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bluefire

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
54
Location
australia
i have never had a saltwater tank before but i am thinking about converting my 15gal to saltwater. it is cycled has a UGF, red gravel substrate, 75 watt heater and a light with an energy saver globe and i have a few questions.

can i just add salt to a tropical aquarium and thats it?

will i have to cycle it again or will the bacteria live?

what sort of inexpensive fish could i add to a 15 gal?

do i need any other special equiptment????
 
unless you can identify the red gravel remove it.
You will have to cycle the tank again, the bacteria arn't the same.
15 gal is very small for a first time tank, IMO get a larger tank
 
I would suggest buying a copy of "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner. This book will give you all the basic info you need to get started. I would not use the UGF in a SW tank.
 
Here is the list of my 15gals SW that I setup about 2 months ago, a pair of percula clown (Not sure they are true or false), and they seems to happy with it. Few shrimp and snails (They a quite nice addition to the tank)

Bakpak 2 skimmer
CC as substrate (Thinking about replace with sand)
Micro•Jet 450 Water Pump (Give about 100gph)
15-20# of LR
Heater

And off you go with it, hope you have a good experience like I do!
 
so it sounds like i would have to completely strip the tank and start over again. i think that it would not be worth it because it sounds very expensive unless anyone else has any other ideas
 
It doesn't have to be expensive for a little FO system if you do regular water changes, read up and you should have no problems keeping a few clowns in a 15; see http://www.bestfish.com/ssss.html

You will basically need:
- sand or cc
- good hob filter, go for one that is rated for 30-40g fw tank, like an emporer biowheel.
- salt mix
- tap water conditioner (you may already have)
- hydrometer
- sw test kit.

You could buy some dry base rock for around $1 lb, check all your lfs for dry base rock or "coral rock". Use that instead of fake decorations, it will turn to lr in a few months.
 
do you think that i should remove the UGF or keep it?

if i keep it will i need the HOB?

and what do you mean by salt water test kit???
 
A test kit that contains tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, etc. Designed for sw. I would loose the UGF and look at a hang on with some live rock. If you want to do it the best way.
 
but i don't really have too much money to spend on this so if i really had to could i keep the UGF and my normal gravel
 
You would be money and time ahead to not do a SW aquarium just now. It is a hobby that really requires the best you can give. It is inherently expensive. It simply cannot be done cheaply. You will be unsuccessful and disappointed. Take some time while you save up the cash to read and research. With a good background of knowledge you will able to pull it off at least as inexpensively as possible.
 
You will be unsuccessful and disappointed. Take some time while you save up the cash to read and research. With a good background of knowledge you will able to pull it off at least as inexpensively as possible.
I agree 100%. Patience is a virtue in SW
 
I also agree. Do the saving up part and research, though, it is a great realm to get into! You'll probably want to wait till you can start with at least a 55 gallon. That way it will take longer before you really "haveto" upgrade, and believe me, it won't take long before you have tank envy!
 
SW aquarium is pretty delicated, both money and time, UGF seems to give lots of problem to lots of people that why we recommend to remove it! But it is really up to you where you want to take our advices or not, but it seems all the advices that we gave you are just the basic requirement to keep a SW aquarium though, not to mention like Protein skimmers, LR/LS and may be other things, and cheapest fishes and hardy you can get probably damsels? like $3.00 from LFS.
 
i think ill just stick with freshwater for now maybe when im a bit older

thanks for all the help guys
 
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