Hello.

I currently want to use my 29 gallon tank to be turned into a Salt Water tank. Or if not, a Brackish tank would be nice. So i have Amazon Swords, Cabombas, and Corkscrew Vals and I don't know if they can stay in a salt water tank. I know that I have to remove my angelfishes and all of my other fishes in my freshwater tank, but I've been raising freshwater fishes for my entire life and I want to get some salt water fishes for once. I know that people say it's a lot harder to maintain than freshwater tanks because salt water you have to keep the pH constant and like protein skimmers or a lot of fertilizer for corals or anything like that. I know that they will probably cost me a lot of money but I really want to go for it.

Of course I would want to keep an Archer Fish, or some Clown Fishes of course and Blue Damsel fishes too I really love seeing Salt water fishes and finding out that freshwater fishes are actually descendants from Saltwater fishes but then evolution took it's place and formed freshwater fishes and that is how I found out that some freshwater fishes look a little like Salt water fishes. But I know that salt water fishes are absolutely beautiful and stunning to look at for sure!

So if anyone has any good information or any step by step stuff on planning and the pros and cons and freshwater vs. saltwater. Please help me

thank you all!

what u need to do is take EVERYTHING thats in the tank out of the tank and put it somewhere else. than u get salt mix, live rock, a protein skimmer, and aragonite sand. than let the tank cycle. if u want to keep corals u will need to upgrade the lighting and get an RO/DI unit. u will need test kits for alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium. u will also need a quarantine tank. first u need to put salt in the water, add the protein skimmer, add the live rock, and than the sand. i think phil_pl's 29gal was originally fresh and than he made it a full blown reef so u should talk to him.

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I'm so sorry I haven't been on the forum in so long! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten this lovely website! I moved to a different county back in May 2011 and started high school in a totally different school district. So I'm still adjusting and studying hard, and don't presently have any aquariums. But once I do, I'll be right back on this forum!

Thanks

So what type of salt do I use? Not the ones that I buy from the store do I? like the Grocery Store..

You need to use a salt mix designed for SW aquariums. Your plants I dont think will be able to survive in SW. You will need to use an argonite/Calcium based sand and rocks. Many opf the the rocks and substrate used in FW contian silcas, Iron and other minerals that are unacceptable for use in a SW tank. Additionally if copper based medications were used in the tank then the tank is unusable for SW unless the silicon is striped away and the tank is recalked with new silicon. Copper is extremely toxic to many SW critters even in trace amounts. A R/O unit is not required as you can usually buy RO water from your LFS. However in the case of your tank a R/O unit will quickly pay for itself. For test kits you will need a high range Ph, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrate and ALK test kit as a minimum. If you later decide to do LPS or SPS corals then a Calcium and possibly a couple of other test kits may be necessary. As mentioned previously a QT tank is most highly recommended. Many of the remidies used in FW are not usuable in SW, so prevenion is far easier than a cure. Get yourself burned once and I almost guarentee you will make a QT tank part of your SW set up!

SW tanks aint all that hard but they are very unforgiving if you make a mistake or do something foolish.

Wow now I'm getting scared that I shouldn't bother trying to setup a saltwater tank now. I don't know if I should just go back to sticking with freshwater fishes again. this is really stresful O_O there is so much planning that I have to do in order to have a successful marine aquarium O_O