Advice on Transition from Tropical to Marine

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kunalraiker

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
1
Hi All,

This is my first post, so please be kind to me :)


I hail from Australia, the land of opportunity :brows: atleast that's what they told me when I migrated from India 9 years ago.

I currently have a 160 Litre Aquarium with Tropical Fish.

I would like to transition into a Marine, I want to start small with minimum investment, may be couple of clown fish and a coral.
I will build up later as I get more confident that I'am on the right path.

Also need to keep expenses at the minimum, can someone coin in on what are the essential items I would need and also approx costs?
This will give me an idea whether I'am ready for this or not.

Thanks!
 
Well yo start off what size tank where you looking at? I started off with a small 10 gallon.
 
Well yo start off what size tank where you looking at? I started off with a small 10 gallon.
he said 60 liter which is approx. 42 gallons..

kunalraiker I did the same conversion from freshwater to saltwater in a 55 gallon tank earlier this year... you will need atleast a 3-4 inch sandbed here is a calculator .http://www.garf.org/calculators/SandBedCalculator.asp...you will need approx. 40-50 pounds of liverock...a couple powerheads...what type of filtration do you have for your freshwater tank you may be able to reuse the filter system you have....you will also need a sorce of ro/di water you can buy a kit and make it yourself or buy water from store and saltwater mix...And I would recommend a good skimmer...I use a reef octopus....so far with what I listed is prolly about $700 but I believe this is about the bare min. I think you will need...but this is U.S. prices
 
Where about in Australia are you? hope you've voted already :) I have a slightly bigger tank than that but I can tell you the cost would be pretty similar. So here's a rough guide - to make the switch you would need to empty the tank and start again. If I had my time over I would have had my tank drilled for a sump, I believe this to be the best way to run it. However, there are so many different ways to set it up! So do plenty of research yourself before making purchases. Ask on here, have a read of the articles on how to set up a salt tank, the info is invaluable! Unfortunately it is difficult to run a successful salt tank on the cheap, so be prepared for some initial big outlays. Mine was about $1500 to set up and that's not including the tank. If you choose fish only (no corals) you will save some cash on lighting as that is the biggest expense. Good news is, it will be so much more rewarding than fresh! I found it quite time consuming in the beginning but once the tank has settled in I now only do weekly water changes and twice a week feeding and it's pretty stable. Any other questions, just ask!
 
Where about in Australia are you? hope you've voted already :) I have a slightly bigger tank than that but I can tell you the cost would be pretty similar. So here's a rough guide - to make the switch you would need to empty the tank and start again. If I had my time over I would have had my tank drilled for a sump, I believe this to be the best way to run it. However, there are so many different ways to set it up! So do plenty of research yourself before making purchases. Ask on here, have a read of the articles on how to set up a salt tank, the info is invaluable! Unfortunately it is difficult to run a successful salt tank on the cheap, so be prepared for some initial big outlays. Mine was about $1500 to set up and that's not including the tank. If you choose fish only (no corals) you will save some cash on lighting as that is the biggest expense. Good news is, it will be so much more rewarding than fresh! I found it quite time consuming in the beginning but once the tank has settled in I now only do weekly water changes and twice a week feeding and it's pretty stable. Any other questions, just ask!

I forgot about lighting as becan01 said, with corals I would get led lighting best price for any lighting in my opinion approx. $300 for a set of lights that will last 10-15 years...
 
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