CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I have scrubbed out an old 55gal that was salt and it is now a fresh water tank but I am shopping for a new much larger tank and finding many good deals. They are just all reef tanks.
My question is... Are the results from my 55gal typical? Can you switch from salt to fresh easily with a good scrub and new filtration or are there problems I got lucky and missed with my 55?
The 55 was free so I figured what the hey but now I'm looking to invest a lot more money and I don't want to make a mistake.

Thanks guys!