Old freshwater to saltwater?

[oneball]

My dad just bought a geocube tank and it's looking fantastic, with little things coming out of the live rock he got and something new everyday he says, exactly what I wanted for my sons room. He has a freshwater aquarium in there now, but it's kind of boring, same old fish and not much else going on, which was why I wasn't upset when the live plants I planted in there came with snails lol.

I was wondering though, what the cost would be to turn a 20g freshwater to a small saltwater tank? Mostly just coral, maybe one or two fish, but the biggest thing I wanted was the little live stuff for his tank, the new stuff in the sand and whatnot. This possible for less than the cost of just a new cube and starting from scratch?

 

[Henry405]

you'll need:

20lbs of sand
20lbs of LR
test kit
most likely new lights
water supply thats not tap (either premix from LFS or your own)
most likely protein skimmer. I only have FOWLR so I'm not sure for corals
powerhead

I prob missed a few things but others will chime in

 

[oneball]

now the sand, does it have to be some kind of live sand or can it be the same pool filter sand substrate i use in my chiclid tanks?


thank you so much!

 

[atte]

I'd suggest getting a new bag of aragonite sand, which will be much better for the aquarium. Stay away from the "live sand" and get the regular dry variety.

Also, with a 20 gal you can get away with not using a protein skimmer if you're looking to save on cost at first. As long as you use RO/DI clean water and keep up with your water changes you will be fine.

 

[Gti_Leo]

the pool filter sand should be fine, just be sure to rinse it off well before you reuse it

 

[Henry405]

When you're ready to start come back and we can get into more details about starting the SW tank. good luck