Initial start up. Will this work?

I'm a new guy to s/w and I just joined up here. I'm going to be switching over to s/w soon and I'm trying to do my reserch before hand. I'll give you some details first before I start asking the first of what I'm sure will be many questions. This could turn out to be a very long thread so I'll apologize for that in advance. LOL.

I recently bought some Mono Sebaes that are currently being housed in my f/w 180. These fish as I'm sure you know should be aclimated from f/w to brackish then to s/w as they mature. I've started selling off my current f/w stock and as soon as they're all gone I intend to start adding salt and slowly bringing up the s/g to the high-end of brackish. I'm currently running canister filters and the tank is decorated with about 2" of pool-filter sand and LOTS of driftwood. I do intend on switching to a sump system but I'm holding off as I'm hoping to find a 240-280(for a decent price) with the same 72" footprint of my 180. If I do find one I'll do the switch over to s/w at the same time as switching tanks.

Question 1. If I stay with the 180 and tip the scales over to s/w, can I just keep my filters hooked up until I install a sump and get it operating with a skimmer? I don't have a problem with cleaning filters or water changes in the mean time.

Question 2. Would this be a way of avoiding a prolonged cycling of the tank?

Question 3. If this will work, when should I start pulling out the driftwood and sand and start adding liverock? For now I intend this to be a FOWLR until I get some s/w experence.

Any opinions will be greatly apprreciated.
Al

 

All (well nearly) of the bacteria for the saltwater tank is held in the rock and sand. So before even starting you will have to get the sand switched out and rock in. So in the jist of things, no. You will be better off just switching over everything at once and starting from scratch. You will want to clean and sterilize everything anyways before making the decision.
Also, was copper ever run in the tank when it was freshwater? A lot of freshwater keepers run it all the time. If it was, you will not be able to have corals, inverts, or copper sensitive fish without replacing the aquarium itself and all non-metal or glass components that ever touched water while it was a freshwater tank.

 

1. Yes

2. You should not encounter a cycle if you slowly raise the salinity.

3. I wouldn't worry about the sand, you can start pulling the driftwood whenever you choose. Buy dry rock it will become live rock on its own in the tank. You will most likely get a cycle if you add live rock as it almost always has organisms that die off once it is pulled out of water. I would slowly stop using the canisters as nitrogen cycle aids once you have all of your rock in place. You can use the canisters as mechanical and chemical filtration.

 

+1 PackLeader


E

 

I agree it would be easier to empty and clean it and start over in the 180. This is just me speaking but there are lots of variables in this hobby, as I'm sure you know, and taking a bit more time upfront (cleaning/ pulling sand out) will most likely pay off in the long run and save time later. But, I understand you've got the fish you want to transition. As far as the copper in the tank being used hopefully you haven't so there are no worries either way. I have read many mixed reveiws on if silcone leaches copper or not. So, read up on that and for your own opinion. If you have used it this is another good reason to go ahead take it apart and clean it up first. I will say you have come to the right place with questions I've got lots of help here on my build. welcome to 3reef and good luck with this.

 

Okay, so my thinking was this. I didn't want to have to start up another tank to put the Monos in just so I could spend another month setting up and cycling the 180. Other than my 10 and 20 hospital tanks, I've only got a 55 to put them in. I guess it would do for a short term....I'm just trying to avoid it. I guess I should of said "putting in dry rock" and letting it, and a skimmer cycle from the bio-mass already built up in the canisters. Then as any dry rock becomes live, take away the canisters one at a time till I'm sure the rock and skimmer could handle filtering the bio-load. Copper? I've never put copper in this tank. In fact when I bought it used, I completly scrubbed it clean and did a re-seal with new chaulking. It's been set up and running as a well stocked Amazon Bio-tope for over a year and have never had a problem with the water. Regular water changes and filter cleanings are not a problem with me as that's what my Discus required anyway. I've never had a Nitrate spike because I've always washed my bio-media in the tank water that was being changed so I didn't kill my bacteria. However, if the gereral consences is that this can't be done, I will start from scratch.
Al.

 

Copper does NOT leach into glass and what little bit does leach into silicone can be removed by running the tank with a polyfilter,or with proper high quality carbon filtration, what copper that did leech into and now coming back out of the silicone can be removed until only undetectable amounts remain. In fact, the tank may very well contain trace amounts of anything and everything that it has ever contained ... and the only question for us is "is what's left enough to make a difference?" Two weeks of high quality carbon (like HydroCarbon 2) will remove all measurable amounts of copper. Truth be told -- more attention to water quality, changes, filtration and other aspects of husbandry is probably a better use of your time and effort than worrying about all the trace remains in the world.
As far as the O.P.'s tank I would have to agree with 2in10.Good luck!!

 

Yup Vinny is giving the straight up here.

I did a poll on NR a couple years back on copper use in aquariums and the use of those aquarium used later to keep inverts and corals. Some of the respondents were LFS owners. Out of the people that responded I think one held the " your tank is no longer any good if you used copper" thinking, the rest nope, they reused and reused previously copper treated tanks without issue.
I would not go as far to say the same about rock work and copper or sand and copper but silicone and tanks with copper I feel pretty comfortable about.


More than one product on the market to assist you and you can always test for copper.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Seachem_..._Filter_Media-Seachem-SC3271-FIFMCHCR-vi.html