Switching from Freshwater to Saltwater

[jasurf21]

Hey Everyone.

I currently have a 30 gallon freshwater tank that has been up and running for awhile.

What would I need to do if I wanted to convert it to Saltwater and about how much would it cost to do so?

Also, I have a couple balloon mollies, they can survive if I switch to saltwater? Neon Tetra's I'd have to get rid of? & what about oto's and cory catfish? What about java fern plants?

Thank you!!!

 

[joy13]

From what I have read and heard mollies can be converted over to full SW but they only live about 9 months and only one person actually had them breed. You would have to get rid of the plants and other fish otos and cories don't do well in SW maybe a day or two.

To convert you would need aragonite sand and live rock figure about a pound per gallon. You will want to change out the light bulbs as well to a 10, 14 or 20k bulbs. Use RO water from the start to help stop algae. A good filter something like a 70 or 110 aquaclear and a couple of powerheads for added water flow. You probably have a heater already.

Things that I feel is very important it a good liquid test kit, and a refractometer. Take things slow only bad things happen fast in SW and in a 20 gallon they can happen very very fast.

For the cost it will vary if you can get things used. For live rock I get mine off craigslist usually for between 2 and 3 per pound compared with 7 to 20 in LFS. Sand is about a dollar a pound.

 

[jasurf21]

From what I have read and heard mollies can be converted over to full SW but they only live about 9 months and only one person actually had them breed. You would have to get rid of the plants and other fish otos and cories don't do well in SW maybe a day or two.

To convert you would need aragonite sand and live rock figure about a pound per gallon. You will want to change out the light bulbs as well to a 10, 14 or 20k bulbs. Use RO water from the start to help stop algae. A good filter something like a 70 or 110 aquaclear and a couple of powerheads for added water flow. You probably have a heater already.

Things that I feel is very important it a good liquid test kit, and a refractometer. Take things slow only bad things happen fast in SW and in a 20 gallon they can happen very very fast.

For the cost it will vary if you can get things used. For live rock I get mine off craigslist usually for between 2 and 3 per pound compared with 7 to 20 in LFS. Sand is about a dollar a pound.

Thanks for replying Joy I really appreciate your insight...starting slowly with a few questions.

What is RO water? I would have to remove all my fresh-water and replace it with salt-water? How? I would have to re-cycle the whole tank?

When I do water changes I can't use tap water, what do I use?

I have a heater and test kit just need the refractometer.

My substrate is black Carib-Sea Instant Aquarium, if I remember correctly the bag said fresh or salt-water. It is like sand but is a finely ground quartz can I use that for the saltwater tank?

Thanks so much!

 

[johnmaloney]

ro is reverse osmosis water

distilled water is the store equivalent

burrowing inverts dont like black sand much, it is harder to keep clean looking too compared to traditional sand. The fine and sometimes magnetic materials in the sand can harm some fish that pass sand through their gills, the silica particles are a little sharp for them.