New FO aquarium

[dragongoby]

I was running a freshwater tank for several months and was told by the guy at the store that in oder to turn my tank into a saltwater fish only tank all I would need to do was add the salt (instant ocean) in a bucket use a powerhead to mix it and add it like a normal water change until it gets up to 1.020-1.025. This is my first aquarium and untill I upgrade in a few months im going for just fish and my next one will have a reef in it. I was wondering if it was just that simple but was also wondering if it will destroy my existing biological filter and/or if it will need to be cycled again.
P.s. are protein skimmers and reverse osmosis filters only if you have live rock in it?
and also is sand absolutely necesary or will the gravel that is already in it suffice for 2 or so months before i upgrade to a 55 or 70 gallon

[daugherty]

you will have to re-cycle the tank. get some new sand that is made for salt tanks. this will help give you live sand for the upgrade. why have two full blowen cycles. (it should help to make a smaller cycle in the upgrade if even one) protein skimmers help to take out organics from the water. they are needed IMO for any tank be it FO or reef. i would put at least ten to twenty pounds of live rock in the tank as the live rock is a major part of the filtration to a salt tank.

[dragongoby]

O ok so live rocks are needed in all salt water tanks. As you can probably tell im new to this.

[daugherty]

they are not absolutely needed but they do help make the water better and look nice to. it usually is the biggest part of the biological filtration for you tank. the rock and the sand.

[dragongoby]

Im getting a young snowflake eel so would it be okay for a month or two without live rocks do you think? Im just raising the gravity and im almost there.

[dragongoby]

Im getting a young snowflake eel so would it be okay for a month or two without live rocks do you think? Im just raising the gravity and im almost there.

[dragongoby]

Well if I added live rocks that were already cured would it affect my tank negatively at all?

[daugherty]

you will have some kind of cycle big or small i dont know but yes add cured live rock.

[dragongoby]

what do you think the eels chances of surviving are during the cycle? And would it be better if I used live sand from my LFS that sais it minimalises amonia spikes?

[daugherty]

i really dont know but prob not good. i would never cycle with live critters