Salt Water Tank
I currently have a 20 gallon fresh water tank. I am looking into converting to salt water. How much different is salt water then fresh water. And also is a 20 gallon tank to small?
Answers:The tank is the cheap part of the equation but 20 gallons is possible, just a bit too small for most fish. Here is a site that will tell you what fish you could have (if you are interested) and you could also borwse through it to see if ther is anything you have to have and howm large a tank it requires.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scate.
compatability chart
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compa.
To run a fish only tank you would require some good florescent lights (replace every six month), live rock (one pound per gallon of water and stuff with holes is the best), three inches of crushed aragonite as substrate, a filter with bio-wheel that moves at least ten (15 is better) gallons of water per hour per gallon of tank size (200-300gph for your tank), marine test kit, hydrometer, salt, aerator for mixing salt water, and heater. You can only use distilled or RO water for a marine tank. You add it to the water a day in advance of the weekly water change and aerate it to mix it. Top up evaporated water with plain water only (salt doesn't evaporate) and feed whatever food the fish likes. It really isn't more work then a normal tank, just a lot more costly. It does tanke longer to cycle a new tank depending on how good the live rock is. The set up I've suggested will also be good for a mix of invertibrates (needed in all salt tanks), but if you want mushrooms, zooanthids, and that sort you would need one actinic bulb and a skimmer.