Want to start a SW tank

[MrBusDrvr8]

Hi all!
I currently have an Eclipse 12 tank, been keeping freshwater fish for about 2 years, and I want to convert it to a SW tank. I'm pretty decent and keeping all my fish alive, and I want to see if I can do the same with the SW.

Being absolutely brand new to even the idea, I am finding a lot of good things on these pages, and I was wondering if anyone could give me some good pointers to remember as I start this. Thanks! :lol:

 

[incysor]

1st question would be have you ever medicated the 12 gal tank? Many freshwater fish meds include copper. This can be absorbed by the silicone and leach back out into salt water. Most saltwater inverts have a very low tolerence for copper. If it was a 75 gallon tank I'd say no sweat, but with a nano it might be more problematic.

For the eclipse tanks most people would upgrade the lighting if you want to keep corals. That said I've got an eclipse 2 hood now that I didn't really bother upgrading the lights, but I know I'm limiting the types of corals I can keep in the tank. It's not really an issue because it's primarily a tank for my dwarf lionfish, not primarily a reef tank.

So how do you determine if you want to upgrade your lights? Figure out what types of corals you want. If you're planning on a fish-only tank, then you won't need to upgrade. If you want to keep soft corals, mushrooms, polyps, you can get by with a small upgrade. If you like the hard corals, most anemones, most clams, etc... You'll need to do a pretty significant upgrade.

So what type of saltwater tank are you wanting to convert this to?

 

[MrBusDrvr8]

Mostly, I wanted to have some fish. MAYBE some coral. I have never used chemicals on the tank. Oddly enough, I have managed to keep my fish in pretty good condition, even though I know I don't take care of the water very well. In fact, I'm surprised on how long they have been around. I might was some soft corals, just for general aesthetics of the tank. What kind of light upgrade would you recommend?

 

[incysor]

It just depends on how much space you have to play with in front of the eclipse filtration pan in the back of the hood. I cut mine out so that I could hang a larger filter and a skimmer off the back of the tank. If you have space I'd say something like this.

http://www.championlighting.com/e/env/0 ... in:20sp240

If not here's a smaller retro with a bit less light.

http://www.championlighting.com/e/env/0 ... in:15sp232