Diggly

Right I am turning my 20g freshwater into a SW reef.

The tank I have has a strong built in light but I will add more if necesary.

What I need to know is what equipment I need to turn it into a saltwater tank and if I will lose the bacteria I have built up from the FW fish. Especially when moving the gravel over as I know alot of bacteria lives in the gravel and plants but I dot think fw plants can move over to sw?

I know I need a protein skimmer, calcium supplements, live rock, marine salt, salinity tester.

I already have a filter and heater (and tank ofc )

Shawnie

if you are going from fw to sw, you have to recycle the tank ..is that what your asking?

Diggly

Yes, I am moving gravel into another tank my bf is buying me to help cycle it faster but I was guessing sw uses different bacteria to fw and I know LR is more beneficial to sw setups than gravel.

Shawnie

im no sw member, but I do know you cant use the bacteria from fw to cycle the tank...and I dont know if ive ever seen gravel on the bottom of a salty tank either...hope a sw member helps out

locoyo386

Hi there, the 20 gallon is a good size tank to start with. The bacteria is different for freshwater than it is for saltwater. I would recomend you clean the tank very good before you set it up for saltwater. I would recomend cleaning it with vinegar to get the calcium build-up off or if you want to go further bleach it (I only do this when I know a tank has had a parasite or other type of deciease). The gravel from fresh water might not buffer the saltwater well, thus I might not recomend it. If you do decide to use it, check your pH and make sure it is above 7.8. If you can't get that, than you might want to switch to sand or argonite (personally I use sand, argonite, crush coral and play sand from Home Depot[which it's still in the experimental stage]). I will soon try regular gravel, not the kind that is colored but the natural one and see how it does. You will need live rock or base rock to help with filtration aswell.

As far as equipment I do not know much of what is required for keeping corals as I only keep fish. I do however know that people use a skimmer and they use stronger lights between 200W-400W. Personally I dont have any of that. If you decide to go with fish only i would recomend a hang on the back filter regular lighting and heater. Possibly a powerhead (depending wether you get cyano bactria or not) might be needed.

Diggly

Right well when I get my new tank I may aswell just use that rather than changing fish over!

I am planning on getting about 24 pounds worth of live rock, I know its 1 pound per gallon but I have also read to get a little more if you are a beginner. Is the best thing to do to buy corals once te tank has settled and cycled or wait and see what, if any hitchikers are on the live rock?

ATP

Only buy corals when your tank is cycled. Especially SPS. You'll need actinic and daylight lamps for LPS, softies and halides for SPS (most sps requires halides)

You should have a skimmer if you want corals and 1 or two power heads (depending on strength)

To prevent hitch hitchikers, look for live rock on craigslist or aquarium groups in your area. Or if you buy them from the store, cure it.