I just put my other light setup on. And am slowly raising the salinity now. Still not sure which substrate to use, but i am leaning towards the sand. If i use a southdown type sand to save a few bucks, and just add some live sand,...how much of which can i get away with?

thanks again
 
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