is it easy to switch from freshwater to saltwater

**cyane** · 12-13-2006, 04:25 AM

i've been wanting to do a saltwater tank for a long time now. and was wondering if it is easy to do so. my stepdad said they are a pain to deal with. i love saltwater fish, they are beautiful. if there is any way to do this tank switch, it would be my 55 gallon. if this can be done, how many saltwater fish can i put in there?? i like the little clownfish, and some of the angelfish too, the shrimp are kinda cool. the petstore near my house sells the clownfish, babbies at about 20.00 dollars.any replies would be good. and is it affordable.

**kimmers318** · 12-13-2006, 11:31 AM

The little bit of reading I have done about saltwater does make it sound like it could be a pain, and there is alot of extra equipment you need which makes me run the other direction! Taking on an extra child, and a teen at that puts a serious dent in my pocket. That is why I will step up to brackish first and see if I will be able to deal with that extra upkeep without getting sick of it! But, people I have talked to about saltwater tanks say that once you get it properly set up, live rock/coral, skimmer, proper filtration and learn how to keep it up, it isn't much harder to keep going than a freshwater. I guess it is a matter of whether you want to go thru the whole learning and set up process to get to that point. I am way too busy for that

**Abbeys_Mom** · 12-13-2006, 01:23 PM

I looked into switching my 55g to salt water a few years ago and here's what I found out. You can use most of the same stuff, same filter, test kit, aeration, etc. You need to buy a few more things, a coral or limestone substrate, a lot of instant ocean (very pricey), a protein skimmer, plus a wave maker powerhead if you don't have an internal filter. They also need lots of light, 3-5 watts per gallon. You will need a hydrometer to measure the amount of salt in the water. Live rock is a must, it acts like a min filter. I was daunted by the shear cost of running one. I will stick to freshwater for now. Maybe if I will the lottery or something. :) Hope this helps.

**Fishguy2727** · 12-13-2006, 01:48 PM

Live rock will help you out a lot, but it is pricey. A good protein skimmer is also great to have, and again can be pricey. If it is just fish you don't need any extra lighting. Most of the test kits won't work for sw and fw. You definitely don't need a wavemaker for most tanks, especially one that a beginner will be setting up. The cheapest place to get live rock would be liveaquaria.com and including shipping it will be about $360 for a 55 gallon's worth of live rock, that would get you 90 pounds. It is by no means cheap.

**cyane** · 12-20-2006, 07:44 AM

thanks for the advice maybe one day i can afford to have a saltwater tank, but for now i think i will stick to freshwater. i just found out i'm pregnant and don't know when or how to tell the reletives. i was thinking maybe on christmas. i don't know how my guy's family members will react. or mine for that matter.