Coverting from freshwater tank to saltwater

[Aaikau]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post as I am 200% newbie Currently I have a 44G freshwater which I have decided to convert into a marine (possible reef tank). This is the first ever for me and I want to do it right with minimum losses... I hope your experience could help me... I am not in the hurry to do and since I am on a budget - it will take me a few months to complete it. So far I got the basics: decent protein skimmer , couple of maxi-jets and soon will get live sand, salt mix and live Fiji Rock to start the cycle. In the mean time I need some suggestions on cleaning the current tank so I do not transfer any unwanted bacteria etc. So question number 1 (from 100's in which I will post in the future ) does anyone know what to use to wash the tank and how the process should look like. I read somewhere about solution of bleach with water but there was no details... Question number 2 - Has anyone ever used Brita filter which goes directly on facet to get a better quality water? I cannot invest in RO unit right now.

Thank for any help in advance!

[Ninong]

Hi Aaikau, welcome to Reefland!

During the time your tank was set up as a freshwater tank, did you ever add any medicines containing copper? If you did add copper to your water, then the sterilization process is much more complicated. If you did not ever add copper to the tank, then a simple thorough washing of the tank followed by several rinses with freshwater will do.

Allowing the tank to air dry for several days will kill off any biological parasites that may have been in the tank. Copper is adsorbed by glass and if you ever used copper, you will need to do a much more thorough sterilization.

[Aaikau]

Yiks, I guess I will need more information about the copper removal from glass. This tank was used for 2-3 years now, I have had a some outbreaks and used medications (which I am sure had copper like they all do). Could you let me know how to clean it out? I really want to do it right. THANKS!

[Ninong]

My most honest and sincere advice is to NOT use that 44-gal tank for a reef aquarium. Buy a new tank!

I would normally link to a couple of threads on Dr. Ron Shimek's forum on Reef Central but lately people have been having difficulty accessing Reef Central so I will copy a couple of comments AND post the link:

"Once added to a tank, it is essentially impossible to remove. It adsorbs onto every surface in the system and will gradually leach off for years. Copper is lethal in 1-2 ppb range and nothing we have access to in the hobby removes it easily or tests for it reliably in those ranges."

"As is your tank is good for freshwater fish, or a terrarium. However, there is enough copper on the walls, and in and on any substrate to gradually poison the system for years." Reef Central Online Community

Just in case you really do want to go through with the decontamination process, here is the exact decontamination procedure that Dr. Shimek recommended in a previous thread:

The decon procedure is lengthy, unpleasant and dangerous. It is based on the fact that copper tends to adsorb onto all surfaces in the tank. You can't decon sand or live rock, I would dispose of it.

The decon procedure was used in a bioassay lab I once supervised and it works, but...

Remove all contents from the tank and dry it.

Do all of the following in out of doors or in a VERY well ventilated space.

Rinse and scrub the entire tank inside surfaces with full strength muriatic (hydrochloric) acid. WEAR RUBBER GLOVES AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING - THIS STUFF IS DANGEROUS
When done, rinse the tank completely with RO/DI water. Repeat the rinse step 9 more times.
Rinse and scrub the entire inner surfaces with acetone. CAUTION, THIS STUFF IS VERY POISONOUS AND EXPLOSIVE.
Do the same 10 x rinse cycle.

Let the tank dry.

When you are done the tank will not have any metals contamination.

The rationale behind the steps:

The acid wash removes the adsorbed inorganic metals.

The aceton wash removes any organic-metal complexes that survived the acid wash.

The rinse cycles remove all traces of the materials.

It will be less time consuming and less dangerous to simply buy a new 30 gallon tank and convert your old one into a terrarium.

My lab had to do this procedure as we did many tests and continually buying new aquaria was out of the question. The laboratory personnel that did the procedure wore protective clothing and performed the process under a fume hood. If you do this, you might also consider getting a respirator.


Good luck!

[dougc]

I converted a tank from a fish-only marine tank (before the age of live rock), which had been dosed with copper-based medications, to a reef and did not have any apparent problems. I thoroughly rinsed the tank, cleaned it with Lime-Away, and rinsed several more times.

I may be the only one who has ever used Lime-Away on a fish tank, but it is very effective at removing mineral deposits and even coralline algae. I use it instead of vinegar to clean my powerheads because it is much faster. I can't wholeheartedly endorse this folly, since I cannot be certain there is not some perfectly sound scientific reason that it is a terrible idea.

I had not heard that glass would adsorb copper. I am curious to know how it can be removed.

[Ninong]

I had not heard that glass would adsorb copper. I am curious to know how it can be removed.

Besides the comments about copper being adsorbed by glass that I read in Dr. Shimek's posts, I have come across EPA testing procedures for copper tolerance in various animals that include adjustments for the amount of the copper that will be adsorbed by the glass.

P.S. -- I believe I googled "copper adsorbed by glass" and got a bunch of hits.

[Penguin]

With all due respect to Dr. Ron, IMO such a painstaking and involved decontamination process is not necessary. I've successfully kept reef invertebrates in a tank previously dosed with copper. A little soap/bleach, water, and elbow grease was all that was needed. Again, this is just my opinion. I don't think Dr. Ron's recommended procedure is necessarily the last word on this subject.

[noobie reefer]

hey there

i would also suggest what ninong said just buying a new tank. you will have a clean tank so no worries at all about the copper or anything. Also you can give it some good thought about the shape and size of the new one. I was going to get a smaller tank but last minute changed my mind to go a bit bigger, now i wish that i got an even bigger one but that will have to wait. also it will be easier to maintain water quality in a larger tank. Check for prices of ro water at yr lfs its not outragous where i am.

Good luck

[Aaikau]

Thanks for all the info and suggestions!