new to salt water

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tigerbarb

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 14, 2004
Messages
9
Location
nEW YORK
i am considering salt for the first time...
I have ben told numerous things about it
i have a cycling freshwater tank right now ands i was very simply told to change my gravel to coral add coral to it and the ph will get lowered and add the salt needed this would simply become a salt water tank
does tis seem to simple to me??
or has any one actually tried this?
does it work?
 
Actually its a bit more involved than that. I would suggest reading some good books on the subject. Fenner's "Conscientious Marine Aquarist" or Michael Palleta's book "The New Marine Aquarium" would be good places to start. Also ready through many posts in this category. Much great info here.
Please post specific questions.
 
It does not. The good bacteria in FW is different than the good bacteria in SW.
 
okay
guys that is what i thought actually i knew but some guy is teling me different
he has told me he has set up three saltwater tanks that way?


but i woodnt try it
 
Why would you go to the effort to setup a FW tank and start its cycle to convert it to SW. That just makes no sense.

The PH is acutally higher in SW than in FW. The PH level desired for SW is 8.2 where as most PH for FW is below 8.0. More like 7.6-7.8 i supose.

You have a few options when it comes to the substrate. You could go with a bare bottom, sand substrate or crushed coral.

You want to add salt to the tank so the salinity is around 1.025. Saltwater tanks usually are kept at a warmer temperature than FW aswell so set your heater for a temp of 80F. If you dont have one you should pickup a set of SW test kits as well as a hydromoter to measure the tanks salinity.

What do you want to keep in the tank? This will help us give you guidance as far as lighting and water circulation, etc.
 
it all depends on whether you want to do a reef tank or just a fish only tank. If you want to do a fish only, I think its very similar to the price and method of setting up a fresh water tank. PM me if you have questions, I just converted my fresh water tank to salt water and have had zero issues. If you want to keep corals and inverts it will be more complicated.
 
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