If I move on can I ever come back

[smb7676]

I'm really thinking of setting up a marine tank, my ques is if I fail or decided I don't like it as much as I thought will I ever be able to use the equip. for fresh again? I'm thinking no for the filter, and stuff but what about the tank and power heads? I can't see an issue if I get all the salt creep off and clean it well. I just don't want to go with the really big tank and end up stuck with it if I decided to come back to fw.

 

[LoachLover]

...

I think you can but I'm not the right person to ask.

 

[Paul_MTS]

you would need to wash everything down to the very last impeller in hot water as to get all the SW off.

if you were to keep things like catfish with a a salt content in the water it would do them no favours.

 

[LoachLover]

Or some puffers would like it, might want to think of a brackish tank if you fail

 

[smithrc]

we bought a marine setup from ebay and have been using one of the external filters and the UV filter on our fresh water tank for about 6 months now...

We did what paul said above - i set it up on a bucket of Very hot water and left it to dissolve and or soften for a few hours. then stripped it apart and gave it a bit of a scrub.

they have been fine - no problems atall.

The tank would be easy to clean.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I'd say you'd have no problems. Although I'd hold off the catfish for a while until you are sure there is no salt left.

 

[SirMinion]

Martha's tank is second hand and the previous owner used it for a reef.
We carefully rinsed it all with warm water and have had no problems with Martha or her tankmates.

The amount of salt that can leech out of the silicon is tiny compared to the volume of water in the tank. It might be a problem with a smaller tank perhaps, but I doubt it.

 

[Paul_MTS]

just remebered the 2nd hand UV i bought was encrusted with salty goodness when i bought it.

plenty of rinsing got rid of it all, although it was mainly covered in limescale....I don't think it was very benefical to the last user at the end of the time he had it

 

[parker313]

Yes, for all of it. You can even reuse the filter by just replacing the filter media

It's more of a challenge to go from FW to SW b/c you have to make sure that no copper based meds have ever been used in the tank. Copper is fatal to many inverts so that's why you can't use a tank for SW that's had copper meds.

But, SW to FW is no problem

 

[bunjiweb]

you can get a satchet of acid based ingredients that can be used for cleaning UV Crystals, does a very good job indeed!

The simple answer is yes, with a lot of cleaning there is no reason why not. You can even use protein skimmers etc on FW tanks although the benefit is negligable...

Ben

 

[Synirr]

My 29 gallon which currently houses my bichir and a few others was once marine, so I'm guessing it's ok... just be sure to clean it well, like everyone else mentioned