changing from africans to marines!!

Hi Guys

I currently have a jewel vision 450 tank with mbuna cichlids, I also have a trigon 190 empty at the moment. After years of keeping tropicals and then moving on to cichlids iv allways wanted to have a saltwater tank purely for the colour that marine fish have, I know malawi cichlids are colourful but i personaly think nothing beats a display of saltwater fish. My question is should i convert the 450 liter or use the trigon 190? which is more suitable? roughly how much would it cost to change over the 450 tank, I already have an external filter so for other equipment, live rock etc. how much to convert???

where to start, what are you looking to keep if you want a proper set up your looking at 2wave makers/powerheads eg. korelli 8. 150 each, a deacent protein scimmer 250-500 a uv sterilizer 150. 300-600 live rock. a couple of bags of live sand 200-300. if you bying the water ready made 170. then there is lighting. if you want corals or anamones you need at the very least t5 at best metal haloids which are serious money. there are many other things that you might feel you need down the line like nitrate/phosphate removers thats when you really get serious. all the above i quoted above can be done cheaper,i bought lr second hand off people shuting down their tank. skimmer was bought second hand actually i might have the perferct one 4u the largest tunze i recently swaped it for a hang on to save space,ill see how the prizm performs before i sell the tunze.wave makers/powerheads can be bouht second hand aswell. im looking for a second hand uv now. its just to expensive to buy new all at once.you can just add lr and a couple of power heads and use tap water and pond salt, if its just a few fish like damsals nemos ect this can be ok, if you want tangs angels boxfish ect you need to put the money inn. best of luck
paddy

Thanks for your reply paddy, really helpfull, I think il keep the african cichlids and convert the smaller trigon 190 into marine tank and see how i get on:)

Yeah i would go with the trigon, alot less money needed to get going.

Are you going to go fish only with some liverock or go with soft corals too....?

Lets say you need 20 kilos of liverock which will cost you around 350euro, then there is live sand which would have to be 1" thick at least depending on what fish you want to keep. The clean up crew ( shrimps, crabs, starfish etc )

Then you would have to change ur tubes in the trigon to marine ones if ur gonna keep soft corals if ur gonna get hard corals you will need metal haloids.

If mixing ur own salt water you will need an RO unit using tap water could coz problems but people do use tap water with no problems, Refractometer if mixing ur own water, You can buy ready made water at about 8euro for 25L.

you will need calcium, magnesium if keeping corals and for keeping ur inverts healthy

Then there is equipment external, get rid of the internal it will be come a nitrite heaven, you can keep it and remove all media in it and put in some crushed live rock.

i think starting smaller is better regarding your pocket but in the long run you will be disapointed that you didnt just bite the bullet.
here is what i would do, add as much lr as you can afford even as little as 10kg try get pieces that look heavy but are quite light good 4 water q and fills your tank quicker. ask on the website is there any going cheap. keep adding all through your cycle week by week.look for the rest of your equipment 2nd hand during your cycle also. get a large bag of ordinary gravel from lfs and also get a couple of bags of live sand and mix well.defo remove all media from your filter and replace with lr. add your cleaning crew as normall. do a big waterchange after 4weeks. when your tanks water conditions are up to scratch add a couple off hardy fish like damsals clowns or a couple of lion fish not both [obviously]. these fish will be fine (even after 3-4 weeks) and week by week you can aquire all the bits and pieces you need second hand and you still have a few nice fish to look at and you can also add some pollops and mushrooms this will keep you happy untill you get your tank kitted out .get yourself some marine t5 and you will be grand keeping torches and hammers along with softies. bigger is always better regarding marines as the fish need their space more. the 1 thing i would say is make sure you have good waterflow. direct the flow through the lr as much as you can. a lot of corals will survive without adding much.if you set up your 180 you will be happy for a while,but dont forget when u add lr you lose a lot of water and space. ther isnt much you can fit in a 180, you will kick yourself when you realise you could of had a real jaw dropping 450litre marine tank. the project may last for the next 5-10 years always upgrading and adding,
best of luck anyway mate, which ever option you decide.