Freshwater filter to seawater

[legrunt]

Yes, i know, scrub, sanitize etc.
But I'm wondering what would happen if i just took my freshwater canister filter that's currently filled with matrix, dump only the water out, and hook it right up to a marine tank?

 

[GBRsouth]

It's not desirable as it will quickly raise your nitrate levels too high for reefing. You would have to clean detritus out of it about every 3 to 4 days to avoid this.

Also, if you think you will have bacteria already in the media to avoid cycling, you will be disappointed as bacteria for a marine system are different. Your freshwater bacteria will die out and you will still go through a cycle.

 

[legrunt]

It's not desirable as it will quickly raise your nitrate levels too high for reefing. You would have to clean detritus out of it about every 3 to 4 days to avoid this.

Also, if you think you will have bacteria already in the media to avoid cycling, you will be disappointed as bacteria for a marine system are different. Your freshwater bacteria will die out and you will still go through a cycle.

I understand that... And expect that to be the case (freshwater bacteria is different than marine)... But then how does one explain the existence of bacteria in a bottle solutions like seachem stability which is meant for both fresh and marine?

 

[GBRsouth]

I understand that... And expect that to be the case (freshwater bacteria is different than marine)... But then how does one explain the existence of bacteria in a bottle solutions like seachem stability which is meant for both fresh and marine?

freshwater bacteria will survive for a period of time but not long term.

 

[Piranhapat]

Because that bacteria will establish in the water your using. Not switching from fresh water to saltwater.

 

[S2G]

First it would kill all fw nitrifying bacteria. Then have to recycling with sw bacteria.

That's why when you have tank of say green spotted puffers you have to raise the salinity very slowly over months to transition from fw to brackish then to marine.

 

[Paul B]

Nothing would happen. Eventually the bacteria will all croak and salt water bacteria will grow.
It will be fine if thats what you want to do.

 

[brandon429]

Everything posted on this thread has been a guess which is why we can’t locate the simple measure for the question on anyone’s post online



Op would you care to measure the results, ending the guesses

Take the canister as is and hook it up to a saltwater bucket at half or one ppm of verified free ammonia and retest it in 24 hours see if it’s oxidized

If it does, continue testing twice a week with posts to see if it stops soon after setup meaning loss of all bac from fw

If it cannot oxidize ammonia the first night, test every few days until it can and post the first measure for this in reefing.

 

[legrunt]

Everything posted on this thread has been a guess which is why we can’t locate the simple measure for the question on anyone’s post online



Op would you care to measure the results, ending the guesses

Take the canister as is and hook it up to a saltwater bucket at half or one ppm of verified free ammonia and retest it in 24 hours see if it’s oxidized

If it does, continue testing twice a week with posts to see if it stops soon after setup meaning loss of all bac from fw

If it cannot oxidize ammonia the first night, test every few days until it can and post the first measure for this in reefing.

I'd love to oblige... However, the only other canister i have is hooked up to my turtle tank.
Hmm... Those buggers have been known to live in really nasty water right? Hmm hmm hmm...
Give me a while to plan things out and see if i can do something...

 

[brandon429]

That is excellent to use for testing, the thick turtle nutrients will have the canister chock full of nitrifers. Take it apart and clean it before the test, not filled with sludge but use ro water to evacuate the whole internal filter and clean all media with clean water, this leaves all the bac in place for the test.

The saltwater test container can be a milk jug or paint bucket, depends on the size of the canister filter and it’s push rate, we don’t want a tiny filter having to reflect on large volume water so match sizes pretty close. We want the saltwater container to be easy for that filter to intake all the water easily and fast so we don’t alter test time frames

It would be taking the cleaned and prepped canister filter currently running turtles, and connecting it to a container of saltwater with 1/2 to one part per million free ammonia (dr tims ammonium chloride) we don’t want much free ammonia at all, the barest amount your saltwater ammonia tester can register above zero.

If the canister clears the ammonia by next day you’ll need to retest every few days to see if they die or keep working in a total salinity shift test. If they can’t clear it over nite, then they’re neutralized.

I’m not sure what they’ll do/don’t have a guess.

Ways to mess up the test are using too large of a saltwater container for the filter to be able to handle, and not taking pics of the ammonia test at starting zero, then 1/2 to 1 ppm, then next day

Ok see if any of that can be arranged and we will have some measures