what is the bare minimal cost to upgrade to salt water?

[fotonikt]

hey guys, i have been keeping fresh water fishtanks for allmost 4 years now and i allways wanted to try salt water, i have a 240 liter (60 gallon) fish tank, i'm not gonna start off with corals, as i wanna start out just seeing if i can maintain just regular salt water fish first, so my question is what is the cost of going bare minimum to change to salt water, seeing as i dont want live coral (yet) and what would i need to keep just the fish for now? thx guys

 

[ichthyogeek]

Well...what do you have on hand at the moment aside from the tank? You can upcycle a lot of things used in freshwater, especially if you don't plan on having corals/photosynthetic stuff. List everything you've got, and then I (we?) can fill in the gaps.

One of the things you'll need right off the bat is salt.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Basics:

Salt.
RO/DI unit.
Refractometer to measure salt.
Test kits to test water.
Dry rock.
Aragonite sand.
Skimmer to remove proteins from the water.
Powerheads for water movement.

Around $600-$800 for basics.

 

[codycolina707]

hey guys, i have been keeping fresh water fishtanks for allmost 4 years now and i allways wanted to try salt water, i have a 240 liter (60 gallon) fish tank, i'm not gonna start off with corals, as i wanna start out just seeing if i can maintain just regular salt water fish first, so my question is what is the cost of going bare minimum to change to salt water, seeing as i dont want live coral (yet) and what would i need to keep just the fish for now? thx guys

Main thing would be a skimmer and maybe some powerheads can reuse freshwater hob filter something to measure the salt in the water and probably gonna need some rocks

 

[Hugh Mann]

For fish only?
Bare minimum to upgrade I'd say is salt, heater, refractometer/hydrometer, ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test kits and at least one powerhead. Rock if you don't want to use just a bunch of pipes.

This is my 'Display' 55gal. Pretty bare bones as I had to tear down to treat for the accursed Velvet.

Oh, and you'll want a quarantine set up. Don't know how common parasites are for freshwater, but saltwater fish are mostly wild caught and bring in all sorts of fun stuff. For the love of all anyone has ever considered holy, quarantine your fish.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Quarantine tank is a very much advised.

Add another $50-$100.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My answer is likely not what you are seeking, but I always say Buy the Best you CANNOT afford. One day it will make sense when your equipment has helped make you successful.

 

[01xp]

When I switched from fresh to salt it didn't cost much. I reused the canister filter lights and the decoration, heater from my chiclid tank. The only things I bought were live sand 3 bags $30 ea, refractometer and the salt, biospire that was it. All in I was $300 to convert. Then after I decided to stay with the salt I upgraded to dry rock, sump/skimmer. I say go for it! I was nervous at first but now I'm hooked

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Fish only isn’t too bad but you need to decide if you want to do a reef tank. The bare minimum for fish and bare minimum for reef are very different. You can get away with a hob and even a canister for a fish only but you’ll need a sump or a very different kind of hob for a reef. You’ll also need very different lights. It’s best to choose now so you don’t have to buy everything twice. I’d say around $1k to build a 60g with a sump and decent lights for a reef. For fish, you could stay around $500 no issues. There are some corals that are extremely easy to care for. Most of us call them weeds LOL. Green star polyps, zoas, and leather corals are super easy. You really don’t have to do much at all. Buy once cry once!

 

[...]

If you reuse freshwater filters, make sure to change the bacterial media.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

My answer is likely not what you are seeking, but I always say Buy the Best you CANNOT afford. One day it will make sense when your equipment has helped make you successful.

If you reuse freshwater filters, make sure to change the bacterial media.

+1 bacterial die off is not good. And yup! This is a realm that you have to dive headfirst into LOL

 

[Flippers4pups]

Good read:

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[sp1187]

Don’t need a QT.
Don’t need a skimmer.
Don’t need test kits.
Multiple ways to accomplish the same thing.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Good read:

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

Good find flipper!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Keep in mind that we need to be ethical as well. Give them the best environment you can provide if you choose to pursue keeping that particular animal.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Keep in mind that we need to be ethical as well. Give them the best environment you can provide if you choose to pursue keeping that particular animal.

Research everything before buying!

 

[Fishbird]

Here’s what I would say.

Bare minimum to keep saltwater fish:

1) salt

2) RODI system (or a place to buy RODI water but even if your tank is small...I really do think it’s better to be able to make and control your own water. If you need to do an emergency water change you can without having to run to the store. I also remember when the pandemic really started to ramp up in the US a lot of people started posting all at once that they no longer had access to RODI water at stores.)

3) bin to mix salt water in (I use a brute trash can. White and grey brute cans are food grade.)

4) a powerhead to mix saltwater (read the back of the salt bag/bucket. Different brands take different amounts of time to mix.)

5) a QT system (but maybe you already have this. I QT in a 10 gallon tank and all my QT equipment combined cost about $80)

6) sand meant for use in a reef tank, I’d you’re going to use sand (freshwater aquarium gravel is made of different stuff)

7) a refractometer

8) rock. Can be dry rock or live rock, just needs to be for use in a saltwater tank. (Freshwater rocks have a much wider range of mineralogical compositions and could leach heavy metals etc. Even dry rock will become live in your tank and it will provide filtration)

9) 1 or more circulation pumps within your tank to move water around. The amount depends on the size of the tank.

I don’t think you *need*
1) a skimmer. This might become needed later, depending on how you stock your tank, whether you decide to add corals, and what your other filtration methods are, but you don’t need one to start keeping saltwater fish.

2) a new light. Your freshwater light will work just fine for fish.

3) you don’t need to decide now whether or not you’ll want to add corals down the line. You can decide that later and at that point, it would be helpful to take some real time to make a wishlist of all the photosynthetic creatures you think you might want to get because those guys are the ones that need more expensive lighting. Different corals (and anemones and clams etc) have different lighting needs.

 

[mameroo2000]

If you converting freshwater tank into saltwater fish tank only. All what you need is salt get the cheapest one , reflectometer/hydrometer to test your salinity.
Make sure to change all your filters and media that u have used on your freshwater, a bottle of bacteria then cycling time. I assume you already know about water evaporation.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Here’s what I would say.

Bare minimum to keep saltwater fish:

1) salt

2) RODI system (or a place to buy RODI water but even if your tank is small...I really do think it’s better to be able to make and control your own water. If you need to do an emergency water change you can without having to run to the store. I also remember when the pandemic really started to ramp up in the US a lot of people started posting all at once that they no longer had access to RODI water at stores.)

3) bin to mix salt water in (I use a brute trash can. White and grey brute cans are food grade.)

4) a powerhead to mix saltwater (read the back of the salt bag/bucket. Different brands take different amounts of time to mix.)

5) a QT system (but maybe you already have this. I QT in a 10 gallon tank and all my QT equipment combined cost about $80)

6) sand meant for use in a reef tank, I’d you’re going to use sand (freshwater aquarium gravel is made of different stuff)

7) a refractometer

8) rock. Can be dry rock or live rock, just needs to be for use in a saltwater tank. (Freshwater rocks have a much wider range of mineralogical compositions and could leach heavy metals etc. Even dry rock will become live in your tank and it will provide filtration)

9) 1 or more circulation pumps within your tank to move water around. The amount depends on the size of the tank.

I don’t think you *need*
1) a skimmer. This might become needed later, depending on how you stock your tank, whether you decide to add corals, and what your other filtration methods are, but you don’t need one to start keeping saltwater fish.

2) a new light. Your freshwater light will work just fine for fish.

3) you don’t need to decide now whether or not you’ll want to add corals down the line. You can decide that later and at that point, it would be helpful to take some real time to make a wishlist of all the photosynthetic creatures you think you might want to get because those guys are the ones that need more expensive lighting. Different corals (and anemones and clams etc) have different lighting needs.

Freshwater led’s will grow lots of bad algae in the saltwater world such as cyano. Not a good idea imo.

 

[RBZ]

So bare minimum.
You have the tank. $0
Go to your LFS and purchase already made saltwater for $0.50 a gallon $30.
You will need containers for the water if you don't have. $7 per container.
If you have a heater already from one of your tanks. $0.
If you have a HOB from one of your tanks. $0
Add the water and start your cycle.
so bare minimum $30.

All the rest is wants and extras.

You can start this way and try it but the real question is what fish are you wanting to keep.
Wrasse and goby require sand so you are looking at $60 FOR LIVE SAND.
So bare minimum also requires you to think about what fish you want to house to really get to your answer.