First Tank!

[Slakker]

As you can see from the pictures, it's a little Eclipse 12 system. I'm picking it up (lovingly) used from a friend for $40 total, including a bunch of salt, some tools, chemicals, hydrometer, mag float, scraper, net, and some other assorted accessories.

You can see from the first pictures that it's in pretty rough shape. Looks like red algae, all sorts of unpleasantness. I took about an hour to clean off the walls of the tank and mix up water (I used much of the established water from when she had it up and running.)

Unfortunately she hasn't got her test kits for ammonia/nitrates, but the hydrometer has my SG at about 1.020 (yeah, a bit low, I know...but in my infinite wisdom I never tested the tank water when I was mixing up new stuff, and I'll have plenty of time to get it up before I add any fish)



That brings me to some questions...I've put up a picture, albeit not a good one (much respect for those of you that get great pictures of your tank...though in my defense my water is pretty cloudy) of the substrate...i've got a lot of algae laying around from cleaning out the tank (i didn't want to and had no way to get the sand out of there to clean) that the filter isn't stirring up. Should I continue banging my head against the wall trying to scoop it out, or is there a particular kind of snail or something I can get that will clean it up and benefit from eating it? You can see it in the last picture.

Also, are there any lighting upgrades that can be done in this hood? I forgot to get a picture of the light itself, but it appears to be 24w of NO fluorescent. I'm certainly not planning an anemone in this tank, but it'd be nice to get a bit better lighting just in general.

Let me know what you think. I plan on getting a test kit and adding a few pounds of LR in a week or so, and fish will follow only when I'm sure it's stable and not about to go through a hardcore cycle. I'm not expecting it to go through anything drastic, as it's mostly established water, and the sand is established, but she had it near a window and the filtration's been off for a few days (she gave her fish to the boyfriend)...so I'm not sure what to expect. Any advice you could give me would be really great...thanks in advance!

 

[Slakker]

Small update...

My water has cleared up a great deal, which I expected once I got the filter up and running again. I've still got big clumps of algae on the sandbed...I can't for the life of me figure out how to get it out.

I'm thinking about a trip to the LFS today instead of waiting the week or so until I get back from a trip to Boston. Would it be detrimental to leave it run with Live Rock for that time without any supervision? I can't really see how it would be any worse than letting it run with just the sand in there...
The only problem I see is that I won't be around to test the levels, so I won't really know how the cycle is going.

 

[Aliie]

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress oin this tank. The first pics are realy rough of the tank. I bet it took a lot to clean it up. Is it a glass or acrylic tank, I didn't see where you stated one way or the other. Sorry if I missed it.

 

[frederickk]

Please keep on posting...

 

[Slakker]

It's an acrylic tank, and somehow I managed to clean it up without scratching it up.

The girl I bought it from kept it up really well when she had her clowns in it, but after selling them she understandably stopped maintaining it. It certainly doesn't help that she had it near the window where it caught direct sun most of the day.

All in all, it really wasn't that terrible of a job...some scrubbing, scraping, etc. What concerns me now is that most of the stuff i scraped from the walls is laying on the sandbed, and is proving pretty tough to remove.

If I leave the algae on my sandbed for a week or so with lights off (including room lights and shades covering the window) will it decay and aid the cycle, or just cause problems?

 

[Slakker]

It's time for some updates. SG is right around 1.023, which if I understand correctly is a pretty good spot for it, and the temp appears to be about 78. Still no test kits.
I went looking for liverock today, and asked a few questions along the way. One of the guys I talked to seemed just absolutely appalled that I would even think of starting this tank up without completely tearing it down, cleaning it out, and buying new, fresh substrate. He was even more appalled when the question "You didn't move it with water in it, did you?" resulted in a "Yeah, just enough to cover the sand bed." Needless to say, he wasn't very helpful in finding something that would eat the algae I've got laying around. Another guy recommended some hermit crabs.

Well...the only thing I ended up buying today was a smaller siphon to try to get some of the algae out without losing substrate. I removed a bunch, which basically resulted in a 50% water change, and it is still a mess.

I've got some better pictures of it, so if anyone has any ideas, I would really, REALLY appreciate it. I'm going to be leaving it up, filtering, and dark for a little over a week, and we'll see how it looks after that. I'm a little nervous that I'm gonna come home to a disaster, but I guess worst case scenario at this point is I tear it down and start over...the only thing to be lost at this point is some sand and a little bit of time.

 

[drummereef]

I'm going to have to agree with the lfs dudes you spoke with about the tank. The last part of a used tank I would want is the sandbed. Especially after all the crud you cleaned off that's now sitting on the bottom. If it were me, I'd siphon out the sand and drain the tank. Put some new fresh dry sand in and you're back in business. Without testing it's hard to say, but I'd bet you have a nice ammonia/nitrate mess in there right now. Starting fresh would be the best thing to do, imo.

 

[Slakker]

I kind of anticipated an ammonia/nitrate mess with moving the tank and mixing up the sand bed, so I'm fully willing to keep the fish out for a while until things stabilize.

I'll see how things are looking when I get back from Boston next weekend. I'm hoping that I won't come home to a problem, but the way I figure it is, the worst thing that can happen is I lose some time.

 

[xenon]

It would cost you 15$ and 5mins to replace your sand.

I would NEVER start a new setup with used sand. Actually, I would never use sand BB4L!

Start off on the right foot and do it right the 1st time.

good luck.

 

[Slakker]

I want to thank you all for the advice...the girl I bought it from is a Marine Biology major, and she didn't seem concerned about the sand. From all my reading I couldn't think of any reasons that it would be a problem either, as I've often heard of people taking their established sand and putting it into a new tank to help it cycle. I guess that's a little different

I'd love to tell you that I'll be switching the sand out tomorrow, but I've gotta be out of the Dorms by noon tomorrow for spring break, so it's gonna have to wait a week.

Also, I've got her old filter cartridges in there still, too...would it be a better idea to replace those or should they be fine? I rinsed the pad and the wheel thoroughly before setting the tank back up after the move, and they look like they're in good shape.

What kind of sand do you recommend I get? I have heard good things about Aragamax, and I was thinking the finer grain the better...any thoughts?

Thanks again, all!

 

[oh_billy]

You might consider buying some test kits... Or petco will test your water for free

 

[Slakker]

Test kits are on my "to buy" list, for sure. I'm trying to find a kit that will test for absolutely anything I would need to test for...it seems silly to spend $10-$15 per test. At the store I was at, I would have had to buy a kit for ammonia, one for nitrite/nitrate, one for pH, one for alkalinity...just to get the basic parameters covered would easily have cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $50.

I'm assuming someone makes a test kit that will test everything I need without spending ridiculous amounts of money on separate tests. Also, something in my gut tells me to go for the wet tests rather than the strips.

I plan on taking a drive to a few LFS today to price live rock, check out some substrates, and check into test kits. It's absolutely killing me to not be able to get to my tank for a week...I'm gonna go crazy!