Need help with converting a Freshwater 180 gallons bowfront to saltwater

[AquaWave523]

I currently have cichlids in there and will be selling them back to the petstore for credit to stock up on saltwater fish!

I was thinking I wouldn't have to do much but add salt - but then I remembered that its saltwater and I would need to put RO/DI water in.

Is this correct? Presently we will be doing Live Rock and Fish ONLY. I guess with the dimensions of a 180 bowfront, I am given plenty of options on what I want to have in there.

Can someone confirm about the water aspects? I have all the equipment already (protein skimmer, refugiums, lights powerheads etc.,

[iced98lx]

Originally Posted by AquaWave523

I currently have cichlids in there and will be selling them back to the petstore for credit to stock up on saltwater fish!

I was thinking I wouldn't have to do much but add salt - but then I remembered that its saltwater and I would need to put RO/DI water in.

Is this correct? Presently we will be doing Live Rock and Fish ONLY. I guess with the dimensions of a 180 bowfront, I am given plenty of options on what I want to have in there.

Can someone confirm about the water aspects? I have all the equipment already (protein skimmer, refugiums, lights powerheads etc.,

RO/DI Water should be used if you have it available. I suggest for a 180 you invest in an in home unit- it will pay for itself.

Even though it's a FOWLR it will cycle, so fill it up, add your rock and play the waiting game

[AquaWave523]

I have an RO/DI unit. I guess I have to get rid of the existing freshwater - even though its cycled is my question.

I thought it be an easy transition - get rid of the freshwater fish and just add salt to the existing water but that would introduce algae blooms since its not filtered.

Anyways, so the plan would just empty the tank, add live rocks and just wait. correct?

[SaltyWenStirred]

I'm new to the SW world.

You'll get lots of help here. I bought some used books on sw aquariums off of Amazon for about $4.

Are your lights sufficient? Do you have power heads for flow?

Here's an article on making the conversion that might be helpful:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bco...a/aa091201.htm

And everybody loves pics. I'd love to see pics of a 180G bowfront. They are hard to upload on this site though. I use photobucket and then put the link code in the body of the message.

[Chris27]

Originally Posted by AquaWave523

I have an RO/DI unit. I guess I have to get rid of the existing freshwater - even though its cycled is my question.

I thought it be an easy transition - get rid of the freshwater fish and just add salt to the existing water but that would introduce algae blooms since its not filtered.

Anyways, so the plan would just empty the tank, add live rocks and just wait. correct?

Unfiltered water can grow algae in a freshwater tank just the same as saltwater, a saltwater tank just has more light (fuel). You theoretically could just add salt, but if you can start with 0 TDS water, that's generally more advisable.

It's really not that difficult at this point, just empty the tank of everything (water, fish, decorations, gravel), fill it with saltwater, add some sand and rock, and yes..wait.

[Lig]

Start with fresh RODI water for sure.

[coreenm]

What are you currently using for substrate? If it's the gravel normally used in FW tanks, you will want to clear that out and either keep the bottom bare or buy sand or aragonite for the bottom. Also, did you ever use copper based medications in your FW tank?