Marine Tank

[Danny]

Hi... I have about a 16 gallon tank and i want to turn it into a marine tank. At the moment it is tropical so i already have the heater, light etc. Please could you tell me what I would need to turn my tank into a marine tank and about how much this would cost.

Thanks.

[Scuba Kid]

well marine tanks tend to be a bit more expensive and a lot more work than a freshwater tank. you will obviously need salt, a Specific Gravity meter and your PH needs to be higher, so you may want to go with a PH buffer.
these sites may be of use to you:
http://coco.essortment.com/howtosetupsa_rine.htm
http://www.petstation.com/swbegin.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/aquaria/general-faq/sw-begin/


also, check out the "Fish for beginners" and the "Fish NOT for beginners" posts in the beginners saltwater section.

[Scuba Kid]

something else to be cautious of:
you tank is very small for saltwater. im not saying you cant keep that size tank, but it will be more work and you will have to keep a much closer eye on it. also, your fish selection will be very limited.

[redpaulhus]

Pick up a good book or books - Bob Fenner, John Tullock, and Jeff Kurtz each have great books for reasonable $.

Your heater may not be saltwater safe - about 50% of the heaters on the market right now are labeled "FW use only" - so you may want to contact the manufacturer.

I would put about 15 lbs of liverock. A small protein skimmer like a Seaclone or Prizm would do wonders. With enough liverock and a good skimmer you wouldn't even need a traditional (FW style) filter.

Depending on what you want to keep (fish, corals, etc) you may need to upgrade the lighting (for corals or other photosynthetic inverts).
I'd keep about 1 typical fish, maybe 2 small fish, in a tank that size (eventually, once the tank had stabalized and cycled).

I have a friend who has a very nice mini-reef in a 16 bowfront tank, but he has years of experience with saltwater tanks, and he has other, bigger, tanks running he can move fish into if they seem cramped in the 16 or outgrow it.

I'd plan on at least $200 for salt, testkits, liverock, a barrel or bucket to mix water in, a powerhead and heater for the mixing barrel, a hydrometer, skimmer, etc.

[Danny]

Thanks alot. After seeing this i may just leave my tank as a topical tank. Do you know of any fish which are most like marine.

[Fishfirst]

some people say cichlids have colors like a marine aquarium... I beg to differ though, I did a 10 gallon tank setup for one of my friends and without the protien skimmer she was looking at 150 dollars without the protien skimmer.

As for fish that can be kept in a saltwater tank that small check out
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/s...fm?pCatId=2124

theres a lot of choices out there.

[Danny]

thanks alot.

[Vivid-Dawn]

If you want lots of color and keep it a freshwater tank, here's what I've put in mine (it's a 10 gal, so you might be able to add a few extra numbers to yours)
5 neon tetras
3 guppies that have blue/yellow 'marbled' tails
3 mollies (one dalmation that's mostly black with a few silver speckles, one pearl-lyretail and another dalmation that's white with black spots)

If you like the more "fire" (gold, red, yellow, orange) colors for fish, there's platies and swordtails. I also like dwarf Gouramis, but haven't got room for any right now. In fact, I think Gouramies seem to be almost exactly alike much of the SW kind of fish, but they can be kept in freshwater community (as far as I know... haven't bothered doing much research, since I can't get 'em anyway ;p)

There's my two mental pennies!

[Osiris]

i think it's $25/gallon is good rule of thumb that y our gonna spend on saltwater, 25-50 bucks a gallon with doing things the right way the first time, as for mine i have put closer to 400 bucks or so into 10g but i am also using things that aren't a requirement for the tank..


16g must be a bow tank huh? Well shouldnt be too bad, it's well worth it! Seeing things grow and born in the tank that you could never experience in FW tanks. Sitting up late just to take a flashlight into your tank in middle of night to see the night creatures of the tank...

[Hickers]

I filled my my first marine tank a couple of years ago with treated tap water, (instead of RO), and matured it for over two months. A couple of months after I was plagued with green hair algae which covered the tank.

I still belive that the treated tap water was a major factor in this and never recovered from this initial oversight. I am now maturing another tank and I have made sure I use RO water this time.

Best of luck...

Hickers

[Scuba Kid]

can't u just use tap water conditioner to control it rather than just letting it sit?

[Osiris]

nah scuba, has too many bad things that still will be there, just a safehaven to use RO or RO/DI water. Conditioner just doesnt get enough out not too mention that conditioner will gurantee a flood from ur skimmer, lol

[Thunderkiss]

some people say cichlids have colors like a marine aquarium... I beg to differ though, I did a 10 gallon tank setup for one of my friends and without the protien skimmer she was looking at 150 dollars without the protien skimmer.

I have to disagree, with the caveat that i can't back it up .... yet I came across a fish vendor out of texas (which my partner promptly lost, as did i reformatting) that had africans i had NEVER seen before, and i have seen a LOT of africans in my day, that would make you say "salt water what?!?!". Now i just need to find the place again

[Thunderkiss]

http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/ima..._lepto_kit.JPG

http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/ima...epto_livua.jpg

http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/fis...black_bee.html

http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/ima...pto_utinta.JPG

http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/images/chal_brich.JPG


http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/ima...ri_burundi.JPG

For starters yaaaay i found it again, check 'em out, some incredible fish here

[Osiris]

Originally Posted by Thunderkiss @ Fri Apr 08, 2005 5:48 pm some people say cichlids have colors like a marine aquarium... I beg to differ though, ****I did a 10 gallon tank setup for one of my friends and without the protien skimmer she was looking at 150 dollars without the protien skimmer. I have to disagree, with the caveat that i can't back it up .... yet I came across a fish vendor out of texas (which my partner promptly lost, as did i reformatting) that had africans i had NEVER seen before, and i have seen a LOT of africans in my day, that would make you say "salt water what?!?!". Now i just need to find the place again

I have had that happen to me too, clients seen my computer at work see that fish on the background (my ngara flametail) they truly thought it was saltwater fish, as not hardly any LFS's carry peacocks of adult sizes...when i tell them FW they are like