my spare 60gallon tank i have been talking about, i have not done anything with.
Its cycled and everying so iif anyone also keeps salwater tanks i would like your knowledge as i have no expierence at all.

what would be the easiest way to convert the tank,(im planning to have a coulpe clownfish and live rock).

any other info i should know is good and
i know some may not like me posting about sw tanks but i know this website is reliable so thanks to any responces

well i dont really know anything about sw tanks but if you want to get specific would u want to do a marine tank or just a saltwater (that is all i know about sw tanks lol) just tryn t help.

i was wanting to go with live rock and 2 clownfish for the time being,

my filtratin is a 750l/h canister filter and a 1100 l/h water pump, (Internal filter)

all i wanted to find was the easiest way to convert the tank.

i'm currently converting my FW tankto brackish,for i have bought 2 GreenSpotted Puffers.


I been trying to get some correct info on a dutch puffer site, but the thread is becoming the longest in the whole forum and i got none the wiser.

I got some excellent info from a guy called Win, a former member of OFL,on converting tanks and i'll find and copy it for you.
I'll PM the post to you, if you are thinking of converting the filters, instead of going SW all at once. Let me know please...

All i can tell you there's a big difference in converting a tank to brackish, which will have a Sg (salinitylevel) of 1.010 -1.021, or any higher Sg, which will be ture salt water.
Fresh water is 1.000Sg
You FW filters will need to be converted very slowly, with one senseo cup of marinesalt at a time, every 2 weeks, for the change of bacteria could lead to a massive nitrate spike.
Sg should not be raised with more than 1.002 every 2 weeks.
And to be honest, my fish should be dead allready, for nitrites peaked into lethal levels, but fish still are doing very fine and growing like crazy...
The whole cycling proces will take at least 8 weeks.

But the fish you mentioned are full salt water, so in my opinion it's best to get live rock and a proteinskimmer, cycle the tank beforehand, and when levels are correct, put the fish in.
Just like with new oscar tanks, only do you test Sg, next to Ph, Ammonia,Nitrites and nitrates.

Remember keeping SW fish is an expensive hobby, if you want corals and anemones in there, for you need massive lights for those.

And do not underetimate the amount of salt you will need.
SW consists of at least 30% salt.That's a kilo of salt to every 3 liters of water!!!

But using a proteinskimmer and liverock will make sure you only have to do 5-10% wc every week, in contrary to brackish, which will need the usual 50% wc a week.
And you need a Sg tester for sure.

Please state any other questions, and i'll happily answer them for you.

thanks noddy for your replie, i went to the lfs today who are the sw specialists and it seems like they want me to spend over $300 au.

I went to the friendly pet shop were i normaly go and he had a beautiful little JD.
So i bought him.
so saltwater will not be the case this time, but one day it will

btw nitrit 0,
nitrate 10
ammonia 0
ph 7.4

with this tank size and water readings hopufully he will manage well

albinotiger wrote:


He'll do perfect, those readings are better than mine!

You are doing the right thing, not jumping in the saltwaterboat for just now.
It's kind of a different ballgame.
Plan ahead , get all info you can get and keep in mind you need the money to keep it going.Plus buying secondhand complete setup without intervention of an LFS might help a lot in making it cheaper for you.
I've seen friends quit SW because of the massive energybill and still not getting the tank right.

But one day you'll have the bucks, time and place and you will have your SW tank.
If you long for that, in time you'll get that itch.
I'm not upto SW either, but am forced into brackish by my puffers.
But mainly that's to learn about the process, until i finally go SW.
But that may take me some years too.
I'd love to own a cuttlefish one day...

Matt E. fish lover wrote:




It was my understanding that the term 'marine' pretty much incorporates everything saltwater, and its kinda subdivided into different areas i.e. fish, fish with live rock and plants, and primarily reef aquariums specializing in corals and invertebrates.


Anyways, I thought about trying a small self contained saltwater tank, although I'm not sure I want to branch out with all that just yet.

albinotiger wrote:


I guess his problem is solved for now.
Á good planted, live rock tank will cost you more energy than that of Homegrowing facility.
Allthough that can be nice too...

albinotiger wrote:


Just don't turn into one of those 'saltwater snobs' who refers to his FW tank as his 'sh*t tank,' like I've seen alot.

i would never say a oscar tank is sh!t

Sorry to say, but most SW fish seem to be a little over the top, like women with to much make up and an overly expensive dress...
Not my thing...
Personaly i prefer soft colours in my tank.

Well, to me it seems like there is sometimes a tad more 'variation/freedom' in designing the decor in FW. Saltwater tanks are beautiful, of course, but to me a reef aquarium with clown fish and anemones looks like, well, another reef aquarium with clown fish and sea anemones. I often get the feeling that its more about the coral/reef/decor, and the fish are just window dressing, but maybe that's just me.

I guess it seems as if the prevailing attitude is often that freshwater keepers do freshwater because they 'can't do' or aren't 'ready' for SW yet, and when they are they will surely 'upgrade'to SW. It seems beyond the realm of possibility that someone might actually prefer freshwater setups. Of course not everyone thinks like that but you have elitists in every hobby area, I suppose. Probably the reason why there are so many 'How big is that tank?' comments on oscar vids on youtube...people are just DYING to demonstrate THEY know better than someone else.

The other day one of my friends was over and I was showing her my oscar, and she gave me the 'why are you showing off so much...it's just freshwater.' :angry: Little did she realize that that would lead to a 3 1/2 hour lecture on the ins and outs of every little thing involved in keeping an oscar tank. Kinda irritating actually, because I only ever get that kind of comment or on the flip side I get my buddy always coming over with some new gigantic unidentified insect or invertebrate---wanting to put it in the tank so he can watch it get eaten. I never let 'em though.