Switching freshwater to saltwater...

[islandcreation]

I'm about to take my cichlid out of my 20 gallon long and switch it to a saltwater tank. Can I just rinse out the tank and use the gravel it came with, rather than putting LS? All I'm going to do is put LR and corals, will the live sand really make a diffrence? Please help... If its better to be safe and get LS then thats what I'll have to do. Thanks

 

[reefman23]

The LS will really make a difference. First of all, the gravel with trap junk which will lead to high nitrate/nitrites. Secondly, there is a small amount of buffering that is done by oolitic live sand...aragonite-based sand. Thirdly, if it is deep enough (3"-6"), it can be a great form of denitrification. Unfortunately, in a 12" tall tank, about 2" of sand is all you can have.

In other words, dont use the gravel and buy about 40-50 lbs of sand...depending on how deep you want it. It doesnt have to be live, eventually dry sand will become live. Here is a great calculator for determining how much sand to buy... http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php

Has the tank ever been treated with a copper-based medication?

Jesse

 

[skipm]

You may be able to use the gravel depending on what it is, sometimes crushed coral or dolomite is used in cichlid tanks to make the water as hard as possible and if thats the case you can use it for saltwater. I would consider this for a fish only tank though and follow Jesses post if you plan on a reef (you didn't specify if this was going to be a reef or fish only set-up).

 

[islandcreation]

Sorry about that skip. Its going to be a reef tank.... Thanks

 

[skipm]

No problem, I just wanted to cover all of the bases since you didn't specify.