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thank you both very much, it looks like I have some reading to do. I've heard percula(sp?) clowns are good. When you say a pair, do you mean a breeding pair? And how do I do water changes and clean the substrate, I have never used sand before... Would it be too much trouble to try some coral? I've heard they are very picky...

To tell you everything, would simply take to long. So I'll give the very basics.

Everything you had for your FW tank will work in your SW tank. If you start with a fish only tank, things are very simple. Mix your salt to about 1.024, set the heater to 80f, add some sand or crushed coral for substrate, two powerheads to move the water. Then start your cycle. You can use a bottle of cycle, or buy some live rock. Your tank will give you room for 2 or 3 fish, but nothing to big. Perhaps a pair of small clowns, a royal gramma, a few shrimp, some small hermits. No big crabs

Before you start it would be a good idea to go to your local library and check out a few books and start reading.



Dan

The easiest (but unfortunately also expensive) way to make your water good for saltwater is to first run the tap water through a Reverse Osmosis system. Some RO systems even come with DI (forget what that stands for...), thus taking out even more crud from the water.

One of the big differences between FW and SW is this saltwater (of course). Because of the preference for RO and RODI water, you may have to start getting your water ready for the next water change one to two days in advance, one for the RO filtration (which actually takes quite a while) and another for mixing the salt in (I believe many people have big tubs with powerheads for mixing).

The protein skimmer is cool. Theoretically it could be used on an FW tank, but it just ain't as good. The reason is that SW foams much better than FW, which is the basis of the protein skimmer. By creating a foam, it takes out a lot of crud from the tank before entering the cycle, thus reducing the nitrates (and water changes!) required on the system. Very useful invention that, although costly, will help a great deal.

You do not need a different heater.

You may want to check out some beginner saltwater books and articles for much information. I recommend www.wetwebmedia.com for some info; the owner of the site also has written a book, which I forget (The Conscientious Marine Aquarist? Even if that's not his book, it's still a good book to get ).

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.