definitely use the existing filtration but make sure your gas exchange is
sufficient; freshwater tends to hold more oxygen at a given temperature as
opposed to saltwater (you can tell if you have good gas exchange by checking
the pH...if you have adequate buffering capacity/alkalinity and the pH is
low (below 7.8), try adding some extra airstones); basically your freshwater
species might be just fine with the life support you have, but the saltwater
species may be oxygen deprived (this is seen as heavy respiratory rates or
death)
it is possible to convert either direction using very slow incremental
adjustment (like 1ppt per day for a month), however, if you go too fast,
typically most of the bacterial population will be knocked out due to
osmotic stress imposed by the rapid salinity changes; sometimes, you can
convert and only see that the nitrobacter population is impacted (you'll get
a nitrite spike)
also, in converting to saltwater, you need to continue to feed the bacterial
population so maybe you can try converting with some mollies in the tank so
they continue to produce ammonia throughout the change; you can also add
ammonium chloride if you can get some; this provides a source of ammonia
without the need for the livestock (you can cycle a tank without the
animals)
the one bad thing about doing this type of change may be from the
nitrates/phosphates you already have present in your system...starting from
scratch would avoid this, but it would take longer (6-8 weeks typically to
cycle a marine tank)
just be patient
good luck
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