How do I switch from SW to FW?

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A. Nonymous

A. Nonymous

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Feb 4, 2008
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Long story short, I had a 29g SW tank and a heater malfunctioned and fried all the fish and everything else in the tank. One of the things I wish I had done differently with this tank is actually have a bigger tank to begin with.

In my fish room I have a 55g tank. It's got just a handful of fish in it at the moment and they could easily be housed safely in the 29g. My thought is to just swap them. I could easily swap the gear and I overfiltered the 29g tank so the filter is actually the right size for a 55g. My question is about how to make the 29g safe for FW again? I could empty it, rinse it out outside, and put all my FW gear on it. What else what would I need to do?
 
TL1000RSquid

TL1000RSquid

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Apr 6, 2011
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Rinsing and wiping down is really all you need to do to the tank itself. New substrate wouldnt reuse the old sw sand in fw.
 
A. Nonymous

A. Nonymous

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Feb 4, 2008
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TL1000RSquid said:
Rinsing and wiping down is really all you need to do to the tank itself. New substrate wouldnt reuse the old sw sand in fw.
Click to expand...
I hadn't even thought of substrate. I'd move the SW substrate to the 55g tank of course, but 29g of substrate won't cover a 55g tank obviously. Hadn't thought of that.
 
greech

greech

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May 13, 2009
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Few more things to consider. You'll want rock. Live rock or dry but it should be aragonite rock and not what you would typically use in a FW tank. Yes, you can do a SW (fish only) system without it but there really is no reason. Your FW filter would provide little benefit other than to run a little mechanical and chemical media and a little water circulation. Speaking of circulation, you'll want 30X turnover minimum of water flow so you would need powerbeads. RO/DI unit would be highly recommended even for a FO system. You would not need to upgrade lights unless you went to a reef or if you didn't like the look of the light you have.

Suggest a little more research. maybe start with some of the stickies in the SW forum.
 
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