# The thread of conversions: I went from Fresh to Salty!!!



## joel.c (Sep 11, 2012)

Wanted to start a thread for everyone who started with a freshwater aquarium and switched to saltwater! (I saw someone mention the idea in a different thread, it was a good idea and this deserves its own thread). 

Tell us;
1. How long you had a freshwater aquarium?
2. What fish and plants you have had?
3. What sized aquariums did you have?
4. Why did you make the switch?


...starting off
1. For 20 years off and on, last 5 were cichlids
2. A community tank and then cichlids
3. 10 gallon, 35 gallon, 55 gallon, 72 gallon
4. wanted the ultimate challenge and love the colours

Mods: Please make a sticky.

Who's next to tell their story?

-Joel


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## c31979839 (Nov 26, 2014)

I'll jump in on the action!

1. I've had freshwater for around 7 years.

2. Three set ups, one is a paludarium with small fish and a couple of water dragons. Second is a Rubbermade stocktank with a 20yo turtle in it. Third is my display tank with various schooling fish (danios, tetras, barbs), a bunch of cichlids, gouramis and my other 20yo. turtle.

3. Paludarium is 4'x2'x6'... Stocktank is 100G... Display tank is 125G. New saltwater tank is 90G.

4. For the challenge. Saltwater is the ultimate test of control and precision. And gave me another DIY project to spend a lot of time on. Plus all of the amazing little things that live and appear in your tank; you just don't get the same stuff with freshwater.

-Chris


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*addicted*

hey there , well my adventure into the addiction started prob 8 years ago when my son came home with 6 feeder goldfish and then decided to abandon them, my first instinct was im not taking care of that have enough to deal with at home im not gonna start taking care of goldfish .well when my daughter said dad do u think we can clean the fish tank its black ...this is where it began.knowing nothing about fish care then just watching my mom clean our fish tank as kids remove the fish put in bowl clean all the rocks and tank with hot water give it a rinse put back water add fish voila .... well next am I wake up to my daughter saying dad we have a prob . 6 dead gold fish ....off to big als with my daughter and wife and purchase our first 10 gal with all the fixins 
gravel plastic plants air bubbler a few fish lol.from the goldfish we went to guppies guppies we went to tropical fish , then a 35 gal tank , then another 35 gallon tank ... then a 10 gal shrimp tank ,nevermind the rescue tank and babie tank , then I got into planted tanks that I loved ,loved how a tank looked just like a forest or natural amazed with that , I tried my luck at discus 
moved up to a 55 gal tank , and from there got a good deal on a 75 .well about half way in here I visited a fellow member and he offered me up salt tank small biocube ..I was like nah I cant take that on no poss way .well I did 
it wasn't that difficult from the planted tank a few more details and procedures but that was the hook line and sinker .... I slowly disassembled all my tanks except for the 75 gal planted tank .from the cube I went to a 40 breeder all hang on back I loved the foot print of this tank ..then Red had a 65 rr tank which I purchased this was to be my first sump tank ....yah so excited .
off to a members house to pick up some sand and doesn't he show me his 90 gallon sitting in his living room empty stand and all .busted sucked in bigger hook line and sinker . pick that tank up abandon the 65 ... and that is how I got sucked into the darkside ..thru that I recently tore down my 75 planted tank so I am a full fledged saltie ...I spend my day dreaming .I have gone thru ups and downs and in the end my tank brings me great satisfaction of course bigger is better but also means of what u can sustain also kicks in .this forum has been wonderful and have met some really amazing people on here u know who u are . always supportive and helpful .anyways enogh of my babbling ...

my advice to newbies is always ask questions do your research don't count on others to solve your problems .half the fun is figuring things out .
plan your build of what u want in the future . if u want to start small be prepared to be bashed to go bigger it makes sense but salt is a slippery slope no one wants to get into the hobbie and fail . so I understand but if u can go as big as u want then do it don't worry we will all help u get to your plateau but also know going forward that your have

ENTERED THE DARK SIDE

now back to the mods lets come up with something in avatar to identify 
we have been converted to salt from freshwater , where its a saying or a cartoon icon ... we are all names here would be great if we had some sort of way of identifying each other as we stand next to a fish tank in a local fish store then getting online and saying "that was you " damn I wish I had of known ...

I am a saltaholic and have been converted ............


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

24 years ago, we were dead broke, a one year old in a stroller with a second baby on the way. We struggled to make mortgage payments, both of us self employed. One day we went out shopping with 600.00 to buy a chest freezer. Came home with a salt water set up, no freezer.
That was back when you had to build your own metal halide, there was no such thing as a sump, and all tanks were bare bottom. The tank was constantly full of cyano and it lasted two years before we tore it down, just couldn't stand how poorly everything thrived and with 2 small kids it was impossible to maintain.
Kept a small FW 20 gallon with a betta and other easy fish as our kids grew.
When our daughter was 12 we set up a 125 Cichlid tank in her room. How easy are cichlids compared to salt!
When our son was 14 he wanted a predator tank so we set up a 55 gallon with a clown trigger, puffer, eel and lion fish. This ran for years off a horrible TOM's filter, which was fine until the clown ate through the power cord and fried himself, the eel ate the puffer by mistake one day and the lion got too big and was rehomed. Eel got sent back to LFS after eating the puffer.
When the kids left home, the ciclid tank was given away in favour of a 5 gallon sw nano tank, and the 55 was converted to a holding tank for a dime sized blue tang and 2 teeny tiny black clown fish while we set up our ultimate salt system.
3 years later, we now have a 175 with the tang and clowns still there, although much larger, as well as a 30 gallon micro reef for micro fish, a 30 gallon cold water tank still waiting for fish, and our 5 gallon nano tank with 2 clowns in my shop.
All tanks combined don't equal the issues and headaches of our first salt tank 24 years ago. However, in comparison still, the freshwater tanks are a walk in the park.


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## silent1mezzo (Jun 24, 2014)

1. How long you had a freshwater aquarium
2. What fish and plants you have had
3. What sized aquariums did you have
4. Why did you make the switch?

1. On and off for most of my life.
2. I've had guppies, betas, red belly piranhas, cichlids and most recently discuss and community fish.
3. I've had a 5g (beta), 10g (pea puffer / guppies / blue rams), 40g (setting up as a SW tank right now), 46g (cichlids / discus / community fish), and a 75g (cichlids / piranhas).
4. I wanted a tank at work, I've never done saltwater before so I thought I'd give it a try. Found a 10g half moon tank online, did months and month of research. Everything's been going well since August.

My advice to anyone getting into saltwater is don't be afraid of having nano saltwater tanks, just do your research and be diligent with what you put in and what you take out.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

1. How long you had a freshwater aquarium?
2. What fish and plants you have had?
3. What sized aquariums did you have?
4. Why did you make the switch?

1. We had a freshwater tank for about 2 years or so
2. In our 29g we kept three angels that we loved!
3. 29g!
4. I made the switch when I started to venture into the saltwater section in this forums and also seeing the fish at BA's. 

My advice to anyone getting into the hobby is to throw all your experience with freshwater out the window. Amazingly it would actually be easier for someone new to the hobby to go right into SW rather than FW then to SW. 
Glad I made the switch


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

altcharacter said:


> My advice to anyone getting into the hobby is to throw all your experience with freshwater out the window. Amazingly it would actually be easier for someone new to the hobby to go right into SW rather than FW then to SW.
> Glad I made the switch


+1 +1 +1

I was given a large Oscar about 30 years ago and fell in love with their personality. He was housed in a 90g tank which I kept for over 15 years housing only Oscars, feeding live fish and enjoying having water puppy dogs.

Fast forward
I was in the process of wanting to build a cichlid tank around 2 years ago. As some have noticed I ask a lot of questions as I think about what I want to do, but with freshwater I was good to go. We went to Aquariums by Design to look at Fw fish, and my wife and kids fell in love with the saltwater fish. The intent was to only have fish with some rock work. While there I met another forum member who told me that I will eventually add coral (even though I thought I never would) and just be prepared - which in hindsight was great advice and I am glad we listened.

Today
30g IM NUVO AIO. Love the fish, love the coral, very tough and rewarding hobby. A gift from my wife 

10g frag tank - driving me nuts as there is no room to move.


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

this is a cool thread

1. How long you had a freshwater aquarium?
2. What fish and plants you have had?
3. What sized aquariums did you have?
4. Why did you make the switch?


1. Since I can remember, FW aquarium was a family hobby.
2. Too much to list but we always kept a cichlids tank (Oscars, jack Dempsey, firemouths, convicts, angelfish). We were into breeding just about everything. 
3. Think we had at most 4 tanks at one time. biggest was a 120 gallon. We had a few specialized builds for breeding purposes. We always had a guppy tank to raise feeder guppies. My brother and I had a "kids" tanks and we were responsible for it - I remember raising black mollies, fw puffers in it.
4. My father was friends with the proprietor at Wongs Aquarium. Back in the 80's he would have marine fish (no corals) in his shop and we would just marvel at the colours. Think I was probably there every other day. I always meant to start up a marine aquarium but life keeps you fairly busy. Finally was able to in 2011 - haven't looked back since. I may start up a planted tank at some point but I'm up to 3 SW tanks now and they keep me fairly busy.


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## fireangel (Aug 3, 2013)

1. since the day i was born.
2. almost any thing that is freshwater! My dad and me have done a lot of breeding over the years
3. everything from 1gal-125gal. 65 tanks was the most we had running at one point.
4. i decided i wanted a lionfish a couple years back, that resulted in me setting up a tank for a Fu Manchu.

a lot has changed in 2 and a half years since i started my first saltwater tank, i now have 6 saltwater tanks and my dad has 2 of his own. we still keep a lot of freshwater fish as well but by far the main focus is on the marine tanks! oh ya, i have anther tank being planned out already!


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