freshwater to saltwater

[roman_back]

this is also posted in the beginner aquarium section as well, didnt know where to put it lol. hey all... i have been keeping central and south american cichlids for a long while now and i have come to the so called nutral point in my fishkeeping... i have a 140 gall and im overstocked and cannot do much more with the tank, the tank is kinda like on auto-pilot. im working on gettin a 280gal and transfering my cichlids to it and am gonna make the 140 salt water. what are some good suggestions on starting up a salt tank. also i am wanting an agressive salt tank i kinda want the " cichlids" of the saltwater. what kind of fish could i get that wouldnt outgrow the 140.. i was thinking along the lines of a trigger, black voltan lion and a puffer for the tank but i dunno.. any suggestions is welcome.. i kinda want alot of input or advice.. please help!!

[Kuli_Loach]

If you want an aggressive tank try and shoot for a FOWLR. That is Fish Only With Live Rock. The LR becomes your filter. All the fish you said should be fine in a 140g. What is going to get you is you will need AT LEAST 140 lbs of LR in that tank and the stuff is anywhere from 4-10$ a pound. Get your equipment and rock in there and then we can talk stocking. :c2: You will need a hydrometer or refractometer, salt, heater, protein skimmer, probably a sump, test kits, and depending on IF you will want corals eventually and skip some of the aggressive fish, a good light. There is other odds and ends you will need but that is just the basic equipment I can think of off the top of my head. This is going to be EXPENSIVE but don't let that bother you or change your mind, take is slow and don't spend all this money all at once.

[cocoa_pleco]

for stock, loosely i would go with something like a niger trigger, dogface puffer, snowflake eel, etc

[coachfraley]

A 140g will give you a ton of stocking options, and Kuli is right, if you want aggressive fish, you will want to go FOWLR for sure.

There a lot of cool, aggressive fish that people will not keep because they pick at, or eat corals.

Going FOWLR will also save you a ton of money.

[roman_back]

i was really wantin to have corals too, i am aware of the cost and i got the money thats not the problem. i have a few good friends down at the lfs and they have gave me the basic info, im just wanting a new challange. i also know like with the triggers i cant have like shrimp with them. i understand that stuff but i just didnt know if like say a snowflake eel, a lion and a trigger will live together, plus have coral and live rock in a 140gallon. the filter i was gonna use is called a rapid pro made by Tom it has a protien skimmer and all built into it.
here is a link let me know what you think. my lfs uses this on all thier big tanks and they seem to work really well. [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Kuli_Loach]

I wouldn't run a filter, I would run a good protein skimmer and if money is not objective, get a good sump/fuge going and you should have no troubles.

[coachfraley]

I wouldn't run a filter, I would run a good protein skimmer and if money is not objective, get a good sump/fuge going and you should have no troubles.

What Cocoa said

[Kuli_Loach]

What did cocoa say?

[coachfraley]

OOPS, I meant Kuli, lol

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Well, if you want corals then I would definitely recommend the Niger Trigger. The only other trigger than can possibly go in a reef tank is the Clown Trigger but they are risky as they can sometimes pick at some corals. Lions are completely reef safe from the standpoint of corals.

[unleashed]

with regards to stocking, you could have several options.

Pinktail and niger triggers are supposedly reef-safe (with corals only)

Also, fish such as groupers, lions, scorpions etc are also reef-safe (with corals only). have a look through diver's den on liveaquaria.com and you can occasionally find some pretty neat fish. They often have polleni groupers (amazing fish) on there and the good thing is that they stay relatively small.

You can also go for smaller or non-predatory FO type fish such as hawkfish, wrasses, butterflys, angels.

The options are pretty much limitless with FO or FOWLR tanks.

With regards to equipment. I would go for a big skimmer (due to the large amount of waste), blue/white light to emphasise colours, about 140-200 lbs of LR, powerheads (flow will depend on what species of fish you are after). Obviously heaters are a must. Also, a refractometer will be beneficial

[cocoa_pleco]

Yep, nigers are fine, mine hasnt touched any corals. also, IMO, run 2 skimmers

[unleashed]

why 2 skimmers?

It is best to just get one good quality one

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I believe the recommendation for 2 skimmers was based on the potentially high bioload but he didn't say not to buy a quality one. I think that if you are going to get that high of a bioload you could go either way. A pair of Octopus skimmers which are good quality or you could get a really high end large Euroreef, either way you will get the job done. The 2 skimmers would simply work twice as fast to remove the large amount of protein building up in the water from very messy fish. I've heard of a number of people who run 2 on their pred tank.

[Fish4Fun]

I will put some examples on the gallery , I also use Red Sea Coral boost for my SW, It mixes easily and the LR and Coral are thriving on it.

[roman_back]

Do u all know much about the filter that i suggested?? also i did a little looking around and im not to fond of the FOWLR tanks.. they just look plain. i do want a predatory tank but i dont want to sacrifice the "saltwater" look to a tank.. i would like to have the annenome's and trumpets...green frogspawn ect. but i want the agressive fish that goes with it. i am glad to know that i can have my niger trigger!! thats my fav salt fish i have seen so far.

[Fish4Fun]

If your after skimmers,the one in the photos in the gallery ( sorry couldnt load to this reply) moves about 4-6000 litres every hour. which is run trough a steriliser and chiller. Only new at the game but so far I have had a coral spawn, DR turn into LR and lots of growth everywhere. Good luck..

[cocoa_pleco]

you CAN go with 1 skimmer, but on larger tanks i usually go for 2 skimmers, like HOB's on a freshwater tank. definitely dont buy cheap ones though, theyre just noisy and you need to adjust them every 10 minutes

[oldhead]

If money is no problem then why not go the sump route for a tank that size? You have far more choice in skimmer and will eliminate the need for all these items hanging off the tank. There will be no need for multiple skimmers either. Not to mention a more stable set up. This is what I plan on doing once I have the resources to go with a larger tank. Just curious and adding my 2 cents. Have you devised any type of plans for set up yet?

[roman_back]

not really, like i said the 140 is now home to my cichlids, and i have a fluaval fx-5 on it. i havent got the 280 yet so im kinda just tryin to get my ducks in a row for when the time comes i know what i am gettin into and what are the main neccecities. i just know i want an agressive tank with corals and im gonna try to leave my tahitan moon sand in the tank and do a salt tank with black sand. so far thats all i got goin lol.