Fish-only to reef tank conversion

[pub911]

Hi, everyone.

I'm new to reef tanks, but not new to my fish-only 90 gallon saltwater aquarium that i've had since college - 30 years ago now. I'm considering converting my set up to a reef tank. I just purchased and better protein skimmer, a Coral Life 220. But everything else is old-school technology. The filter is a 12" x 24" wet/dry set up with bio-balls. The lighting is a hood with 2 florescent light ballasts with T8 style 48" bulbs, one that's 50/50 Actinic the other just Actinic. I have no live rock in the tank but there is a lot of 'dead' coral - real coral skeletal structures - that i really like and invested a lot in back when i first set things up. The bed is made up of small shells, no sand or crushed coral.

I'm interested in recommendations for the budget conscious. I know I'll need help with filtration, lighting, and a ton more. Thanks in advance for recommendations or for pointing me to prior posts that might accelerate my learning and planning.

 

[Ron Reefman]

There can be lots of help here, especially for those who do their research and take their time. You sound like you'll fit in OK.

Budget for conversion (not inclusive, just off the top of my head):
Lights: $200 (inexpensive leds or new t5 fluorescent fixtures)
Your old coral is probably a lot like live rock in that it has a bacteria population that runs the nitrogen cycle. I assume you know about that, right?
So you need about 50 (bare minimum) to 150 pounds of live rock (and you can count your coral skeletons in that total). LR sells for $2/lb to $7/lb depending on where you buy it and how good it is. Finding a local reefer who has 'extra' or is getting out of the hobby may be your best bet. Look for somebody selling out on Craigslist or find a local club (there is a list of clubs by area near the bottom of the forums here).

You'll need to get some new test kits to keep track of your water quality. You probably test for ammonia and nitrate now? With coral you will need to test for Ca, Mg and alk. This is a chemistry that requires some work to stay on top of. You need to do very regular water changes or add CA and alk to keep the levels in line. The more lps and sps corals you have the more Ca and alk you need to add or the more water you'll need to change.

How do you get water for water changes and do you mix your own saltwater already?

What kind of fish and clean up crew do you have?

Your wet/dry with bio-balls is very old school. But I turned one into a sump with filtration, extra live rock and some Chaeto (macro algae) with a light. Eventually you'll probably want to upgrade to a more modern sump. Whether a refugium is part of that sump is personal decision. IMHO, as are reactors for carbon filtering, GFO and phosphate reduction.

 

[pub911]

There can be lots of help here, especially for those who do their research and take their time. You sound like you'll fit in OK.

Budget for conversion (not inclusive, just off the top of my head):
Lights: $200 (inexpensive leds or new t5 fluorescent fixtures)
Your old coral is probably a lot like live rock in that it has a bacteria population that runs the nitrogen cycle. I assume you know about that, right?
So you need about 50 (bare minimum) to 150 pounds of live rock (and you can count your coral skeletons in that total). LR sells for $2/lb to $7/lb depending on where you buy it and how good it is. Finding a local reefer who has 'extra' or is getting out of the hobby may be your best bet. Look for somebody selling out on Craigslist or find a local club (there is a list of clubs by area near the bottom of the forums here).

You'll need to get some new test kits to keep track of your water quality. You probably test for ammonia and nitrate now? With coral you will need to test for Ca, Mg and alk. This is a chemistry that requires some work to stay on top of. You need to do very regular water changes or add CA and alk to keep the levels in line. The more lps and sps corals you have the more Ca and alk you need to add or the more water you'll need to change.

How do you get water for water changes and do you mix your own saltwater already?

What kind of fish and clean up crew do you have?

Your wet/dry with bio-balls is very old school. But I turned one into a sump with filtration, extra live rock and some Chaeto (macro algae) with a light. Eventually you'll probably want to upgrade to a more modern sump. Whether a refugium is part of that sump is personal decision. IMHO, as are reactors for carbon filtering, GFO and phosphate reduction.

This is great - good information right off the bat. Here are some replies to the questions above.

I've got about 75lbs of coral and another 25lbs of small shells for the base material. I don't know if any of that has become live rock, because up until about 6 months ago, I used to rinse both the coral and the bottom material in FRESH water to clean it for looks. I have refrained and will continue to refrain from that based on your comments. So my follow-up question is: how long must I wait before I can feel comfortable that the coral has become 'live rock'?

I test for Nitrite, nitrate, PH and Alk now with a test strip. What test kit/methods do you recommend and what are the desired readings?

I do 20% water changes every 6 months now with "reef crystals". Any suggestions on adjusting that in any way?

Current fish load is: 1 Coral Beauty (largest and alpha in the tank), 5 damsel varieties, 1 seabay clown, 1 rusty angel and a purple dottyback. No inverts.

Thanks!

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

You're gonna want to ditch the test strips and get some quality test kits for a reef. The strips are fine for FO because fish aren't nearly as sensitive to water quality as coral are.

As far as water changes, I'd do more. once every 6 mo is very infrequent, though with lots of suplimentation and testing some people are successful with few water changes. It's pretty common to change 10%/week, 20%/every other week, or 30%/every month. One of those would be a good starting point, but as mentioned, this would be dictated by your tolerance to changes in water chemistry (what kind of corals you have), and your bioload and filtration.

Coral has become "live rock" once it has cycled and grown a sufficient amount of nitrifying and de-nitrifying bacteria. This can vary, but it starts becoming live once in the tank, and after a month or so it's pretty well on it's way. If you like the clean look, you can always scrub in a separate container of saltwater, or use what you tank out for water changes for cleaning the rocks. This way the fresh water doesn't kill the good bacteria. The only way to really test for this is just to watch your water chemistry and see when ammonia and nitrite come and go, and nitrate starts to build up. If you have enough denitrifying bacteria, the nitrate will be consumed as well. This normally doesn't happen completely on it's own unless you are actively trying to get rid of nitrate. You can look into carbon dosing with vinegar or vodka to read more on this. Stony coral (LPS and SPS) prefer very low nitrates, and soft flowy foral prefer some nitrate generally (5-10ppm). So your desired level will depend on your coral choices.

 

[pub911]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I do have nitrates. The test strip says around eighty (80)ppm. Nitrate has been an issue for me for some time, but doesn't seem to have affected the fish. I'll have to step up the water changes i guess.

Please suggest a better quality test kit if you have one you like.