Hi there,
I have a 16 gallon bowfront which is currently dormant. I have 3 FW tanks but I am very interested in starting a saltwater in the 16. Is this possible and what would I need? Thanks for all your help!

Have you used the aquarium already for freshwater applications? If so you may have copper adhered to organic material on the glass and silicon. This will produce horrendous problems for marine invertebrates. If its never had copper added to it, you'll be alright with a good cleaning. You will need the following:

Protein skimmer
Preferably a sump filter, canisters tend to trap wastes and get dubbed "Phosphate traps" in marine applications.
RO/DI water source (especially if you intend to keep corals)
Lighting (many options, depends on your needs and budget)
Propeller Powerheads for flow
Live Rock
Substrate (if you want it.)
Salt Mix
Clean up Crew (Snails, Crabs etc... Algae and diatoms will find their way to show up without them.)

Some people enlist in refugium units. Basically its a mini tank plumbed into your main tank that holds and grows macro algaes for nutrient export. Apparently the algaes consume the wastes that cause problems. Ive tried this out myself, though the amount of success was very negligible, no real drop in phosphates occured, so I think most of the refugium garble is hogwarshe! Although, it has not worked for me, with my setup, I'm sure the principles are sound, and bear true results in the proper setups.. Just not mine..

16 gl is very small to "start" with for a salt tank. Ever done one before?

opps just realized we were in the "nano" section,. but still, if it's your first be careful with something that small.

**edit - also I have had tremendous success with refugiums,. does take some time though.

slurik pretty much put it simple. I don't think you need a protein skimmer on a 16 gallon though, but it could be benificial. It just seems like kind of a waste of money on a small tank. Keeping up on water changes will do the same thing. Also, sumps are a great option, because you don't have to worry about putting filters or whatever on the main tank...plus it makes the tank look more natural. Plus it adds more total water volume, and more water=more stable tank.

All thems fellers are correct. But, you can start with a small 16 gallon. I started with a 20 gallon and its running quite well so far. I've only had one indident that some things were having probs but they're all fine now.
You'll be checking your water parameters often to make sure nothing drops too low and nothing bad gets too high.
Refugiums work quite well if set up properly and given time to establish. Also, the type of macro algae will provide benefits more so than others. One example is Chaetomorpha. If this plant dies, it will not release toxins into your tank. As good as refugiums are, they only HELP your tank, not take over YOUR responsibilites as tank keeper. You can have a refugium twice as large as your tank and you'll still be doing water changes and upkeep.
On another note, here's the list of stuff I purchased for my tank so you can have an example of what I've done so far. By no means you need to follow it by heart.
-28 lbs of live rock (mostly cured so i only had a "cycle" for 1.5 weeks, less cured live rock will increase this cycle to up to a month or two)
-25 lbs of live sand (i bought oceanic sand instead of play sand, since its made of crushed shells and what not, it helps buffer your tanks ph/kh)
-two power heads, 1-550gph, 1-425gph. these are required to keep water movement throughout your tank so your live rock can properly filter and it keeps your corals flowing with nutrients. You'll need to get slightly smaller ones for your slightly smaller tank but i suggest 2 powerheads at least.
-a clear HOB that i turned into a refugium (quite small yes), filled with chaeto and live rock to help filtering. If you use a floss filter in this system, be sure to clean it every day. You'll have to set up a light over the refugium for the chaeto.
-I've also purchased a 4 watt UV lamp to use on the side to help (to a small effect) the parasites in that could be in the tank. I use it on the HOB (since its clear). I havent seen any real effects but who's to say i wouldnt see real effects without it?
-Heaters are always necessary depending on your house climates.
-I've made my own 72 watt LED system for lighting. It works very well and i've seen some growth since i've changed from my t5 and CFL. If you plan on keeping coral, you'll need around 3 watts per gallon of flourescent lighting and 1-2 watt per gallon of LED lighting. That said, i have actually needed to dial down my LED lighting from 72 watts to around 50 watts because it was too bright!
-you may want to purchase some aquarium safe epoxy depending on how you set up your live rock. I have made a wall in the middle of the tank (space behind, space in front) and have had to epoxy the rocks together so i dont risk them falling over. It also helps to provide a way to attach corals to your live rock.
-Check around at your LFSs and see if they have premixed saltwater. This makes it super easy to do water changes and they can check the salinity right there.. That said, get a refractometer or a hydrometer to keep tabs on your tank salinity. But, be sure to keep extra salt and RO water available if you need to do a quick change or increase/decrease your salinity.

Now, you'll have to check your parameters often. These parameters include: salinity, Ph, calcium, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, phosphates, KH, and GH. I may be forgetting something so double check.
If you get coral, you'll need some coral supplements and food (as well as for your fish) so be sure to always ask what it needs to survive when you buy a coral. Some corals will battle with other corals if they're too close, so be sure to check if they need extra space or not.

Lastly, You'll need a cleaning crew. This is basically the crew that cleans algae, excess food, and organic waste. These guys are your snails (you pickem chief) and hermit crabs. Some hermits will kill your snails or other hermits, so be sure to check their aggressiveness online.

Hope all this helps!

Here is my 16G bowfront:


The photo was when it was new, I had a Via Aqua 18G tank crack so had to transfer everything to the 16 in a hurry.
In the photo it has a Coralife 96w powerquad PC light fixture, a converted AC500 refugium, a heater, a Koralia K1 and a Rio powerheads and about 20 lbs of live rock with many soft corals and a 20 year old Sebae Anemone with 7 year old clown hosting it.

I recently converted the light to two Panorama LED strips and tossed the powerhead in favor of a new Koralia Nano 425. Its doing great!

I disagree with what you sayin regards to supplements, and that you will need them. The mineral content your corals are after, is in your synthetic salt mix. Regular water changes should put you into a position where you should not need to supplement, with the proper amount of water changes (especially without running a skimmer). However, as your tank establishes you will grow coraline algae, you will collect more species of corals, and they will all tax your water for the minerals. Once you find that coraline has stopped spreading, or that your tests are indicating your water is out of ideal parameters, and water changes alone are not enough to maintain a proper balance, then and ONLY then should you supplement.

To be blunt, if you cant measure for it, don't put it in unless its absolutely needed. Many reef keepers share this opinion in regards to supplements. I saw a wonderful forum signature from reefcentral: "I don't take care of livestock, I take care of water.".

EDIT: I ran my refugium for 8 months with chaeto.

Wow! You guys are really chock full of information! One question! This tank was used for FW. Is there a way to clean it so I can use it? Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!

If your tank was used for freshwater, there is nothing to say that its not already alright for use. The issue is that many, if not most freshwater parasite remedies enlist the use of copper (II) for its capacity to bind to organic materials. In parasites this causes heavy metal toxicity, as it does also with marine invertebrates.

The copper will adhere to anything it can, which means that it will stick to organisms on your glass, organisms on your silicon, and so on. But more importantly, it stays there after these organisms die. Consider looking at a nice smooth piece of glass under a microscope... Suddenly its far less smooth, and has many cavities where this can happen.

For the sake of argument, yes, you can remove this. However you will need an agent which will Chelate the copper out of the tank, which will make it ready for marine use, however it will be very hard work, it will be expensive, and depending on what method you choose, potentially very dangerous.

I myself have recently been exploring moving a system from fresh to saltwater. I doubt I will do this after my research, however it may be easier for you if you, or somebody you know has access to a university chem laboratory.

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid salts (Disodium / Tetrasodium EDTA) would be your ideal substance, however this is pretty expensive, as if you purchase it from a medical chemical supply company, you will be facing about $115 for a half kilo, and its the smallest portion they sell. You can get it on ebay for sissy change ($20/lb +$30 shipping), however i expect this was made by a chemist at home, for resale to make extra cash, and has not been produced with the quality and purity of those available from medical supply chains.

Ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA), is an alternative to EDTA, however more difficult to obtain as its used in endodontics.

The problem is that those, neither, are biodegradable. This means you will either have to dispose of it as a hazardous material, or basically dump it into the environment that you're trying to replicate in your aquarium.. which is something I couldnt imagine a hobbiest doing.

I'm sure there are other agents which can be useful, these are the ones which showed the most promise for the application. As you can see, you might just want to go drop 100 bucks into a new small aquarium and try to go from that. I hear EDDS Is biodegradable.. but I havent found any that i can purchase easily...

In a nut shell though, you should truly understand the chemical processes going on before you do this yourself. I'm pretty much sold on NOT doing this to my tank, and if anyone I knew would be comfortable trying this out, it would be me...

Ultimately if you've never had issues regarding parasites, and havent used copper treatments, theres no problem with the tank just getting a really nice rinse with RO Water. If you really arent sure, invest in marine salts, get your tank to the proper SG, and but ONE and i really really mean ONE snail. If the snail can survive, you can go from there. Remember these animals are for the vast majority wild captured, so experimenting with them is very bad practice, however it will give you the observation you need, and you can remove/return the snail before it suffers excessive stress from the copper if you pay close enough attention to it. Dont forget to cycle first!

I've heard a lot about copper leaching into the tank itself, but i've never heard how much copper is enough to kill an invert (i have heard that medicating your main tank will kill them within a few doses but how much is that dose and what was the water quantities in the tank?) and what quantities of copper could potentially be left on the tank itself. Has anyone ever experienced copper being a problem when they switched over or it is just a well drawn out precaution? I agree with slurik's statement about trying a snail out first but do wait until your cycling is over or you may no know what killed the snail, the cycle or the left over copper.

Having been used for freshwater is not an issue. Did you use any copper medications in the tank while it was in use? If so there is the slight possibility the copper may cause a problem but in a system that size its pretty insignificant. Copper and medications can get in to the silicone sealants. I never get too worried about it though as carbon and adsorbent filter pads will pull the copper out quickly. Glass is a slick, nonporous surface and copper or medications can be easily cleaned with bleach and vinegar solutions. Its not a big deal.

As far as supplements and additives, consider the all snake oil and forget they exist. You goal is stability and you get that with good RO/DI or distilled water and a good salt mix. One day, far down the road, if you have hard stony SPS and LPS corals you might and thats MIGHT need to supplement calcium, alkalinity and magnesium, thats it, no more and no less. Good test kits, used on a regular basis to establish a pattern or demand will tell you if you need supplementing. Never ever, I cannot stress enough, never ever add anything to you tank you do not first test for and second know for a fact is in demand and is necessary! If you can't test for every element in a supplement or additive then throw it away. Calcium, alkalinity and magnesium, thats it and way in the future once you are mature and have demands.

Its way too easy to get a system out of whack and a PITA to get it back in line, stability is your goal. Keep it simple.

Yes larger water volumes are prefferable in the beginning, its the old saying, "The solution to pollution is dilution". The larger the water volume the lower the impact when things go wrong. Keep it simple and don't put unneeded crap in your tank and its not a problem.

Great info people thanks alot!

This tank was only used for about a month and no treatments were ever done to it. It was my first tank and then I got the bug! It went into storage to make room for a much bigger one. So maybe it will be okay! Thank all of you so much!!!