65 Gallon Tank Converting my 65g from freshwater to saltwater

Hello everyone!
This past week I made the decision to switch my 65 gallon tank to saltwater after receiving a pair of clowns as a gift in an 8 gallon tank. I was wondering what kind of supplies I would need to do this right and keep everyone happy and healthy. I definitely plan on moving the clowns over to the 65 when it is fully cycled and I plan on having corals. I currently have an eheim classic 250 and a fluval 110 HOB. I also have a 150w eheim heater. I know my light is not strong enough for corals and I definitely don't have enough flow for corals. If yall could give me some recommendations on fish, corals and other supplies that would be great!
Thanks for the help!

 

First canister filters are terrible for saltwater and lead to nitrate problems.
You’ll need
proper light
Sump
Return pump
Protein skimmer
Over flow box
Salt
Test kits ph, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, calcium, alk, magnesium, phosphates
Minerals alk, calcium, magnesium
Salt water based substrate
Live rock
RODI filter
Refractometer
Powerheads

Gobies, clowns, and wrasses are generally good fish for that size tank.

 

Keeping a reef tank is one of the most rewarding experiences out there and I know you will enjoy it. You mentioned about about flow for corals, but saltwater fish actually prefer a much higher flow than freshwater fish do as well, so it is important for them. A lot of people will likely recommend an MP40 for the power head, however they are extremely pricey. Two Hydor Koralia, one 565 and a 240/425, would be sufficient with the return flow on opposite side of each other. This also makes sure the entire aquarium is moving water so that the heated water is evenly displaced.

A sand substrate, with some crushed shells, would be a good start. I recommend using live sand for this, which all marine LFS will have. For rocks, you have two choices, live or dry. There are benefits for all. Live rock will come with good bacteria and cycles the tank faster, but also a lot of hitchhiking algae. Dry rock avoids all that. This rock will become live with time as you add fish and corals. Its really just a personal preference.

The API master test kit is really all you need, as long as you do regular water changes just like with fresh. If you see fish starting to act weird, you may want a magnesium or calcium test, but it is cheaper to have your LFS test these for you once a month.

A refugium would be great for this size tank and only requires basic lighting. This can be a compartment you add to your sump to but red algae in and a piece of live rock.

With livestock you have a lot of great options. You might be tempted to get a yellow tang with that tank, but I would recommend against it. Instead, I would add a flame or coral beauty angelfish. Keep them well feed and you should not have to worry about them picking at coral polyps. You might also want to look at flasher wrasse. Sleeper gobies would look very nice in that tank as well, as they would be a nice lower water column fish and still provide nice movement to watch. A flame hawkfish would be one nice last addition and are generally thought of as being reef safe. Just make sure you get larger specimens of shrimp in this tank first!

 

Personally I am not a fan of the API kit for marine tests (not a big fan for freshwater either). Among the issues I found when comparing it with my Red Sea test kit were false positives for Ammonia (it's not uncommon for them to show .25 when there isn't any ammonia), Nitrate color test chart where it's hard to tell the difference between 10-20, 40-80 (generally 10 is fine and 20 is about due for a water change). I also found that the caps on the test vials to be very prone to leaking and the vials are a pain to clean out well (ie wipe down). Personally I would invest in Red Sea or Salifert for the long haul. Not saying you can't use API, just saying it's more trouble prone.

As for the tank, honestly I would actually recommend going and buying a used Reef Ready setup (ie drilled for sump with a sump attached). It will save you a fair bit of money and hassle and the 65 gallon isn't the best footprint for a marine tank since it is on the tall side. Taller marine tanks can be problematic for getting good flow, getting good light penetration for corals and in general for maintenance. Once coralline algae starts really coming in as the tank matures it's going to be a pain to scrape it on a tank of that height (I say this as somone with a 90 gallon that's 2 feet tall). I would honestly go for a standard 75 gallon as it's a better footprint and will give you more stocking options. It will also be much easier to find a reef ready setup in that size.

 

8+ years ago we bought a used 65 gallon Saltwater tank that wasn't drilled. It came with two canister filters we used awhile, but we finally had to switch to a CPR overflow box and sump. We have found that the dimensions of this tank are very conducive to good flow.

It was our first large Saltwater tank so the corals in it are the classic beginner corals of green finger leather, two types of toadstool leathers, red polyps that came with the tank, green star polyps, sansibia sp, devils armor palys, and frogspawn.