I just got a used 90G complete setup. Help!

[JoeyH08]

My wife and I bought a nano setup about a month ago and love everything about it. From the hitchhikers to the shrimp that eat from our hands. We decided to look for a used setup on craigslist or in local Facebook groups. We found a couple that was moving and they needed to part with a 90G Wavefront Tank.

Heres what it has.

90G Oceanic Wavefront tank.

40G Acrylic Sump

Reef Octopus Skimmer Model # 6520B

Zetlight ZP3600 Led Light

Phosban Reactor 150

Multiple Powerheads

Multiple Test Kits

Refractometer

Bags of other various stuff.

I tried to take pics of the sump but its kinda confusing.

Anyway, the whole system has a lot of salt creep. I have a feeling that the tank wasnt looked after towards the end of their time at their old house. I want to clean everything! But should I? The sump looks disgusting, should I completely clean it? I dont think that the rock inside will still be alive anymore. I also have about 10 buckets of saltwater, 5 buckets of live rock and a bucket of live sand. Again, its been in buckets all day so I dont think its alive anymore?

Should I completely get some vinegar and water and make it look new? Should I get the water in the tank and get it cycling and clean it then with a magnet sponge? I need some suggestions as this is over my head. lol. The skimmer and reactor are disgusting, too.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Much appreciated.

 

[heathlindner25]

I would clean everything , bleach the rocks and start over.

 

[Capiross1]

I would clean all equipment with a good solution of white vinegar and water, if there wasn't anything wrong with the rock (a lot of algae for example) and they have only been out of the display for 1 day I would reuse immediately and this will cut down your cycling time to a few days, next if you have the money I'd recommend replacing the sand all together if not you can rinse it in bucket until the water runs clear, and I totally forgot about oceanic making the wave tanks definitely different and I'm still upset the went out of business/sold out I've always like there tanks


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[CarrieB]

The rock isn't dead because it's been in a bucket. It can stay in a bucket with a power head indefinitely.

What I would do would be to clean the tank with vinegar and water (no soap!). Soak the powerheads in vinegar overnight. Set the tank back up with saltwater made from rodi water. Use fresh sand. Test for ammonia and nitrites until they are zero. With any luck you should have little or no cycle.

If you bleach the rocks you will lose any rock inhabitants that are currently there. Some people prefer starting with a sterile environment for fear of bad things. I'm more of an optimist and think that the life that comes with the rocks is the important stuff.


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[Chibils]

I'd soak and scrub all the equipment in bleach or vinegar. Rinse very well and make sure it's dry and free of bleach/vinegar.

Toss the sand. It's full of detritus (rotting food, fish poop, dead/dying micro-critters). You'll be far better off with new sand.

Is the saltwater stuff they siphoned out of the tank when they emptied it? If so, toss it and mix fresh.

Let the rock dry in the sun for a few days. Then carefully soak it in diluted muriatic acid. It's very important to dilute the acid properly. There's info online on how to do this. Muriatic acid can be had from Home Depot or similar. It will dissolve all the crap on the outside of the rocks as well as a very thin outer layer of the rock as well. You will end up with sparkling clean rock that's as good as new, but please be careful when handling powerful chemicals like the acid.

Once everything is clean, you can add the sand and rock to the add, fill with fresh saltwater, and begin the cycle.

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[JoeyH08]

Can I get some feedback on my sump, please? I think the way he had it setup was the small area on the left was where the water came into the sump. He had live rock rubble in the bottom. The next chamber was where he had the skimmer and reactor. The third chamber has an eggcrate shelf that he had sponges on, then the last area was where the return pump was.

Id like to have a refugium, too. Can I do this somehow?

 

[heathlindner25]

A little more caustic approach then I like to give to beginners, but yes start from scratch

 

[davehead86]

I completly agree to start from scratch. If you are telling me that it has tons of salt creep that means they werent caring for the thing much at the end which is an excellent observation. You have NO IDEA what is in that rock. It could have ICH or bryopsis or any number of nasty algae or god forbid dinoflagellets.

Take the rock. Put into bucket. Bleach the rock. Straight bleach over the rock and let it sit for a day. Take the rock out and flip it over in the bucket, sit for another day. Dump the bleach. Rinse rocks with garden hose or in sink. Get RODI water. Put rock into water. Pour PRIME into water with rocks (this gets rid of all bleach). You will have to do this 2-3 times. Once the rock doesnt smell like bleach anymore I do it one more time and then you have rock that is dead and ready for the display.

If you have a LFS that you trust you can get a piece of live rock from them and that will seed the tank and the dead rock in the tank.


I will NEVER EVER EVER take rock from a craiglist / facebook buy and put it into my tank without doing this. Far too many variable for complete disaster.

 

[davehead86]

Oh and dump the old saltwater (you dont need it). Dump the old live sand (its literally got too much crap in it). Keep the live rock and follow the procedure.

Buy new argonite or sand for the bottom of the tank. Clean it really well so it doesnt dust storm the tank when you add water.