freshwater to saltwater

[shep77]

I need you guys to settle a bet I am having with some fish raising buddies. I currently have freshwater and want to change over. The tank is a 75 gallon. They are saying hat I should just be able to add the salt until I get to an accurate reading. Add a shimp, cycle it and then after the cycle gets finished, start the slow journey. What do you all think. I could not find the other posts related to this specific question so I apologize for any repeated info.

 

[shoogieboo]

try to get some live rock to put in there as well and check and make sure you have enough water flow and a good filtration you will also need a skimmer later on....but you should be able to do it fine...good luck

 

[ophiura]

Not entirely sure I understand what is going on...excuse me if this is stupid. If it is just an empty previously used freshwater tank, then it is fine...but do you mean having a freshwater tank - remove fish- add salt mix to existing water and then go?
If this is the case, I would say start with new water (preferably RO water), don't want the substrate from freshwater either, and potentially need to review the filtration.
Sorry if that was a silly interpretation.... :notsure:

 

[loopy]

Ophiura, I took it that way too, leaving the water and subtrate and just adding salt. don't want those pebbles in the bottom of a sw tank for one thing. Can't just add salt and go from there, I know that much and that's about all I know......just a novice here. Wondering what end of the bet your on and what you bet!

 

[shoogieboo]

i would think you would definetly want to change out your substrate and water.....not sure what else is involved your best bet is to empty the thing and start from scratch

 

[shep77]

No NO NO, you read it right :joy:
Right now it is an existing FW tank and was black moon sand. I had planned on pulling that and going with LS to get that deep bed. I knew about the skimmer and filters, etc. but it was just the adding the salt that we were arguing about. Of course, I can not tell you which side of the bet I was on...

FROM SCRATCH IT IS!!!

 

[snipe]

I would take the tank empty the water and pour it down the drain. Then take everything all deco and substrate out of the tank and place it in a tote and place it in your closet. Take all the equipment and do the same. If you want to reuse the equipment then get some white viniger and wash it out very good with a tooth brush. Now take the tank outside with a towl and white viniger whipe it down cover everything then wash out with the hose and whipe dry. Take it back in the house place on stand put the stuff back on the tank. Dont place water in it yet. Go to store what ever you want that sells salt equipment buy some salt there are many diffrent ppl that buy many diffrent types of salt I buy instant ocean for the availability and the volume and price, get a refractometer while your there. Go home fill the tank with RO or Distilled water place the salt in the tank using the directions on the container try and get your salt around 1.026. Get your temp up to around 80 then Buy live sand search google for a "sand depth calculator" and figure for a 4" sand bed for a reef and a 2" sand bed for fish only then go and buy the sand. Dump the sand it it will be cloudy but thats alright let it settle. Then order your live rock "as mutch as you can afford". If you can afford alot of rock say for a 55 around 100lbs that would be enough to cycle the tank I would still add a shrimp or two to cycle the tank. If you can only afford alittle live rock place the shrimp in there still I used 4 in a 55 probly would only need 2 or 3.
That is the beginning.
Now the buying list. You already have (salt, heater, make sure to have extra RO or Distilled water, Rock and Sand. Now you need a Filter, powerheads "1 to 6 depending on the size of tank" a skimmer and a really good test kit.)
Now your tank is cycling test your water every other day! Your amonia will rise "let it rise as high as your test reads" then take the shrimp out. Your amonia will fall and your nitrites will rise and fall the last is the nitrate they will rise and fall. If they fall and are above 20ppm then you will need to do a 20% water change if they are below then your good. Wait a few more days to a week and then buy a cleanup crew.

 

[ophiura]

There is no benefit, IMO, in leaving the freshwater in and adding salt, except in taking water that in all likelihood already has a relatively high nitrate level and transferring that problem to the new tank from the start. With an extra hour of so of work just siphoning the water out and adding new water...it just isn't worth the time savings.
If you set this tank up yesterday as freshwater, and decided today that you wanted it salt, that would be different. But if it has been a freshwater tank for any period of time...then I would empty it and start over.
Could you do it? Yes. Absolutely.
Any negatives? Yes, transfer of potentially poor water quality to a new system where it will simply add to algae problems and need to be addressed anyway. Not that you won't develop a nitrate issue down the road, but why start out with one?
Is there any benefit greater than the negatives? IMO, nope

 

[sw65galma]

Originally posted by shep77
I need you guys to settle a bet I am having with some fish raising buddies. I currently have freshwater and want to change over. The tank is a 75 gallon. They are saying hat I should just be able to add the salt until I get to an accurate reading. Add a shimp, cycle it and then after the cycle gets finished, start the slow journey. What do you all think. I could not find the other posts related to this specific question so I apologize for any repeated info.

 

[shep77]

140lbs!?!?!?
I did the sand depth calculator and for a regular 75 gallon tank, 48" long by 18" wide and a bed of 4" it says I would need 140 lbs of live sand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:nervous: :nervous: :nervous:

 

[snipe]

For my 55 I need 90lbs.

 

[shep77]

Dear lord. I guess I am just surprised that it would cost this much. I guess I will be looking at base sand from a hardware store and seed it with live sand...

 

[snipe]

If you can find it you could do it that way but yardright sand is hard to find even for some of the ppl on the east coast. It would probly be best to go the pet store and buy live sand or buy base sand in the end your still gonna have alot of money in it.

 

[mystangt]

It seems that your are finding out first hand how expensive the salt water hobby really can be.

 

[shep77]

Of all of the things I had planned on buying mystangt, this was not one. :joy: I had gone through and planned out everything else, just must have skipped over this one.

 

[mystangt]

Believe me, I understand. I went through the same thing. But it was worth it in the end. Good luck.

 

[snipe]

Well if you want to pay shipping I know a guy who has 200lbs of premiume live sand "he ist taking his tank down" and he is wanting to sell it for $150. But shipping would be up there but it would still be cheaper.

 

[ophiura]

YOu are not required to do a deep sand bed - for example you could easily do a BBT (bare bottom tank), or less sand in the main tank with a deep sand bed refugium in the sump. Definitely are ways around this...

 

[shep77]

I thought about thboth of those options. I think I am going to seed a sand bed since I am starting from scratch. This way I can deal with any cycling issues without any fish loss. Everyone stresses patience and I might as well start out slowly.

 

[snipe]

Seeding a sand bed is a good way to go and can save you some money. I did it and alot of ppl do it. ophiura did state some good alternatives but there kinda pricy lol im not the pricy kinda person lol.