Salt To Fresh Tank

Alright. I don’t know if I’m in the right thread or not but I have a 75 gallon saltwater tank with a canister filter and I want to change it to a freshwater tank due to maintenance. I have heard about scrubbing the tank with water but how do I clean the filter and tubes leading to and from it? The filter is fairly new so I don’t want to buy a new one. Any ideas?

 

Clean everything by running clean fresh water through it and start fresh with new media

 

If you have salt creep or calcium buildup you can get it off with white vinegar. I just did this in January for the same reason. My best advice - don't. LOL. Now I'm starting up planted tank and still dosing stuff and spent a pile on lights. You will never be happy with gravel and plastic after having a reef tank. It's just a different obsession! haha

 

If you have salt creep or calcium buildup you can get it off with white vinegar. I just did this in January for the same reason. My best advice - don't. LOL. Now I'm starting up planted tank and still dosing stuff and spent a pile on lights. You will never be happy with gravel and plastic after having a reef tank. It's just a different obsession! haha

How should I clean the parts of the filter that I can’t reach to clean it out? I’ve wanted an Oscar for a while and just got the chance to buy one son I’m trying to get it changed over. Should I drain it and fill it with freshwater (after all rock and sand and stuff is out) and and pour in the white vinegar and let the filter run? Or should I try it only running fresh water through the hoses?

 

You can run vinegar through it and then rinse with fresh.
How funny...that's what I did....I got super bored with the oscar in a month. Hope you do better than I did
Definitely change out and put all new media in though. The BB is different in freshwater so re-using the media is pointless.

 

You can run vinegar through it and then rinse with fresh.
How funny...that's what I did....I got super bored with the oscar in a month. Hope you do better than I did
Definitely change out and put all new media in though. The BB is different in freshwater so re-using the media is pointless.

Alright. I’ll try doing that this weekend. Thanks for your help!

You can run vinegar through it and then rinse with fresh.
How funny...that's what I did....I got super bored with the oscar in a month. Hope you do better than I did
Definitely change out and put all new media in though. The BB is different in freshwater so re-using the media is pointless.

Can you send me a picture of your planted tank and if you have any of your sw tank!

 

Sure thing! This is now...and a year ago...

 

Going from saltwater to freshwater is a crime IMHO. Seriously though, I understand the maintenance factor. As mentioned above distilled white vinegar will go a long way to sanitizing the tank.

 

Sure thing! This is now...and a year ago...View attachment 566906 View attachment 566907

Those are nice! My planted tanks didn’t go to well. It grew algae like crazy. I can't wait for this transition to be over. I’m already mad at the stupid thing because I had the glass lid off and accidentally stepped on it and it shattered all over the carpet.

 

You can run vinegar through it and then rinse with fresh.
How funny...that's what I did....I got super bored with the oscar in a month. Hope you do better than I did
Definitely change out and put all new media in though. The BB is different in freshwater so re-using the media is pointless.

So I just thought about this. How much of that vinegar should be put in the tank with the fresh water to clean everything?

 

So I just thought about this. How much of that vinegar should be put in the tank with the fresh water to clean everything?

Well I didn't fill the whole thing up. I used a spray bottle of about 30% vinegar on the tank insides. I cleaned mine in place in the living room. I would use a 30% solution to clean the canister as well, maybe hook it up to a five gallon bucket though. Not sure on that, I have never owned a canister filter so that's just a guess. I think 30% will do it though as far as the strength...

 

Well I didn't fill the whole thing up. I used a spray bottle of about 30% vinegar on the tank insides. I cleaned mine in place in the living room. I would use a 30% solution to clean the canister as well, maybe hook it up to a five gallon bucket though. Not sure on that, I have never owned a canister filter so that's just a guess. I think 30% will do it though as far as the strength...

Oh ok thank you for all your help!