convert fresh to salt??????

dawgs · 08-10-2002, 04:35 PM

i recently had a major tradgedy with my 65 gal salt tank...cracked from corner to corner for no reason..lucky i was home at the time or i would have had all the water on the rug (2nd floor)..lost eveything....75 lbs of LR as well as alot of fish....i have a 55 gal fresh water tank now...my question is...can i convert it to salt water without starting from scratch? or do i have to empty the whole tank and start over?

kita_katan · 08-10-2002, 04:45 PM

wow am so sorry....umm if it was me I would start a new and empty the 55 and just replace it with what was in the 65 gallon. Others might have a better suggestion

kita_katan · 08-10-2002, 04:46 PM

by the way Welcome to the board

dawgs · 08-10-2002, 04:51 PM

thank you....i have nothing to replace...live rock is dead...live sand is dead...i have to get everything new...all i have now is the filters and powerheasds..etc...

kita_katan · 08-10-2002, 05:12 PM

yea to me your best bet would be to drain it and rinse it out and start a new....especially if you need to start over with the LR and the LS.... just my opinion

OodleyBoodely · 08-11-2002, 12:29 AM

You should be able to reuse the 'deadrock' and 'deadsand'. Just add to the new tank and allow to cycle. All that dead matter will just get the cycle process going faster. Add a couple pounds of good live sand and a few chunks of really good live rock to re-seed the tank after it has cycled. Look for some really porous, holey rock with obvious life on it, or, order some premium aquacultured rock as seed-rock. Eventually, that dead stuff will come back to life.

oregon_gorge · 08-11-2002, 01:43 AM

I would second Oodley's response. Let the old parts cycle and the ask local club members for some "seed" sand andyou will be in it again! Just a matter of time and patience. There is that nasty "P" word agin.

Should be fun and work great, have fun with it!

Chris and Pam.

beach bum · 08-11-2002, 02:16 AM

The only major concern is weather or not you treated the freshwater tank with any copper based meds. The residuals from that could impair the health of any invertebrates you may add. Other than that, I say dump a bag of salt in there and get the show on the road!

Brooke · 08-11-2002, 11:18 AM

hehe..chris...i like that dump a bucket of salt in there..

ditto what others have said. we have some "Dead" live rock in our sump that is now full of life. A few pounds of good quality live rock would be enough to reseed the dead rock with critter, bacteria, etc. I would empty out the freshwater and tank and start from scratch though. If you saved the sand, you can reuse that too. Good luck and welcome to TRT!

Brooke