converting freshwater tank into saltwater, same water?

SquirrelOsO

SquirrelOsO

AC Members
Oct 28, 2005
230
0
0
pennsylvania
i'll be converting my 220 gallon freshwater aquarium to a saltwater fish only system.
its alot of water to drain out and often floods my basement while doing so, so i thought would it be ok to just add salt to my existing water??
it has to go through a cycle anyway since the bacteria for salt isnt the same as for fresh, so why not just use the same water??

it has no meds in it and it is a bare bottom tank. i also use a UV sterilizer on this tank

filter media will be replaced and a skimmer would be added
 
I'd first decide if you're going to use tap water or switch to RO/DI as many sw keepers do. Water quality is so key with a SW tank it is one of those areas that a little investment up front will save you lots of heartaches later on. We can recommend some units for you if you've not yet considered one.
 
yeah unfortunetly RO units are out of the question due to plumbing issues down the basement.

it will be a fish only system without any corals so hopefully they will be ok with tap water, dechlorinated and some brands say they remove "heavy metals" (hopefully this is true)


my reef tanks upstairs get bottled RO water, but i dont think i can lug around 220 gallons of bottled water from the supermarket, heck they dont even stock that much at one time :rofl:
 
salty420 said:
interesting question really... i have no answer but sounds like it'd be a heck of a lot easier just to reuse it...
Click to expand...


yep it sure would :p:
i would thoroughly run the water through carbon, phoshate remover and nitrate remover before i added salt.

why bare bottom? well its a heck of alot easier to keep it clean. no detrius builds up. its also a great way to combat that nasty cyano that seems to thrive on sand beds.
and no sand storms! dang i hate those
my 55g tank is in a constant fog because my wrasse keeps disturbing the sand

im gonna try and be creative with the underside of the tank so it doesnt have that mirror look to it.
im going to use white poster board spray painted with that grainy spray paint stuff sold in lowes in a sand color to give an illusion of sand under the glass.
 
it will be a semi aggressive sw

niger trigger
blue throat trigger
a few tangs, naso, kole tang, maybe a sohal, and a few yellow
snowflake eel
porc puffer
harlequin tusk
non reef safe wrasse's

maybe i'll toss in a shark egg...just kidding :rofl:

i wont add all these fish, but those are what i have in mind at the moment
allthough i will "test the waters" out on a couple of yellow tailed damsels to make sure the water is habitable
 
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