saltwater tank to discus

[Kateslegacy]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience in changing a tank that had been used as a reef tank to a freshwater tank for discus. I found a great deal on a big tank, but it has the remnants of the pink algae in the acrylic tank as well as every bit of the equipment having run salt water through it including a uv turbo twist, a wet/dry filter, pumps, etc.

Is this possible, or would I have to replace all of the filtrations equipment and such? Any suggestions on how to clean it out properly, or great products to use that will make it oh so easy?

Thanks for any and all help you can give!

Thanks,

Becky

[Graham]

The filters having salt water in them is nothing....a good cleaning and they'll be fine.

The problem is with any coraline algae. It's calcium carbonate based and will affect pH. It needs to be cleaned off

[Apistomaster]

Graham covered your questions well. Remove the coralline algae with dilute acid if it is present and if it is a plexiglass tank. If it is glass then a razor blade will do.
You will find the reef equipment lends itself very well to discus keeping. Probably the only thing that may need to be changed out are the lamps. You will want lights in the 6500K to 10,000K range. Actinics are not very useful in a fresh water discus tank although one small one is sometimes useful for viewing the behavior of some of the more nocturnal catfish.
A refugium as such is not very useful either in a discus set up.

[russianmd]

You can try some vinegar on that coralline algae - should clear right up!

[calihawker]

Hi Becky.
I converted my 300 gallon over to a planted discus tank. Besides the tank itself there's really not much use for most of the reef equipment. Sumps seem to be the rage among the planted folk, but I dumped mine along with the refugium, the pumps (I didn't need 5000 gallons an hour in a planted tank:)) and like Larry said the lamps.

Vinegar definately on the coralline algae.

Let us know how it goes!
You can see how my planted tank came out in the planted/show section.



Cheers!
Steve