The Puffer Forum

The forum is not working very well for me today. (it isn't letting me search)

How much salt is full marine?

I have been adding salt when I do water changes, but I don't know where exactly full marine is or where exactly GSPs like to be.

If anyone knows about this stuff or can point me towards some articles, that would be very helpful.

You want to go marine, for a protein skimmer to work well & live rock creatures/bacteria to thrive. that would be at around 1.020.

What is the specific gravity of the tank now?

RTR wrote:What is the specific gravity of the tank now?

Currently at 1.008 so I have a ways to go.

Pufferpunk wrote:You want to go marine, for a protein skimmer to work well & live rock creatures/bacteria to thrive. that would be at around 1.020.

I do not have a protein skimmer or live rocks. Do I need a protein skimmer if I don't have live rocks? I currently have two 'Penguin BIO-Wheel 350' filters filtering the tank.

It would be cool to have live rock eventually, although I don't know anything about it.

No reason to go marine if you do not intend to use marine filtration, IE: live rock/skimmer. High BW is fine but expect to continue with expensive 50% weekly WC.

Pufferpunk wrote:No reason to go marine if you do not intend to use marine filtration, IE: live rock/skimmer. High BW is fine but expect to continue with expensive 50% weekly WC.

I don't know anything about marine filtration. What is best for my puffers?

Is there an article explaining this transition and how to do it, that you can point me towards? I am scared just to google this kind of thing. I know you guys know what you are talking about when you answer me.

I cant post the direct links as im acessing the forum from my phone but I remember seeing the links to the information you seek on the forum homepage.

As for filtration a protein skimmer is essential if you choose not to use live rock. You will also need to dump the freshwater filtration when you go full marine as it will send your nitrates off the scale. (I have an Emperor 400 on a 55G marine tank so I speak from experience.) Keep the filter unit running as it will provide good water circulation to help with the gas exchange in the water. Adding a powerhead or two would not hurt either.

Oh and some even recommend placing live rock chunks in the compartments where the freshwater filter media originally went.

sgtmyers88 wrote:...

As for filtration a protein skimmer is essential if you choose not to use live rock. You will also need to dump the freshwater filtration when you go full marine as it will send your nitrates off the scale. (I have an Emperor 400 on a 55G marine tank so I speak from experience.) Keep the filter unit running as it will provide good water circulation to help with the gas exchange in the water...

The statement above is incomplete, misleading, or simply incorrect. If live rock is not used, bacterial nitrification is still required. A protein skimmer alone does nor remove or oxidize ammonia and nitrite. Both of those ions are fully as toxic in SW as in FW or BW. Live rock, and preferably with a 24/7 lighted macroalgae refugium, is/are required to neutralize the toxicity of nitrogenous metabolites by SW bacteria. The transition range from FW to BW and SW bacterial forms is from about specific gravity 1.008 to 1.012 or a bit above. The job done in FW prinarily is bacterial. In FW, BW, and SW that job may also be done by vascular plants, or by microalgae and/or macroalge, but is best done in either 24/7 lighting or paired opposte light cycle refugia (with one one 12 hours per 24, the other on while the first is dark. Live rock is functional only in full SW.

Nitrification bacteria are common and may be dispersed on surfaces in the tank (all known forms are attached bacteria), and substrate and decor. The fact that they no opimum particualr home does not in any way mean or imply that they are not present.

The above explantation is sketchy. Thera are a number of atricles around that go into these topics more fully.

HTH

i would like to point out that full salt water has a specific gravity Sg of 1.025 and if you decided to keep corals i would suggest this salinity level however anywhere about 1.020 is fine as pufferpunk suggested. also above RTR reffers to a refugium of which you would cultivate a macroalgae in a separate tank which naturally removed NH4, No2, No3 and Po4. so it is very beneficial to have this however you can filter as simple as this: (assuming you would have a sump)
1. lots of water movement (i suggest powerheads/return pump to total 25 times the total volume of your tank)
2. a filter sock for mechanical filteration
3. liverock is your biological filteration and with enough waterflow the anerobic bacteria located within the rocks will thrive off the nitrates flowing through them.

hope this helps clarify and make the bigger picture look alittle simpler.
Delving into marine can be quite scary