Hello everyone, I've been browsing though the site and figured I should introduce myself.
I'll start out with a little about my past & aquariums. I've always had freshwater setups. Started out as a kid with a little 10 gallon tank. Was given a 30 gallon, then added a 55gal. Shortly thereafter a former employer of mine closed up and I was offered their 220 gal with a couple parrot fish & a bunch of other randoms. An offer I couldn't refuse as no one else was capable of having such a large tank. I'm from WNY and during a prolonged power outage we lost one of the parrots and a few others. Since then my other half unknowingly came home one day with a baby Pacu and if anyone knows anything about Pacu's it's how big they get. In the meantime we had another short power outage which unknowingly tripped the GFCI resulting in the other parrot fish to die. The Pacu survived and is now about about 2ft long along with a Pleco which is about 1.5'. The 55 contains mostly fancy guppies and the 30 is used as a breeder for all them.
Now onto my new tank & the reason I'm here. I was recently given a 65 gal reef tank from someone who was moving and couldn't/didn't want to take it with them. The equipment consists of the tank itself (36"x18"x24") with a Glass-holes overflow kit leading to a 10 gal sump and a Danner return pump. A CPR Back-Pak skimmer, a Hydor Koralia 600gph circ pump, MH light along with some other misc items.
While preparing for his move his GFCI unknowingly tripped causing the death of the couple corals & fish he had. I was given about 50-55lbs of live rock & enough crush coral / sand to fill 5gal bucket plus some. He had the tank established for at least 4yrs prior.
After acquiring the tank I quickly decided it was going in the wall, framed everything up & placed the tank. In the meantime the rock sat in a couple coolers of it's existing water for about 2 days. Surprisingly it didn't smell at all., but I didn't notice any critters moving around either so I'm wondering the condition it was in prior & how he cared for the tank once everything else died. I've plumbed everything up for the sump (1.5 drain, 3/4 return) & checked out all the equipment. I plan on getting my own RO/DI system but for now a LFS sold me RO/DI water along with a bucket of salt to get me going. I placed the substrate & rock. The return pump it came with had a bad seal but in the meantime I managed to acquire a CA1800 635gph. The MH light isn't in too good of shape bulb is old & the fixture itself is pretty rusted. I got a deal on a Current Marine Orbit led 36-48" I couldn't pass up so I'm awaiting on that. The heater it came with was shot so I put in two Eheim Jagers I had sitting around along with a Finnex heat controller for extra protection. I currently have a couple small UPS's on the small tanks for air & plan on getting another for this tank to keep the power going. I do have a portable generator for long outages but we all know the power will go out when no one is around to fire it up.
I have no idea what I plan on putting in the take yet or what my options even are though I do know I plan on taking it easy at first due to the huge learning curve, all the variables and options out there.
I know I put a ton of information in a single post but do you guys have any advice or comments? How long do you think the cycle time will be factoring in the live rock situation? And no I'm not converting the 220 into a reef (at least not anytime soon) lol. I'm on a very low budget, but want to do things right.
I'll start out with a little about my past & aquariums. I've always had freshwater setups. Started out as a kid with a little 10 gallon tank. Was given a 30 gallon, then added a 55gal. Shortly thereafter a former employer of mine closed up and I was offered their 220 gal with a couple parrot fish & a bunch of other randoms. An offer I couldn't refuse as no one else was capable of having such a large tank. I'm from WNY and during a prolonged power outage we lost one of the parrots and a few others. Since then my other half unknowingly came home one day with a baby Pacu and if anyone knows anything about Pacu's it's how big they get. In the meantime we had another short power outage which unknowingly tripped the GFCI resulting in the other parrot fish to die. The Pacu survived and is now about about 2ft long along with a Pleco which is about 1.5'. The 55 contains mostly fancy guppies and the 30 is used as a breeder for all them.
Now onto my new tank & the reason I'm here. I was recently given a 65 gal reef tank from someone who was moving and couldn't/didn't want to take it with them. The equipment consists of the tank itself (36"x18"x24") with a Glass-holes overflow kit leading to a 10 gal sump and a Danner return pump. A CPR Back-Pak skimmer, a Hydor Koralia 600gph circ pump, MH light along with some other misc items.
While preparing for his move his GFCI unknowingly tripped causing the death of the couple corals & fish he had. I was given about 50-55lbs of live rock & enough crush coral / sand to fill 5gal bucket plus some. He had the tank established for at least 4yrs prior.
After acquiring the tank I quickly decided it was going in the wall, framed everything up & placed the tank. In the meantime the rock sat in a couple coolers of it's existing water for about 2 days. Surprisingly it didn't smell at all., but I didn't notice any critters moving around either so I'm wondering the condition it was in prior & how he cared for the tank once everything else died. I've plumbed everything up for the sump (1.5 drain, 3/4 return) & checked out all the equipment. I plan on getting my own RO/DI system but for now a LFS sold me RO/DI water along with a bucket of salt to get me going. I placed the substrate & rock. The return pump it came with had a bad seal but in the meantime I managed to acquire a CA1800 635gph. The MH light isn't in too good of shape bulb is old & the fixture itself is pretty rusted. I got a deal on a Current Marine Orbit led 36-48" I couldn't pass up so I'm awaiting on that. The heater it came with was shot so I put in two Eheim Jagers I had sitting around along with a Finnex heat controller for extra protection. I currently have a couple small UPS's on the small tanks for air & plan on getting another for this tank to keep the power going. I do have a portable generator for long outages but we all know the power will go out when no one is around to fire it up.
I have no idea what I plan on putting in the take yet or what my options even are though I do know I plan on taking it easy at first due to the huge learning curve, all the variables and options out there.
I know I put a ton of information in a single post but do you guys have any advice or comments? How long do you think the cycle time will be factoring in the live rock situation? And no I'm not converting the 220 into a reef (at least not anytime soon) lol. I'm on a very low budget, but want to do things right.
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