Converting a Saltwater Tank to Freshwater

[littlerob904]

I recently acquired a 75g saltwater setup from a coworker. Due to cost and maintenance reasons I plan on converting over to a freshwater setup. I'm looking for advice on what to clean the tank and equipment with. The tank has an integrated wet / dry filter with bio-balls. I will be using new filter media active carbon, filter floss, and filter pads.

What I'm wondering is how thoroughly I need to clean the tank and bio-balls. Is it acceptable to just rinse with water in hopes that the good bacteria from the original setup remains? Or, should I use a bleach solution to kill any remaining bacteria from the saltwater setup?

I've also heard some things about vinegar? I plan to get rolling with tank cleaning this weekend and I'm just looking to make sure I don't under or over do it.

Also, I recieved a large amount of rock and coral with the tank that was used in the saltwater setup. Is it possible to soak or clean them to make them safe for the freshwater tank? I'm assuming they are too porous to do so, I apologize if it's a stupid question.

Thanks

 

[jsoong]

Saltwater bacteria will not live in FW (and vice versa), so you will have to start the FW cycle from scratch (or find a way to seed the tank with FW bacteria.)

Vinegar is good to remove hard water scales, coraline algae & other deposits. <Some use CLR for really tough ones, but make sure you rinse lots after.>

You can bleach sterilize everything - make sure to rinse lots after (last rinse with a double or triple dose of dechlor).

LR from SW setup has lots of stuff growing in it. It will die in FW & pollute the tank. I don't know how you might cure it for FW, perhaps boiling to kill everthing & soaking for weeks to get everything out?

Coral (dead ones, right? ) - will dissolve into soft water. It will increase your KH & pH. Good if your water has low buffering capacity, as it adds needed buffers (although you will need to use a few precautions for water changes). If you don't need the buffering, you are better off leaving that out as it complicates water changes. If you have hard water (say pH of 7.8 & up) the coral will not do much to the water & is OK to use after you cure it (prob same as for LF).

 

[littlerob904]

Wow thanks for the response. Yeah, the coral is dead. Haha. That pretty much answers all of my questions, I don't really have any hard deposits as the tank is fairly clean. I guess a bleach / water rinse will do the trick. I' might keep a couple of the nicer corals and try to cure them, but I suppose I will get rid of everything else.

Thanks for the help!