Cleaning an old tank...

[SEAG]

Hello everyone..
I am new to saltwater fish however I have been reading up on them. We have friends that are giving us their old 40 gal tank and basically everything that goes along with it. I know it has not been used for a year or more. How should I approach cleaning everything so that I can start the maturation process?

What chemicals if any? Any do's or don'ts?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Sean

 

[Yano]

Just rinse everything well with regular water. Don't use any chemicals. Clean any intake tubes for filters with an old tooth brush to get out any debrie.

 

[ostrow]

Find out if the tank has ever (and I mean EVER) had copper in it. Was this a f/w tank? If so odds are it has and you are going to be limited to fish only setup options (see the pinned articles on the first forum in the marine section).

Even traces of copper are eventually deadly to virtually all marine inverts ... corals, snails, crabs but most important the tiny guys that clean the water for you and live in the rock and sand ... the pods and worms.

If no history of copper, then a rinse and a dry will be fine, if there are encrusted buildups on the glass get a stainless steel putty knife and when you have water in there scrape away.

Then if you plan to set up with marine, you need to rinse thoroughly with RO/DI water, then let dry, then you are good to go.

 

[SEAG]

Thanks for you help, both of you. The tank was used for salt water fish before. One quick question. What is RO/DI water? Distilled Water?
Thanks!

 

[Navarre]

RO= Reverse Osmosis Water. You can buy Units that can be plumbed into your water supply or you can buy the water from your LFS usually. (Prices vary)


As for maturing... Live rock is the fastest for maturing. Buy enough of the stuff and you wont find it needs maturing. (If you follow this method then stock lightly at first though)

 

[SEAG]

Okay..I did a basic clean with distilled H20 and I will go out to get RO H20. THere was old algae and little white crusty squiggles in the filter...got a good amout of that out. I guess a little left won't hurt. Nowwhat if there were any diseases in the tank prior? Will setting for more that a year and the H2o bath do it? I mean like ich or something...I don't think there was a problem but I thought I would ask. Does anyone have experience with a Fluval 203? Do you know the order of the Media? I also have a powerhead. Should I buy a UGF? or just stick to the Fluval? I have a 40gal. long. - I know a bit b/c I have been reading! Can't wait to get this thing set up!
Thanks everyone!
Sean

 

[Navarre]

Tanks seems clean to me.

Itch will not last that long so dont worry. However its not something you will escape, its in the tank all the time but only occurs when a fishes resistance is lowered through stress.
I would advise against using an UGF as they are outdated now and there are much better things on the market.
Are you going to use Liverock? its the best filter availble.


I have used external fluvals on my tqanks before (have 1 running now in fact) but i usually only place things in it like spnges to get rid of tiny particals or ROWAPHOS, carbon etc.

 

[SEAG]

Yes, I do plan to use live rock. Any suggestions on how many pounds to use in 40 gal long? Do I really need to clean the tank with RO H2O if I have used distilled?
Thanks!

 

[Navarre]

I would say that if you add about 25kg (44lbs) of live rock. Hopeing to add enough live rock ot reach 30-40 kg over time.

I have never cleaned my tanks with Ro or distilled water. Just use normal tap water and then let it dry. I use different water than you as its natural sea water but in your case i would fill the tank with Ro water then add the salt.

If you use normal tap water than you will find that all sorts of problems will arrise later in the tanks development.

If you are using distilled water, how are you collecting this water? I persnonally would not use it unless i was sure that it was done under laboratory conditions.

 

[SEAG]

Okay..got you on the UGF. THe distilled H2O came from gallon jugs athe the grocery store. I live in the countery and have well water - not city-tap water. I thought there might be hard chemicals like iron and copper in ther so I won't use it. I think i will get the RO water at a water store in the big 5-10 gallon jugs when I fill up. I should put the live rock in no eariler that 24 hrs after I put the water in right?
Sean

 

[Navarre]

I dont think there is any time period before you add live rock after adding the salt to the water but i would advise you to wait. The SG will be stabilising, temperature will be stabilising etc. Once you have these things stable, SG, PH, TEMP then add the live rock, 24 hours should be enough.

 

[SEAG]

Thanks Navarre for your help!
I am starting to plan for set up. How do you feel about a crushed corel substarte mixed with live and and adding live rock? OR should I go all live sand and live rock? If so, how much of each when I use both sand and rock? Again, I have a 40 gal long. Sorry for so many questions but I really want this to work. Everyone keeps telling me that I am going to have a lot of problems and I want to prove them wrong!
Thanks,
Sean

 

[Navarre]

I would mix the sand to be honest. No need for using the entire tank with live sand as it only needs a small amount to start the process off. (its far cheaper too).
If you can get just a cup of live sand this is a good start.

As for the live rock. 40 gallon will need 25-30kg of live rock. (about 55lbs minimum)

Its alot of money but its well worth it.

If you cannot afford all this live rock then get as uch as you can then search for a product called "reefbones" basically its liverock that has been left to dry out so its dead. By adding it back into the tank, it will eventually regain its liverock abilities as long as there is other live rock to help seed it. (it will still act as a good bacteria material even without real live rock as a seed)

Reefbones are far cheaper but of course the whole process takes longer to get looking right.

 

[SEAG]

Thanks again. That sounds good on the corel and adding small amount of sand + live rock.

Are you or is anyone experienced with the Fluval 203? THere is a picture of the filter media on the side of the box.(I don't have the directions) It shows the top compartment with the sponge, second with the hexegonal pre-filter and the last compartment with carbon.

The list seems to say that the sponge is on the top, carbon (or like biomax?!) second and the pre filter on the bottom. So which is it?

Should I be using different filter media than what I have?
Thanks for all of your help!!!

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Navarre]

I have a couple of 304 fluvals.
I started out with placing the haxagonal ceramic briketts in the bottom. in the middle i placed the filter sponge that was supplied with it. I left the top compartment empty to use either filter wool or carbon, Rowaphos etc.

However, i soon discovered that these were not really needed. It took me about 3 months to remove the ceramic briketts (so that the bioload would not get overloaded). I removedall but a single sponge which was used to trap larger particales of waste. The other 2 compartments were left emtpy. I did use them for Rowaphos etc but mostly the fluval was just kept running with a practically emptry canister. Mainly for a couple of reasons.

1. At the time my UV filter was conncted ot this and i was running it 24/7 so it needed a constant flow through.. the fluval was used for this. (I have since learned that UV 24/7 can domore harm than good on certains sytems).

2. The fluval helped increase the circulation in the tank. (always important)

3. Was a great place for sponges (live sponges), pods and seasquirts to take refuge and grow in safety. The spnges and especailly the squirts help to filter as well to acertain degree.