Salt to freshwater

[alex gonzales]

I have a large saltwater tank that I want to convert to fresh, it has built in overflows and a sump, skimmer etc, after I clean out the tank, do I continue to use my sump as my filtration, if so, do I add bio balls? Haven't done freshwater for about 10yrs but did it for about 22 years before getting into saltwater.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Totally up to you. Skimmers don't do much for fresh water, but if you like having a sump, keep it. If you plan to keep fresh water plants, then no filtration is needed at all. Otherwise bio balls or any bio-filtration will work.

I did the same thing years ago, going from reef to planted. I gave up my sump and just used a canister filter with CO2 injection for the plants. Now I'm back to marine again, combining the two with a seagrass and macro algae planted tank.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[bertoni]

I don't know much about modern freshwater tanks, but I agree that plants can do a lot of filtration during the lighted period. I'd do some research about ammonia levels at night, but I suspect the tank would be okay without bio-balls for some stocking range.

 

[hegeh]

I dont even have bioball for my reef. Imo its fine for planted freshwater. Canister works best for planted tank with inline co2 diffuser

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[mcgyvr]

Boo.. hiss... Who goes back to freshwater?

Not to mention discussion of freshwater tanks on here is frowned upon by management..

As stated skimmers don't work well in freshwater but most if not all other things that would apply to saltwater filtration are the same in freshwater.. Its still bacteria doing most if not all of the work..

 

[alex gonzales]

Yes, my work schedule is such now that the maintenance on the saltwater tank is not getting done. I remember the freshwater tank being so easy to maintain and I really love the aquarium hobby so I thinking about making the change.

 

[alex gonzales]

Maybe a discus tank since I have an RO unit already, it's a 400 gallon tank by the way.

 

[ThRoewer]

Yes, my work schedule is such now that the maintenance on the saltwater tank is not getting done. I remember the freshwater tank being so easy to maintain and I really love the aquarium hobby so I thinking about making the change.

For me it's Freshwater that's way too work intensive (trimming plants all the time, cleaning filters,...) and difficult (each fish wants different water parameter). On top of that, the fish selection (here in California at least) sucks.
I rather stick with reef tanks which are way easier IMO. And most reef fish get along just fine with the same water parameters regardless where they come from...

 

[SantaMonica]

Can always set up a low or no-maintenance SW tank. Just sand, top off, and a section for macro that could even feed the fish. Keep it by a window, so no light needed either.

 

[Joe0813]

everything I've read on freshwater tanks is they are way more work. Planted tanks that is. guess you could get by with a petsmart special with colored gravel and stuff like that

 

[reefwiser]

My freshwater tanks are my stress free tanks. I have shrimp breeding like crazy and trim the plants once a month. Not STN or RTH. I buy fish from Wetspot online the best online source for fish and way better than any saltwater supplier.
But I have been keeping aquariums for 55 years now so I enjoy the hobby in all its forms.