Jimbo662 Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 When converting a fresh water tank to salt water is it safe to just use vinegar to clean it? I know there's been no medications used in the tank...just fertilizers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCAB Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I did that with my 12 gallon tank, but I didn't have fertilizer (just gravel) and it was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I would worry a tad if it was a planted tank. Don't some micros like csm+b contain a decent amount of copper? Not sure how permanently tosuc that would be Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 I've read a bunch of posts where everyone says to give it a good scrubbing with vinegar and it'll remove enough to where the levels are low enough to be safe for inverts / corals. My plan was to run it with a little bleach first, empty it then do the scrub down with vinegar, fill it up and run it another couple of days with vinegar in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I've never heard of anyone having trouble converting a FW tank into SW. Are you worried that copper has been absorbed by the silicone and will leach out, killing your inverts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 Yeah, that had been my main concern but all the articles I found all debunked that as a myth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 It's possible if someone used high concentrations of copper in the tank for a long period of time, like in a QT. The medications that I know of that silicone absorbs are Methylene Blue and Malichite Green. Both will kill inverts, but they change the color of the silicone so they're easy to avoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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