Brackish ---> Marine

[Eldonko]

Hey folks,

I am interested in converting my brackish tank into a marine tank pretty soon and am looking for some advice. First off, here is what’s in my 33G tank.

2 x GSP, had em for 6 months or so, they are about 2 inch and are very healthy, bright green and not aggressive at all.
1 columbian shark. He is growing super fast and I may need to either give him up or upgrade my tank. He is about 4 inches already.
1 bala shark. Just a little guy, got him recently.
1 candy goby. About 7 months old.
1 marine hermit crab. I converted it from marine to brackish. Had for about 2 months. He is growing because he switched shells once so far.

Tank content:
Sand bottom, I used playsand.
SG 1.005 to 1.007
A few crypts, not sure what kind. Plants don’t last long, the fish eat em up quick.
Driftwood and other misc ornaments.
Aquaclear 50 power filter
Coralife compact fluorescent light (marine). 1 xT5 actinic bulb (21W), 1 xT5 10,000k bulb (21W).

Ok here are my questions:
1) Will all of my fish be ok in marine conditions?
2) What do I need (protein skimmer and live rock? sump?) I would like the tank to be as self cleaning as possible. My current 50% water changes are costing a lot in salt and taking a lot of time.
3) How does one gradually convert to marine? Can I just add a skimmer and increase SG slowly and gradually add live rock over time?

If anyone knows of a guide on converting brackish to marine please post a link.

Thanks all.

 

[flamingonhot]

1.Raise the salinity very slowly over time.
2. Get rid of the colombian shark and bala, both get too big and the bala won't last in full sw.
3.Im not sure the candy goby wil tolerate full sw, the gsp's might but i've never heard of people keeping babies in full sw. full grown ones can but like I said im not sure about babies.
4. Why are you converting your tank to full sw?

 

[Eldonko]

Thanks for the reply!

I’m converting the tank for a few reasons. 1) Less maintenance. Takes me at least few hours a week doing PWC and cleaning this brackish tank. Marine = less freq water changes and less maintenance. 2) I was under the impression it will be good for the fish. Don’t GSP prefer more salt as they get older? They don’t seem to be babies, how old/ big should a GSP be to go in marine water? 3) Lastly, marine tanks with nice live rock look great!

Getting rid of the sharks is no prob. I have 3 other fresh water aquariums that they could live in until they get too big. My local Big Al’s will take any fish that get too big so that is an option too. The candy goby I’m not sure about, but he is a cool fish that I would like to keep if possible.

What SG does live rock need to live? Full Marine levels?

 

[theatrus]

Live rock critters do best at full marine. The live rock bacteria might tolerate hyposalinity (maybe down to 1.012 or so), but remember that the nitrifying bacteria are a different species between FW and SW. I'm not sure what you have in a brackish tank though.

 

[Eldonko]

Hmm. So increasing SG over a certain point will kill my nitrifying bacteria?

 

[theatrus]

Some will die, some other the other kind will grow. If you do it slowly, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Thats the theory anyways

 

[Eldonko]

Gotcha.

 

[DragonForce]

Eldonko, what is the significance of this? why not just start a marine system instead? Want to be different? Try new things?

 

[flamingonhot]

Marine tanks don't require less maintenance.

With my experience in bw the only thing I hate is getting the salt levels and all that right but after thats it's easier than sw.

Gsp's don't need full saltwater. They can be kept in it and sometimes do better in it but it's not at all needed. I've heard many different sizes but the most common i've heard are around 4-6 inches. Somebody like pufferpunk or someother puffer expert may be able to help you out better.

I would keep the salinity at 1.022-1.024 for the live rock. Most stuff would die from putting it in 1.012. The reason most people buy live rock is for the variety of life found on it. The bacteria is a biggggg bonus but any rock that's let sit in a tank for a while will get bacteria with time. So once again keep the salinity at normal marine conditions.

If you do sw raise the salinity up very slowly.. I don't remember the rule though, something like .001 or.002 a week but im not sure. If you do it slowly the bacteria will adapt and won't be affected. If you do it too fast and you'll kill most of the bacteria present.

Making it sw might make thing s alittle harder. Read up on sw before doing this. It's basicly having a sw tank but having a bw puffer instead.

 

[Lagger]

Im in the same boat....

Im looking to convert from a brackish puffer tank to a saltwater clown tank. Initially Im going FO and will add LR later on. Im raising the SG slowly (its at 1.016 right now) and will be at optimum levels in a few weeks. I plan on keeping my filter and not adding a protein skimmer (its only a 20g tank). I also plan on keeping my gravel substrate and not replacing it with sand. The only thing I do plan on adding a maxijet or 2. I do know it's going to cost a little more in salt, but it's already pretty bad right now. So why not?

I plan on getting 2 clownfish(1 M&F) and maybe later a Blue Damsel and a goby or blenny or two.

Any advice from someone who has gone down this road before?

Thanks

Edit: I'd also like to add that all my ph, gh and kh levels have been consistantly high for a while now. But for puffers these parameters are OK. Will these same parameters be OK for Clownfish?