Thrown In At The Deep End, Not Prepared

[Spishkey]

ok, i put my hands up..i know NOTHING about keeping a saltwater tank...jack crap...zero..niks, nada....
but ive just been thrown in at the deep end.

OH came home from work...piled me, the kids and some buckets into the car, and drove back to his work. once there he led me to the bosses office and pointed to the sea aquarium in the corner declaring 'its ours and its gotta go now!'
so webagged everything up, loaded it all in the car and brought it home. the office is being refurbished and OH heard they were throwing out the tank, so offered to take it off their hands.


its a tank 80x40x40 theres a filter, heater, and some other pieces of equipment that i aint got a clue what they are. we brought all the water too, theres living rock, fish a shrimpy thing and things growing on the rocks.


can i fling it all back in the tank for now? i think its gonna die sitting in barrels...hows best to do it? do i just add the water then let the fish reacclimitise....and the rock....what do i do with that?does it have to go in a certain way? im really in way over my head here but they were literally just gonna flush the fish and dump the tank in the skip!!

will get some photos up asap of the bits i have, maybe someone can id them for me?

then i'll need some basic info on saltwater aquariums if anyone can point me to that, like water stats, temp etc.....


what have i let myself in for here....!


theres 2 of these http/www.google.be/search?hl=nl&xhr=t&q=anemoonvissen&cp=13&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=602&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi


one of these http/www.google.be/search?hl=nl&xhr=t&q=anemoonvissen&cp=13&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=602&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi#um=1&hl=nl&safe=off&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=dwergkeizer&oq=dwergkeizer&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=undefined&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=20026l20026l0l1l1l0l0l0l0l118l118l0.1l1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=526cff1dbc51a97c&biw=1024&bih=602


one of these http/www.google.be/search?hl=nl&xhr=t&q=anemoonvissen&cp=13&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=602&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi#um=1&hl=nl&safe=off&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=blauwe+juffervis&oq=blauwe+juffervis&aq=f&aqi=&aql=undefined&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=16396l16763l2l3l3l0l2l0l0l90l90l1l1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=526cff1dbc51a97c&biw=1024&bih=602

and some shrimpy thing

 

[weezawoo]

Firstly I would get the rock in some water to prevent die off. Ideally put the rock and sand in the tank with the water and get it to temp before adding the fish, can you put the fish in a bucket with a spare heater for now?

Welcome to the salty side

have a read here

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/361833-marine-resource-centre/

 

[Spishkey]

Firstly I would get the rock in some water to prevent die off. Ideally put the rock and sand in the tank with the water and get it to temp before adding the fish, can you put the fish in a bucket with a spare heater for now?

Welcome to the salty side

sorry should have said rock has never left the water, we transported it in a bucket with water from the aquarium. fish are in a bucket also with water from the aquarium but i dont know what temp they should even be at?

 

[weezawoo]

Thats good! I would say get the rock in the tank, don't worry about scaping it yet just get it in there, then sand around it, then add the water. My tank is at 27 temp.

 

[Spishkey]

thanks for the link

 

[weezawoo]

Whats the status of it all at the mo?

 

[jaylam]

Whats the stocking also? [EDIT] Just see your stocking, they are all hardy fish so should do ok.

The chances are the fish will be a bit stressed from the travel so get the rock in the tank and the fish and leave the lights out for a couple of hours whilst they calm down.

Then first thing first is to get your self some test kits, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are the must haves.

As you prob dont know when the last water change was I would get to your lfs and get some water and do a water change, that way you know when your next one should be. Aim for 20% every 2 weeks.

Keep an eye on the fish when feeding to make sure they are eating, they may not for a few days if they are stressed, if this is the case try and remove the food from the water to prevent a nirate spike.

hth, welcome to the salty side and good luck

 

[fishy55599]

you will also need a refractometer if you havent got one already.

i think you will find the shrimp are cleaner shrimp.

you need to have ro water for the watcherchanges, tap is no good for marines, either buy it from shop or make your own with a ro unit. obviously you will need salt (not table salt tho)
does it have things like skimmer, powerhead, ect also get a digital thermometer to keep an eye on the temp

 

[seffieuk]

to the salty side of the hobby

As already explained, get the water in to the tank, heat up - i'm assuming that the water you already have is from the old set-up, for now get it in the tank, with a heater and powerheads (you do have powerheads?)

I would get the live rock in as suspect the water temp is not too low - should be around 27 but a few degrees lower is not going to hurt at all.

If the sand, is from the old tank, sieve it to get out any creatures and then bin it, it will contain which you can well do without - new sand can be added later.

The fish etc - is probably best to put them in the tank, as will be less stressful.

Tomorrow - get:

Water containers
Salted ro water
Refractometer
Test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate - for now

test the water and get back to us, be ready to do a large water change though, probably at least 25%, maybe even 50%

 

[lewiss]

Everythings been covered! Good luck! Best thing that could have happened to you.. I assure you you'll be a marine addict before you know it!! I'm not even joking!!

I'm confused - where's the list of stock??

 

[woody88]

Hi mate. Let me just say that I was in the exact same position as you are. Someone threw an established marine tank at me out the blue and I didn't have a clue what to do.

All I can say is if it wasn't for the help and advice I received on here then my tank simply wouldn't have survived.
My tank at the time I received it was in dire need of help and maintenance and thanks to the help on here, PLENTY OF RESEARCH and most importantly 'patience' I wouldn't have my lovely looking tank I have now.

If i were you mate i would Read the resource threads and journals and research marine fish keeping asap and don't be afraid to ask any questions you have as were all here to help!



Like suggested grab yourself some saltwater test kits and a refractometer. Then you need to think about getting some plain RO water and some reef salt.

If you can could possibly upload some pics of your tank, fish, equipment so we can get an idea of what your up against!

Do you have a lighting unit for it?

Welcome to the salty side and Prepare to be addicted!

 

[Spishkey]

thanks for the replies, seems the chat has moved to my other thread over the equipment. ive uploaded some tank pics there

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/366074-equipment-what-is-it-and-where-does-it-go/