transition to salt water

[kurtismjohnson]

hey guys... havent posted on here in a while but i had a question.

i have a 20 gallon long tank with fresh water in it now. i was wanting to move the fish in it and start over, making it a salt water tank. i want to get 2, maybe 3 nemo/clown fish rather than all these cheap beginner fish. ha. i just think it would be cool. (side note: i do not plan on killing or harming the fish. just moving them.)

does anyone have any advice for how i should go about this transition? is it as easy as simply adding salt to the tank? or would i need to empty everything out and start completely over?

 

[89must]

you will need to start over what kind of tank do you want a fish only, fowlr, or reef, what type of tank you want will determine your lighting and substrate, and equipment you will need to purchase. in my opinion 20 gallons is not enough, saltwater is not nearly as forgiving as fresh. but salt is also IMO alot more rewarding than fresh
research every thing first saltwater tanks do cost alot more than fresh

 

[ryanm19]

A 20 gallon is fine for a SW tank, you'll just have to be on top of things to make sure that all of your parameters are stable. smaller tanks allow for parameter fluctuations to happen more often/easily. I definitely agree with 89must. read. read. read. SW is an expensive hobby and knowing what your doing and what filtration/lighting you should get for your specific tank will keep you from making dumb purchases.

 

[Newman]

you will probably want 2 clownfish. two will pair and harass the loner otherwise. you could do the clown pair and maybe other smaller fish.
Ditto to everything said above, and lots and lots of research. Google'ing "starting a reef tank" is a good start. even if youre not starting reef specifically, reef guides tend to be more accurate and serious than random "starting SW" guides. Also before you go anywhere, this forum has a great SW guide in the pinned threads.

 

[kurtismjohnson]

cool. thanks for the help! maybe ill go ahead and stick with my freshwater tank, (which has been doing very well by the way) until i move into a bigger apartment/house and can get a bigger tank. just looking at my 20gL, i just think it would look cool with minimal decor and a couple of clown fish. but i am not in any hurry, so i will be sure to do plenty of research before i make any moves!