I have a 44 gallon fish tank. What do I need to start a salt water tank?

Question

I know I need a special kind of heater that doesn't corrode but what else?

Answer 1

If you're running a freshwater tank already, you probably have most of the equipment you'll need. And actually, as long as the heater is sealed (submersible) you can use them in either fresh or saltwater.

Some other items you'll need are a hydrometer or refractometer (used to mix the salt to the correct concentration), and a salt mix.

Beyond these, the rest of the equipment will depend on what you want to try to keep. If you only want fish, that's all the equipment you really NEED to have. If you want a reef tank, there are several other requirements that would just be optional for fish. A protein skimmer would be one - these work with you filter to remove dissolved organic materials that would otherwise contribute to the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in the tank. Since inverts are highly sensitive to water quality, these are strongly recommended (and it doesn't hurt to have them for a fish-only tank either!). Another items needed for a reef tank is an upgrade to your lighting system. Corals, anemones, and clams all contain a photosynthetic bacteria which produces part of their food supply. So you need lighting far more intense that what you get with a standard fluorescent hood - look into compact fluorescent, T-5, or metal halide lighting if you want to attempt these.

Along with the equipment, I would suggest changing your substrate to a crushed coral or aragonite sand - these will help buffer the pH which regular aquarium gravel won't. Live rock is a nice addition because it gives the tank a more natural "reef" appearance, can be stacked to create hiding places for your fish and inverts, and has living bacteria that helps cycle the wastes in the tank. Good live rock can get expensive, so I suggest buying dry reef rock/base rock to put down first, then stack the better quality rock in front an at the top where it will be seen. Stack the rock so there are gaps between the pieces so water can flow though (and your fish can swim through) easily. If you use live rock, there's no need to buy live sand - the bacteria from the rock will colonize the dry rock and substrate in a few months and save you the added expense.

Two other items I'd strongly recommend - a master water testing kit for saltwater, and a good book for reference. Books are around much longer than most websites, and you'll always have access to them whenever you have a problem. Some that helped me out when I was first starting with marine tanks were The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-52-1
and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-02-5 - either one is a good read that can walk you through setup, choosing fish, and troubleshooting.

Here are a few good websites for saltwater info in the meantime: http://www.apapets.com/MarineEcosystem/whatto.htm
http://www.peteducation.com/index.cfm?cls=16
http://www.fishlore.com/SaltwaterBeginners.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/

Good luck with the tank!

Answer 2

Get a good book on salt water aquariums from the BOOKSTORE (not the pet store) and read it cover to cover before you start keeping a salt water aquarium. They are really beautiful, but they are also about 10 times harder to keep than a freshwater tank, so you will need to know a whole lot more than you can learn from this site. GOOD LUCK.

Answer 3

The fact that you are on here asking a questions like that, the first thing I recommend is get a book on salt water tanks. THIS IS NOT AN EASY undertaking.

Answer 4

Well first you want to make sure you have no fresh water fish in your tank when you convert it to a saltwater tank...and to start a saltwater tank you with need to put salt in it..you can most likley get saltwater packages at any petstore

Answer 5

Have to agree with what the others say. Salt water fishkeeping really does need some serious reading before you start.

Get it wrong and you will almost certainly kill a lot of (rather expensive) fish.

But its wirth the effort.....good luck

Answer 6

SIMPLE---- A LOT of money! purchasing all the equiptment is not cheap... and thats just the start of it. Fish isnt cheap eithe, or live rock, sand, and then if you go reef...... thats even more!

Answer 7

tank size?

Answer 8

if you cant do that then you should not have any type of animal