Want to change freshwater to saltwater

M

MLord

Hey I have a 45 gallon aquarium that is freshwater and i've been wanting to change it to saltwater. I was wondering how much money i would have to spend on lighting and equiptment. I want the tank to have lots of corals and anemone's just to let yall know. If anyone has the items I need to do this I would love to buy some from you. Just let me know. thanks,
Mike
michaellord2004@yahoo.com
 
Try these two brief articles:

http://www.melevsreef.com/overview.htm
http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html
 
That really depends on what you put in it, and the equipment you use. Corals and fish are both expensive, but the rarer or harder to keep are always MORE so!
 
Well, im actually just wondering how much it would cost for everything (lights, salt, etc) that I need to buy before I get any fish. I really want to make it a reef aquarium so i'm sure the lights are expensive but I just want to know how much everything is before I start.
 
One really really important thing is:

Have you ever treated your fish for illness in the freshwater tank? Especially ich? If so, you will only be able to have a fish only saltwater tank.
 
no i havent had any problems but just outta curiosity why would i have to make it fish only if there was a problem?
 
What she or he, (not sure whether it was Catherine or Donovan that made the comment), was referring to was that if you had treated the tank in the past for certain diseases with some medications, such as copper. The copper can still be present in the system attached to the materials, not just in the water. And can leach back into the water, which in this case(copper) would be deadly to invertebrae and not to fish.
 
It was Catherine this time, I'll make a point to have us point out which of us is making the comments :p

I sent a nice long PM explaining the copper thing. My husband even had a snail-killing experiment on a previously ich treated tank that was cleaned out in the "Snail problem" thread.
-Cat
 
I'll see if I can help get the list of what you'll need started for ya'.

You'll need a good protein skimmer. For a tank that size, an AquaC Remora or Remora Pro would be perfect. You can get a used on Ebay or RC for $100-$150

Lighting - Your 45 shouldn't be all that deep, so you may be able to use T5's instead of spending more on Metal Halides. Your SPS options might be more limited with T5's but more and more people are claiming great success with T5 only tanks. Figure $500 - $1000 depending on what you get.

Water circulation - Closed loop or powerheads, figure $100 - $200 depending on what you do.

If you go with a sump and/or refugium, you'll need a good pump for it. Shell out another $50. If you go the build your own route, the acrylic you'll need isn't that expensive.

Heaters - you may be able to reuse depending on what you have.. if not, they're cheap.

Chiller - Whether you need one or not will depend greatly on your lighting. I personally dont have one on my 90G b/c I dont need it (Water stays at 81 24x7 this time of year). I know people with similar setups that needed a chiller though. (I extended my canopy by several inches to move the lights farther away. I also have several fans blowing across the water at strategic spots in the tank.)
 
Non equipment items:

Salt - get in on a group buy. You'll pay about 1/2 as much for a 200G bucket. Figure that you'll burn up close to a bucket during initial setup and cycling.

Sand - Optional. Find someone with southdown available. (There are several people on this board....) I personally consider sand a must have. (But then I like watching hermit crabs wander around on it.)

LR - Best bet is to keep an eye on the for sale forum. You'll probably want 75+ pounds in a 45G tank. That'll be a few hundred bucks.

Initial clean up crew - Buy a package online... Figure under $200
 
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