Any things to note when turning salt into a freshwater tank?

[davis101]

Bought a 230 wide salt water tank and I am in the process of switching it to freshwater for my aro and gars. I have cleaned all the algae and salt build up off, but I noticed the overflow box has a fair build up of crud, and it's hard for me to get in there to clean it all out. Is this going to be a concern? There is also a layer of build up in the plumbing as well. Are there any other things I should be focusing on?

On another note, can I run a seeded fx6 parallel on the ground with and into the sump for a while until the sump gets seeded? I've read that canisters are suppose to be partially gravity fed. The tank is eurobraced or I would just run it into the tank directly.

 

[Ash]

I can't help you a ton with the saltwater I did convert a tank from SW to FW and FW to SW. Both ways I just cleaned it out really good. Usually when we get a new used tank or tare down and re-set up a tank we bleach out the system. I've not had an issue doing it that way.

As for running the canister into the pump the fx6 pump should be gravity fed. I am not sure how well it would work if you laid it parallel or really what that would do. If can sit it upright and have the water pulled from the tank to the canister and add the flow line that would push the water back into the tank go into the sump instead? but I am not sure if that is something you can do. I know for the fx5 I have the directions say to make sure that the lines are above the canister.

 

[Zoodiver]

After you get a good cleaning done, just run your extra FX6 from/to the main tank while it starts to build the new colony of aerobic bacteria in the sump.

 

[davis101]

Is any of the typical saltwater stuff dangerous to freshwater fish, such as a bit of sea salt or salt water algae? Also the fx6 will be difficult to set up to the main tank due to the euro bracing. Is there any way I can hook it up to the sump instead?

 

[davis101]

I crawled into the tank and I was able to clean out the overflow box pretty good. The only thing I have to worry about now is the build up in the plumbing

 

[spiff44]

You probably didn't even need to clean it. Any crusted salt buildup wouldn't hurt a freshwater setup. Salt contribution would be negligible and a little salt for freshwater is a good thing in small amounts.

I also never heard of any disease that can transfer from saltwater to freshwater.

But for an aesthetics standpoint, it is a good opportunity to do a good cleaning.