fresh to salt

i'm converting my 55 gallon fw tank to sw this weekend i was wondering if there is anything specific i need to do to the tank before dumping sw in....in fact i was hoping somebody would say i could just take all my fake stuff out, add salt, then live sand and rock, will that work???? if not do i need to empty my tank and let it sit for any period of time before filling with sw, sand, and rock....oh yeah how long does first cycle usually take (i'll have cup of sand and crushed coral from an friends established aquarium)

 

I would clean it out as good as possible....

I know it seems like a pain, but a little extra effort now could help eliminate wier problems that could creep up on you.

Also make sure copper has never been in the tank. If it has then it's that much more important to take everything out and clean in a strong vinegar and water mix. 5:1 ratio or so (water to vinegar)

Clean any filters and such that your reusing especially well.

Have fun it's an awsome hobby.

TJ

 

welcome to 3reef. if any meds used in the tank, they will have to scrubbed clean. and if thats all good , then you can start adding. cycle usually takes 6 weeks for everything to start "working' in your tank. and youve thought about the equipment needed? filters, lights for the type of tank you want , be it reef or fish only with lr. powerheads for water movement. and other odds and ends, test kits, hydrometer , ro\di water purifier. and im sure im forgetting some things. but good lukc. good place to learn here.

 

i'm changing everything but the heater, but thanks for the heads up. actually the only other guy in my town who keeps fish has got me hooked on sw(i had fw for 6yrs, and saw his established sw tank, i'm switchin) anyway i posted somethin else but are t5 lights required for just the live sand and rock or can i wait and purchase them when i'm ready for coral..... and i've always taken care of fw without chemicals, lots of ppl on here have asked that....fw is no challenge who needs chemicals???

 

they've prettymuch summed it all up, welcome to the would of salt, once you go marine, you don't go back.

 

divott answered my lighting question in other post....so hows bout powerheads, i noticed my friend doen't have any in his tank but have already scoped some out when should i add them? at tank setup, after cycle, or just wait til i start addin coral

 

at setup, get the water circulating. alot of people use the koralias here.

 

2 koralia #2 would be great for a 55 I went way over and got 1 #3 and 1 #4 that was way to much flow for the tank...
Danny

 

Get a good protein skimmer to start, don't go cheap on that since you have corals in your vision. On the topic of corals, depending on how deep your tank is, T5 may not be enough (for SPS anyway). If you want SPS and have a depper tank, you will want MH lighting for them to thrive.
I would recommend plumbing in a refugium at the get go, it's much harder to do after you have your tank filled. After you clean the tank out, put about 1/4" of sand in your tank. Then put your LR on top of that. Then fill up the rest of the sand that you want. Having the rock on the bottom will prevent the sand digging creatures from making your rocks collapse. Then fill up the tank with your SW. Add in your circulation pumps and skimmer. Don't worry about lighting at this point, your tank, rock and sand will be cycling and won't be needed at this point. For 55G, it will take you about 4-8 weeks to fully cycle.
My personal suggestions (take them with a grain of salt):
1. Invest in an RO/DI system so you have your top off water and source mix water taken care of.
2. Go with a good skimmer that is rated at least one size up from your tank, I would get one rated for 120G or more.
3. Go with an aragonite sand and stay away from crushed coral as your sandbed. I would go with about 80lbs which will give you about 2".
4. Use about 80-100lbs of rock in your system, base or live, whatever you want, just use some live to seed your base rock.
5. Figure out what you want for in tank circulation pumps. I would go with either Koralia 2 or Vortechs, depending on your budget.
That covers the basics you should start with anyway. I hope this helps.

 

Cycle time is going to vary based on several things, probably most significantly is your definition of "cycle".

Clean cured live rock will have minimal die off compared to uncured resulting in a much lower ammonia/nitrite/nitrate spike.

Lighting will influence algae growth and pH. I left my lights off for the first week except to occasionally see what I was doing in the tank. At 10 days now I have seen a small spike in A/N/N, and virtually no micro algae growth.

The use of various supplements (I used Stability) can add a fair amount of starter colony bacteria to the water, which they claim shortens the cycle period. I can't tell at 10 days if that's true.

Another consideration is your sand bed. I've been told that a deep sand bed takes much longer to properly colonize the anoxic zone, ersulting in a long cycle.


If your question is "when can I add fish?" I would say test the water daily, and after your ammonia/nitrates/nitrite spike give it a few more days until all water test reading show as undetectable.

The add a "cleaner crew" of hermits, snails, maybe a small starfish, and let them operate for a while.... 3-10 days.

After that don't spend $100 on a fish, get a $5 damsel. (I got 3 green chromis)

If it's all good a week later then whatever else takes place to clean/cycle the tank should happen on a smaller scale unless an inhabitant dies and you dont get it out.

Anyways, thats' mt FW -> SW in 2 weeks take on things.

Welcome to a whole new world of aquarium keeping!

-Doug