new tank

[seahawks96]

I just bought a used tank that was freshwater and want to change it to saltwater is there anything i should do to clean it first. The tank is 130gal:banana:

[Invigor]

a scrub and a rinse with clean water should be enough. congrats on taking the dive into marine :)

[Stasher]

The biggest concern for utilizing a freshwater tank for saltwater is copper. If the previous tank was medicated with copper before there will still be copper in the tank and is harmful to saltwater invertebrates and corals. I would research this as I only have been told about it but don't have the full story to go with it. I hope the tank works out for you and WELCOME :)

[Invigor]

if it's been a fresh tank all it's life, it would be very very very rare for there to have been copper used for medications. most freshwater meds are simply broadband antibiotics. and even if, I don't think there would be enough copper in the silicone to bother anything...there are products out there that "soak" up copper, but how well they work, I'm not sure.

[seahawks96]

is there any way to check for copper. the guy i got the aquarium from moved to winnipeg

[Invigor]

ask around until you find someone with a copper test kit you can borrow....they're about $20 new so it's not really worth buying it for 1 test.

another way, is to check if the silicone is blue...most medications have color (green or blue) that absorb into the silicone..if it just looks like regular silicone, chances are there's been no meds used.

[seahawks96]

all silicone looks fairly new and clean thanks for the help