Salt Water to Fresh Water...

[nmwmab714]

My boyfriends friend has a 80gallon salt water fish tank and she wants to get rid of. We want to use it as a freshwater tank. I looked online and it said that I could use water and vinegar to get the salt and germs out of it. Is that true or is there other ways of converting it from saltwater to freshwater?!?!

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Scrape out the substrate (sand/gravel), remove all the water and then use vinegar and water to clean away any crusted salt. You now have a clean tank.

 

[nmwmab714]

ok thank you!!! im so excited to get the new tank!!!!! going from a 40 to an 80!!!!!!

 

[TommyLiNy]

I just did this with a 150, if the salt build up is bad you might want to scrape it down with a razor blade then the vinegar and water. Check the seals on the tank while your washing down too for any small bubbles, might be a leak.

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Aquarium

 

[itsgracia]

wow im so jealous!

 

[BigJim]

There's no shortcut here. You'd be best off dumping the substrate and filter media and starting fresh. Vinegar is your friend when it comes to dissolving salt deposits.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I bought my 150g used off craigslist. It was a reef tank before. I went through a ton of razor blades scraping off the coraline algae. It'll be a little work, but between razor blades and vinegar, you'll be able to get it nice and clean.

 

[nmwmab714]

thanks for the suggestions. we are getting it this weekend...should i let the water sit in the tank and test it for a longer period of time to make sure the salt is all gone?!

 

[DA fisherman]

I would remove ALL The filter media,and any substrate. Then run the tank with water and about two gallons of white vinegar over night with the empty filter running... Then empty it......then clean out all the water and vinegar and wallllllla freshwater time

I did this for a 90g I had