Making the switch from Freshwater to Saltwater...

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pcpaulinoii

AC Members
Feb 20, 2008
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San Diego, CA
Hello.

I've had my share of freshwater tanks throughout the years and now it's time to venture into hobby of a saltwater tank, God help me...

With the freshwater tank all I had was either a canister filter or a HOB filter but researching saltwater tanks I come across 'sumps', wet/dry filter, etc.

Can you please these types of filtration methods?

Why couldn't you use a canister or HOB filter?

Thanks.
 
as far as filtration goes from what i understand you dont even need extra filtration if you are going to use live rock/sand about 1# per gallon of each. You can use a HOB or canister but the canister can be nitrite factorys. I am not the most knoledgeable with wet/dry or sumps but if you have a smaller tank i dont believe you will need them. I am just sticking to live rock/sand
 
Sumps and refugiums are used mainly for reef tanks and not needed for a FOWLR tank. Wet/Dry isn't used anymore as it doesn't work as well as other methods out now. As Solastsummer stated, it seems with a FOWLR tank it can sustain itself with just live sand and live rock. I wouldn't do that myself, but it seems there is plenty of info and people that have done it with success so it must work.

I have no idea where solastsummer got the info about a canister filter being a nitrite factory though. I always used to change out the media/filter every 2 weeks in my canister filter when I had one. I can't see how nitrites could build up in that amount of time with good media. Ya, if you never change out your filter/media I can see that, but who would do that?
 
I was thinking of a 10 or 20 gallon FOWLR (debating on LS, either way I will have sand) tank with maybe a false percula or two and a shrimp or two.

What type of filtration is needed? How about a power head?

I do have a Fluval 304 canister filter that I might be able to use once I relocate my turtles from my 55 gallon tank... Although I would love to do a 55 gallon saltwater tank I just don't have 'that' much money yet.
 
Time will usually substitute for money.

For a 55g FOWLR you would probably need the following to start:

40 lbs of reef grade sand. The non-live variety will probably cost you about $20 max for this amount.

50-70 lbs of live rock, which is expensive, or you can start with a few pieces of live rock (hand picked) and make the rest up from marcorocks.com or the like. They sell 'dead' rock, which can be seeded from a few pieces of live. Also, if you have a decent pet store around you, they'd probably part with a cup of their live sand to seed the sand mentioned above.

Heater, which you probably already have from your freshwater experience

Bucket of salt, which is probably $30 or so for some instant ocean. Also, a $6 hydrometer to check your salinity.

A few powerheads, which you might already have. Two Maxijet 1200s or a pair of Koralia 2s would probably suffice. The two MJs would run you less than $40 and the pair of Koralias would probably cost twice that.

A skimmer. I'd recommend a Coralife SuperSkimmer 65 for your application. You can find those used for ~$50 or new for under $100.

And then just time. Wait for it to cycle, wait for the life to spread, then eventually add your livestock.

So, to recap, to outfit your 55g to the salty side:

Sand: $20
Rock: ~$100
Skimmer: $50-100
2x MJ1200s: $40
Salt: $30
Hydrometer: $6

Grand total to start a FOWLR tank: $246-$296 (to start)

Also, a larger tank is easier to keep stable....so that's worth its weight in gold.

One thing when going from fresh to salt with a tank, though, is to think about possible copper usage in the past. That's a big no-no for invertebrate life.
 
That is a nice breakdown of pricing... straight to the point.

As I said, a 55 gallon made to be a salty would be nice but due to uncontrollable factors I can't set one up just yet.

If I was to setup a 'nano' tank out of a 10 gallon, couldn't that be used as my QT down the line?

At least I can 'learn' everything about saltwater on a bit of a smaller scale and at the same time slowly build up everything I would need to have a larger tank.

I know for a 10 gallon tank I will need:
about 10-15 lbs of LR
about 10-15 lbs of LS or 'regular' sand
no filter because that would be done via the LR and LS
50W heater
'basic' lighting

Would I need a power head? Would a Koralia NANO do the trick?

Anything else I am missing?
 
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