In the years that I've kept tanks, I've never thought of this until today...

[malawidave]

I have a puzzler... Aragonite... that has been in an established Freshwater tank for little over 2 years... If it goes into Saltwater, does it retain the benificial bacteria or does it die?

Could it be acclimated, by going brackish, then full salinity? hmmmmmmmmm.... I was thinking of this while I was driving to my sons house and its been bugging me all night...

What do you think... or Know... cause I can save a butt load of money if it can lol

 

[blacktip]

My understanding is that separate species of bacteria exist/flourish in freshwater and saltwater. Therefore, going straight from freshwater to saltwater would probably kill off the entire bacteria colony. If you slowly acclimated from fresh to full saltwater over a period of time then it would likely work. But that could take just about as long as starting a new cycle .

I'm no expert on this matter, and I can't speak from experience. So take it for what it's worth.

 

[Dart7383]

I know that there are different bacteria that grow in fresh and saltwater. When you are raising SG in a brackish tank, you cant raise the SG more than .002 a week. If you raise the SG too fast, you will kill off your BB. It could probably be done, but would take you months to slowly go from fresh to marine.

 

[malawidave]

Ok... kinda figured that would be my luck ha ha ha... well now heres another thought... would it kill Marine bacteria if i put it in a tank with good live rock?

The reason for all this is... is that Im putting together a little 10g invert and maybe 1 fish tank for my son... just things like hermits, shrimp, feather dusters, tube worms, and maybe a chocolate chip or a little nano fish or something... just something for HIM... Ive got 40lbs of live rock just chillin out in a 30 gallon with nothing in it... was planning on selling it, but I figured I got a little 10g that I wasnt using anymore and figured I could put the rock in it... but I have no extra substrate but in my Large fresh tank I can pull a few Lbs out of that and wouldnt be noticed...

there in lies the question... I didnt want to kill the live rock... most importantly, but was just wondering if the sand would stay live or have to re-establish under salt...

thanks everyone

 

[Otherone]

Something else to consider - Bio colonies die when they are disturbed, IMO the colonies in the substrate are much more fragile and take a far greater time to establish than those the inhabit live rock. More than likely - adding used substrate from another tank that wasn't salt to begin with will cause another ammonia spike that could last a few weeks as the bacteria dies off.

 

[Sancha]

I went fresh-brackish-salt in a month and a half.

 

[Kevin8888]

Just saying... but throw the sand into full salt, it will then cycle, then you can add it to w/e you want without problems (likely). Though if your sand bed is to thick you could cause problems by moving it via anarobic bacteria being exposed to air when moved therefore killing them therefore starting cycle again.

OR you could just put the sand in with the live rock right away, and then watch the parameters of the water continuously, and do water changes as nessisary, preventing and damage to the live rock.