Newbie with quick question.

[atraperegrinus]

Hey guys, total newbie here.

I've been wanting to start a SW tank for awhile but only lurked here as a non-member reading. But yesterday I found a local person moving who has a fish only with live rock tank, 55 gallon, with a aqueon 55 filter, going to assume all from petco, as it seems like its a tetra 55 gallon tank aswell. theres 4 fish, and maybe 10 lbs of live rock? possibly more and roughly 1-1.5" of coarse sand at the bottom.

I've only gotta move the whole setup about 6-8 blocks so besides the putting it in buckets part, it should go pretty quick.

im just wondering is that filter enough for the tank and 4 fish with the live rock? from what i was told they have had it up and going for a few years, the tank looked pretty clean when i checked it out. it has some lights aswell, not sure on brand, i only checked it over real quick on my way thru earlier tonight.

i'll attach the picture she sent me before i checked it out. it was taken with an old crap phone, i was scared when i seen the pic, but in person its very clear, no foggy water, and the tank was clean.

anyway, I am already saving for an ro/di system, i was planning to buy one for home use already anyway, so it's a non issue. but what else should i get for a bare minimum for now, what they are giving with the whole deal seems rather lackluster in comparison to what i see other people using.

thanks for your time! I will keep reading thru the night here aswell.


heres link to the picture
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/70013956/11403215_890489534356597_1885856003431198238_n.jpg


-Shannon

 

[atraperegrinus]

Er, i was a bit off on the 10 lbs of live rock, now that i look at the picture its way off the mark lol.

I see from reading, i'm likely better off ditching the filter all together, and getting a skimmer and/or something to facilitate waterflow?

 

[CuzzA]

I would reconsider buying this setup all together. Most new hobbyists start out with a 40 breeder and 20 long sump. Both can be purchased during Petco's $1/ gallon sale. Unlike a 55 that can't be drilled, you can easily drill the tank and use an overflow kit like the ones sold by glass-holes.com. Not to mention, most would agree that the dimensions of a 55 suck for a marine tank. In the mean time I would start collecting quality equipment like a skimmer, lights, reactors, return pump, rodi, ATO , heater and controllable powerheads. Maybe even a controller down the road. Then rock and sand and mixing container and mixing pump. Also a good algae scrapper like the Flipper or Tunze care magnet. If you can plumb your tank to a house drain, do it. It makes maintenance 10x easier.

Starting from scratch will provide you with the opportunity to learn all the aspects of a marine tank setup. Instead of possibly buying someone else's problem. I suggest searching on here for a tank/build thread you really likely and then try to duplicate it, making tweaks to fit your needs. No sense in reinventing the wheel.

Read this in its entirety. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074

And this. http://www.reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/articles/articles-by-topic

And get familiar with the type of hitchhikers to expect. The good and bad. http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml

Welcome to RC and ask questions and follow the consensus advice. Most everyone here wants to help. Good luck.

 

[atraperegrinus]

Yeah i understand this tank cant be drilled, i was sad about that. Eventually I will buy a reef ready tank, it was on the list, but this setup popped up, its a good start. then i can use this as a sump perhaps down the line.

i have a " mancave " with a dedicated corner and and well large enough area to make into a fish room, which was the original plan, but that full blown deal is a ways out yet financially.

This isn't a random person, its a friend of a friend, so i'm not worried about buying their problem, they are leaving the area and wont be able to move it in a timely manner so they are selling instead.

I've read through the set up thread a few times, i was just worried about the move of an established tank. its been going well for them for multiple years so i'm not to worried, i'll just be slowly working into the proper gear for it instead of just using what they had on hand. since what they have included is not much beyond the basic of the basic.

i already started looking for an ro/di system, and am looking at a simple hob skimmer likely the reef octopus classic-100 and some water movers/powerheads? to get started which isn't too costly.

they are including all the basic test items and stuff they have lying around.

i know buying the used system isn't ideal but for the price, $100, i talked them down too, i cant pass up on it. even just to have the tank as an extra down the line.

they only have 4 very small fish in this tank, and i likely will not change that, this is essentially just going to be a $100 test to see if i'll be interested in the long haul for a full out system down the line when my mancave is getting its finishing touches.

 

[thegrun]

If the tank has been up and running for a few years then obviously the filter will be able to keep up with the current bio-load, but I would not add any additional livestock unless you upgrade. I would not reuse the sand, it will contain a lot of trapped detritus that if released could start a new cycle, killing off all your livestock. Start fresh with dry sand. Be sure to wash the sand well before using it. To wash the sand place 5 pounds or so at a time in a 5 gallon bucket. Use a garden hose at full flow to agitate the sand. The finer grains of sand will overflow the top of the bucket, leaving the larger grains behind. Continue to agitate the water until it runs clear. I would not use "live" sand as it can contain more dead than live organisms and has the potential to start a new cycle (and cost more to purchase since you are paying for water). Try to reuse as much clean water from the old system as possible to lessen the shock of new water chemistry on your livestock. Once the water from the old tank starts to get murky from stirred up detritus, don't reuse that water. Have plenty of new premade and preheated saltwater on hand to make up for the lost water. I would plan on pre-making 50% of your display tank's volume and have it ready for use. 5 gallon buckets with lids are your best friend for a tank move. Anything larger becomes very heavy to move, although for longer moves ice chests work well at maintaining water temperatures. Start by filling three buckets 1/3 with water from the tank and then add the rock from the system to one of the buckets. Continue filling buckets first with water, then rock until you have removed all the rock. Save a couple of half full buckets of clean water from the tank for the fish. Once all the rock has been removed, the fish should be easy to catch. Some fish will burrow into the sand to hide so if you come up short on your fish count you may need to sift through the sand to find the missing fish. Once you have everything back at your home and the tank in place, first set up your rock. Try to minimize the amount of time the rock is out of the water. If aquascaping the rock takes you awhile, pour some of the saltwater from the old set-up on the rock to keep it wet. Once the rock is set fill the tank with all the old water and whatever new water is necessary. You can just dump the fish directly from the buckets into the new tank to prevent injuring the fish or adding stress to the fish by netting them. Then start circulating the water, get the heaters running and the rest of the equipment. Tank moves take much longer than one would first suspect. Plan on a very long day. Best of luck and keep us posted with your results!

 

[atraperegrinus]

I did most of what you said grun, i even washed the new sand quite well.

ended up doing maybe just slightly over 50% water change because the old owners water was very murky, after getting a good look over of everything without them around i noticed they were very lazy, very little was actually really clean, the sand was terrible.

its still very cloudy from the new sand slightly, and the old owners water which was much murkier than i had originally thought. With the new stuff in and the filter and a powerhead running, it seems to be clearing up fast. I still have his 4 fish in pails with heaters and moving water though, should i add them in? even with it cloudy? its been getting better by the hour but its 10pm now, and i need to get to sleep.

the rocks actually were out of water for awhile, he had them out and in rubbermaids when i got there, he told me " oh they will be fine out of water " i filled the containers with water shortly after, but who knows how long they were without water. Some have turned white and lost color, maybe 1/3rd of it turned white, the other bit has bounced back as a nice red now that the tank is moving again.

I checked ph ammonia trites and trates, ph was 8.1-ish, ammonia was 0. trites were 0 and trates i did the test twice because i messed up the first time it was a little high, but i missed the 5 minute mark on the second test aswell by about a minute or so, it read in the middle-low range, so i dont have an actual number. i can redo it if necessary.

theres a snail in there right now, he seems to be doing already, hes enjoying climbing the new stone setup.

anyway, fish in? or let it clear up a little first? will they be okay in the buckets overnight?

 

[atraperegrinus]

Well, after reading some other threads, it sounds like since my numbers are good, cloudy and getting clear slowly, i should be okay to put them in. if i dont see anything saying not to before i head to bed i'll put them in the tank, i don't want them to end up sick/dead from being in a pail too long.

hopefully someone in the know can let me know for sure before then.

 

[atraperegrinus]

okay, well, they were clearly getting distressed, and its just about bedtime, so i finally transferred them over to the tank, which now at hour 6 is getting clearer by the hour, i hope by morning tomorrow it'll be clear and everything will still be alive!

i'll update tomorrow! thanks guys,

 

[Cunni7]

okay, well, they were clearly getting distressed, and its just about bedtime, so i finally transferred them over to the tank, which now at hour 6 is getting clearer by the hour, i hope by morning tomorrow it'll be clear and everything will still be alive!

i'll update tomorrow! thanks guys,

It's a good thing you put them in the tank before bed if the water parameters were all okay., the cloudy water is fine for them to be in. I hope everything was the same as what the water was in the buckets. A big change in salinity and temp would have shocked them.

I started out in the same situation as you. I've only had my tank for 3 or 4 months but have learned a ton already from experience and researching.

Anyways, I got a 90g tank for my first tank so I went in deep off the bat (no pun intended). Although, I do wish the tank was a bit smaller because I'm small and it can be overwhelming and a pain working in the tank. Bigger is better because there is more room for error though.

I got this tank from my boyfrien's friend. My boyfriend traded a computer for the tank knowing I've wanted to have a saltwater tank. He suprised me with it. I was excited to get one but went into it knowing NOTHING. So, I had to research a lot and fast because I now had this saltwater tank in my apartment after my boyfriend and his friend transported it here. The tank was in horrible shape. The rock had hair algae everywhere and was taking over the glass too, it was just a big mess. After a lot of tlc I have it in decent shape. It came with 3 fish and anemones. I was worried about having the anemones considering I was so new to this but I have managed to keep them alive, lol.

So, I know what you are going through getting an established tank in not the best shape. It was overwhelming at first but I'm getting the hang of it. Oh, and, the tank came with crushed coral for the substrate. My nitrate has been 40+ ppm since I got the tank and after doing 20% or more water changes every week and cleaning my filter too, I decided to take the cc out because I suspected that was the culprit for my high nitrates. I couldn't clean it enough it seemed like, so much crud came out everytime. You wont even believe how disgusting it was taking it out. The previous owner clearly neglected the tank.

But now, I'm going bere bottom on my tank and it was the best choice I've made so far. My nitrates are 5ppm now.

Anyways, just thought I'd tell you my story and know that I started in the same position as you, but with a much larger tank lol. Make sure you get a skimmer if they didn't have one with it, which I'm guessing they don't. If it's a canister filter you have, clean it often.

You can contact me on here if you have any questions or just want to vent about getting the tank up to par. Good luck!

 

[atraperegrinus]

It's a good thing you put them in the tank before bed if the water parameters were all okay., the cloudy water is fine for them to be in. I hope everything was the same as what the water was in the buckets. A big change in salinity and temp would have shocked them.

I started out in the same situation as you. I've only had my tank for 3 or 4 months but have learned a ton already from experience and researching.

Anyways, I got a 90g tank for my first tank so I went in deep off the bat (no pun intended). Although, I do wish the tank was a bit smaller because I'm small and it can be overwhelming and a pain working in the tank. Bigger is better because there is more room for error though.

I got this tank from my boyfrien's friend. My boyfriend traded a computer for the tank knowing I've wanted to have a saltwater tank. He suprised me with it. I was excited to get one but went into it knowing NOTHING. So, I had to research a lot and fast because I now had this saltwater tank in my apartment after my boyfriend and his friend transported it here. The tank was in horrible shape. The rock had hair algae everywhere and was taking over the glass too, it was just a big mess. After a lot of tlc I have it in decent shape. It came with 3 fish and anemones. I was worried about having the anemones considering I was so new to this but I have managed to keep them alive, lol.

So, I know what you are going through getting an established tank in not the best shape. It was overwhelming at first but I'm getting the hang of it. Oh, and, the tank came with crushed coral for the substrate. My nitrate has been 40+ ppm since I got the tank and after doing 20% or more water changes every week and cleaning my filter too, I decided to take the cc out because I suspected that was the culprit for my high nitrates. I couldn't clean it enough it seemed like, so much crud came out everytime. You wont even believe how disgusting it was taking it out. The previous owner clearly neglected the tank.

But now, I'm going bere bottom on my tank and it was the best choice I've made so far. My nitrates are 5ppm now.

Anyways, just thought I'd tell you my story and know that I started in the same position as you, but with a much larger tank lol. Make sure you get a skimmer if they didn't have one with it, which I'm guessing they don't. If it's a canister filter you have, clean it often.

You can contact me on here if you have any questions or just want to vent about getting the tank up to par. Good luck!

nice, yeah pretty much exactly how it played out with me.

The tank looked good when i was looking at it at their house, but it was clearly neglected.

i was very thorough in making sure everything was as close as possible to the buckets/old water.

everything looks very happy this morning, and the water is crystal clear.

skimmer will be getting ordered today, i only have 1 petco powerhead, so in the near future i will pick up 1 or 2 nicer ones. even at 55 gallons should i be running 2? or is 1 enough? the one in there now is 600 gpm, seems like it pushes awfully hard.

all it came with was an aquaeos 55 quiet flow filter, and it's in terrible shape, but i have alot of replacement filters, so it should last until i get a skimmer.

glad your 90 gal tank worked out, i wish i could have started with a 90, but i likely would have been overwhelemed too.

i still have some sand to blow off rocks, some of my rocks also have a bit of algae on them from the neglect of previous owner aswell, but even just the powerhead has helped clean some of it up.

 

[atraperegrinus]

Here's a picture of the tank this morning, before I used a baster to clear the live rock off, my rock layout is kinda blah, my first time going about it, and I wasnt really happy with it, but I didnt want to leave the rock too long while I was setting it up.

its just a basic tetra petco 55 gallon tank, not ideal by a long shot. only have the 1 powerhead for now, theres a few dead spots, but I'm playing with the thing to try to find the best placement for it.

Just cleaned off the rock earlier so now its a little cloudy again, but everything looks much better now.

I have a reef ocotopus classic 100 HOB skimmer on the list, I will be buying it later this coming week. Should I buy a second powerhead?

I don't plan to add any more fish, there's already 3 clowns, and a damsel.

but there's really no clean up crew, just 1 big snail. I'd like to add to that.

what type of cleanup would be safe to get with the fish I have? and/or is there anything else i should consider adding?

thanks guys!

-Shannon

 

[Shawn O]

couldn't hurt to add another powerhead. Probably good to place at opposite end, just above the rocks, maybe?

 

[atraperegrinus]

couldn't hurt to add another powerhead. Probably good to place at opposite end, just above the rocks, maybe?

yeah that's what i figured, the filter the old owners gave me is falling apart though so until the skimmer comes in to replace it, I'm gonna hold off on a powerhead on that side, just in case.

 

[homer1475]

Put some more live rock(general rule of thumb is 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per gallon) in there and dump the filter, get a decent skimmer(on your list), and another power head or 2. Place one so it blows across the top of your water for the best gas exchange, the other 2 toward the bottom. The idea is to keep dead spots to a minimum, so the more flow the merrier.

My suggestion of more rock is all dependent on what you want to do with the tank. If you want a FOWLR(fish only with live rock), then a few more rocks and no filter would be fine. If you want to go full on reef, then my suggestion of rock poundage applies. Look at it this way, 99% of your biological filtration takes place in your rocks and sandbed. So in my eyes, you can never have too much rock. Unless of course that's all you see. lol

 

[CuzzA]

You may want to consider selling the 3rd clown. 3 will likely become 2 when a couple pairs and becomes territorial. They usually wack the odd man out.

 

[atraperegrinus]

Put some more live rock(general rule of thumb is 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per gallon) in there and dump the filter, get a decent skimmer(on your list), and another power head or 2. Place one so it blows across the top of your water for the best gas exchange, the other 2 toward the bottom. The idea is to keep dead spots to a minimum, so the more flow the merrier.

My suggestion of more rock is all dependent on what you want to do with the tank. If you want a FOWLR(fish only with live rock), then a few more rocks and no filter would be fine. If you want to go full on reef, then my suggestion of rock poundage applies. Look at it this way, 99% of your biological filtration takes place in your rocks and sandbed. So in my eyes, you can never have too much rock. Unless of course that's all you see. lol

hey homer!

my limitation on rock is the tetra tank at this point, only way is to build upwards with rock, its not very wide, which i could do, but right now its pretty crowded, not much available horizontal real estate left.

I'd say there's probably 35-40 lbs there now, so I might get some more but right now i'd rather spend the money on a skimmer and powerheads like you mentioned.

thanks for taking the time to read and post Love how much feedback you get here so quickly.

 

[atraperegrinus]

You may want to consider selling the 3rd clown. 3 will likely become 2 when a couple pairs and becomes territorial. They usually wack the odd man out.

i honestly thought the big guy was gonna die during the move ( previous owner got him stuck in a net, and he was VERY stressed, hes 6 years old, and the old owner said he was an a-hole to the other 2. But he sprang back. that was actually my first thoughts after i got home was maybe cutting back to only 2.

 

[homer1475]

Make a cave on one side leaving the other side open space. There's a thread around here about aquascaping(forget what section I read it). That amount of rock looks a little light to be 35 to 40 pounds.

 

[atraperegrinus]

Make a cave on one side leaving the other side open space. There's a thread around here about aquascaping(forget what section I read it). That amount of rock looks a little light to be 35 to 40 pounds.

okay, so I assume then, with live rocks it's okay to move after its all been placed? as long as i dont kick up a ton of sand? I thought you wanted to avoid moving it too much so as to not trap stuff under it?

 

[ZeeSparrow]

New sand? Just move it out of the way so you can set your rocks on the glass. I changed my scape around 4 or 5 times before finding one I am happy with... and now I'm considering adding a little more rock!