Turning Freshwater into Saltwater!

[Aiptasia_Farm_DotCom]

Alrighty then. So when my dad and i first got started with aquariums we were freshwater fiends..we have this 55 gallon tank and it was cool..for a while. then we got our marine tank and everything in the other tank was just plain BORING. so we are giving these fish away to a friend and now we wanna flip the tank and make it a speices tank. i know we cant put coral in it because of the copper and meds we have bombarded it with in the past..so any suggestions?

 

[acemow]

What about a ribbon eel and some smaller, more aggressive fish; a wrasse of some sort or a pigmy angel fish, coral beauty. In the unanswered posts forum there are a bunch of wrasse varieties listed, maybe one will grab your attention

 

[Aiptasia_Farm_DotCom]

I know that we are gonna put some triggers and maybe a lion..but i was just askin if there was any other extra things i woud have to because its been a freshwater tank for 5+ years

 

[winyfrog]

Change the filtration and substrate. I am not completly clear as to what your question is?

 

[project5k]

well, first of all if its a 55 then your not gonna put THAT many fish in the tank, remember that the old 1 inch per 1 gallon rule from fresh water does not apply to salt, the stocking limits are much lower...

secondly, so what if you used that tank in the past for whatever... wash it out real good with some vinegar water, rinse the crap outta it a bunch of times, then fill it like half way and test for copper or whatever else your worried about. put a heater and a power head in there and let it "cook" for a week, and test again. if after a wek you still dont have any detectible copper or whatever, then i'd say your good to go, but some of the more experienced people on here may have a differnt opp.

 

[Aiptasia_Farm_DotCom]

Well if you live by the bob fenner rule than you would be right..haha i mean we arent gonna load the thing with fish but we arent gonna put just 2 fish in a 55 gallon aquarium..what fun is that?!
haha and thanks for the advice..we arent in a real hurry or anything so we wanna do it right!

 

[Bifferwine]

Triggers are too big for a 55, but you would have no problem with a small (or dwarf) lion.

 

[Aiptasia_Farm_DotCom]

what about a trigger and a harlequin tuskfish? and yea ive had my eye on a fuzzy dwarf lion for a long time!

 

[Bifferwine]

Any trigger, and a tuskfish, both get too large for a 55. Triggers are out of the question for a tank that size. They grow fast, they grow big, and they produce so much waste.

 

[Aiptasia_Farm_DotCom]

yeaa good call on that...soo i guess we'll just have to get another tank...sooo could we do a wrasse tank? i know my buddy has a dragon wrasse and they are so fun to watch grow up.