New (used) 180gal tank advice

[MizellB]

Hello all, so i am a new member of the forum and have been out of aquariums for about 7 years. My last tank was a 75 gal FOWLR that was done on extreme budget, and I worked my tail off to maintain it. I vowed that if I ever did a tank again I was going to do it the correct way. The time has now come where I have a decent budget for the hobby and want to tackle it again. I have a friend of a friend selling me a 180 gal eurobraced tank with a total of 5 Apollo reef lighting fixtures (two are spares), apex classic, 75 gal sump, refugium, UV Sterilizer, auto topoff, 2 inches of black sand, spare 3 inches of white sand, 150 ish lbs of LR, about half that in DR, dosing pumps, and TONS of extras... too long to list. He has been in the hobby for 25 years and is the type of guy that spares no expense. Currently the tank is running and has 3 fish in it,no coral. I have seen the tank with coral and was loaded out... my question is, I have been getting mixed suggestions as to take over the tank and I would like further advice. In one hand I have been told to completely start from scratch, kill off the rock, and start a fresh tank. Others have said that since the rock for sure has no critters to keep it alive and use it when ready to shorten the cycle... although unpopular I AM going to be re using the white sand after a TON of rinsing. I don’t have a problem taking it slow but would it not be a bad idea to keep the rock alive?? I plan on eventually doing a reef tank, but again.. in time. Also... the tank has been slightly neglected as the guy hasn’t been as into the hobby as he once was. The equipment does need a good cleaning, and there is some hair Algea on the rock

[crawlerman]

Knowing the aquarium was neglected, I would start from scratch. The rock most likely has bound up phosphates. Either acid bath or bleach the rock. You also don't know what else could be in the rock. maybe he only has 3 fish because ich killed them all and you would be starting off your new system with ich. For the same reason, rinse the sand and let it dry.

[lapin]

To me it would be a no brainer to "kill" everything on the rock. Rock holds water deep inside and there for can harbor stuff you might not want. Or maybe you do want all that stuff. Dry and clean, (disinfect) the tank. Get new sand. Sand is cheap. These are my opinions, your results may vary.

[rjjr1963]

If you do start over it will take a year for the tank to really become established and even then it will continue to mature. If there are no obvious problems with the rock why not just use it.

[MizellB]

I have mixed feelings about the rock. Although nobody can be 100% sure the rock has no contaminants, I do know this guy well enough that he has a reputation, even and the LFS about being EXTREMELY picky and meticulous. The he only has 3 fish left because he recently sold off all his livestock. Here are some pics

[Fredfish]

Originally Posted by lapin

To me it would be a no brainer to "kill" everything on the rock. Rock holds water deep inside and there for can harbor stuff you might not want. Or maybe you do want all that stuff. Dry and clean, (disinfect) the tank. Get new sand. Sand is cheap. These are my opinions, your results may vary.

What sort of 'stuff' are you talking about? Mostly the rock has a microporous inside that holds all sorts of beneficial bacteria.

Why kill off the beneficial bacteria so you can establish the very same beneficial bacteria all over again? All that will do is delay the time until your tank stabilizes.

[Fredfish]

Originally Posted by MizellB

I have mixed feelings about the rock. Although nobody can be 100% sure the rock has no contaminants, I do know this guy well enough that he has a reputation, even and the LFS about being EXTREMELY picky and meticulous. The he only has 3 fish left because he recently sold off all his livestock. Here are some pics

Why?

I'll ask you the same thing I asked lapin. Exactly what are you afraid of?

The rock in those two pictures looks extremely good.

Are the fish healthy?

If there were 'bad contaminants' would that not show up in the health of the tank?

[MizellB]

I’m guessing the tank won’t be ready to run for probably a month after bringing it home due to work travel and a newly expecting baby. That being said how little big can I have the rock in tubs with a pump and heater? How frequent water changes if any? Do I need to “feed” the rock to keep it alive?

[MizellB]

The three fish in the tank are all very healthy, the Naso tabkg is Goethe and swimming good. Just out of a few buddies that do tanks two of them said to kill the rock off just to be safe. I personally don’t want to but since I haven’t been in the hobby for a while I’d like to get other opinions. More pics...

[cedwards04]

Originally Posted by crawlerman

Knowing the aquarium was neglected, I would start from scratch. The rock most likely has bound up phosphates. Either acid bath or bleach the rock. You also don't know what else could be in the rock. maybe he only has 3 fish because ich killed them all and you would be starting off your new system with ich. For the same reason, rinse the sand and let it dry.

Acid bath or bleach will not do anything for phosphates long-term.

I am personal friends with the OP and the guy selling the 180. I know with 100% confidence the rock is pest free. The tank has been somewhat neglected by the owner but not in the sense of what most of you would think when you hear those words. This guy is super neat and picky about things, but his kid isn't into the tank and he's lost interest. They have taken up a new hobby, and he set the tank up as a fowlr to make it easier to maintain. There are some minor issues that are easily resolved.

The owner has suggested to let the rock die solely bc he thinks it will be a pain to move everything and get it all set back up without the rock dying. We have access to food grade 55gallon plastic drums for very cheap, so I don't see it being a huge problem.

Personally I see no reason whatsoever to let the rock dry out, but I am fairly new to the hobby and far from an expert.

[rocsec1]

If the rock is good and from the pictures it looks good keep it alive. It is gamble, you don’t know if the rock has hidden problems, but the wait for rock to mature is a pain.

[JTL]

I would keep the rock alive.

[Rover88]

Originally Posted by MizellB

I’m guessing the tank won’t be ready to run for probably a month after bringing it home due to work travel and a newly expecting baby. That being said how little big can I have the rock in tubs with a pump and heater? How frequent water changes if any? Do I need to “feed” the rock to keep it alive?

I'd be more worried about keeping the /fish/ alive.


All the rock needs is an ammonia source. That would be the fish. If not the fish because you don't want to put them wherever you are storing the rock, then a SMALL amount of pure ammonia can be used as well.

That being said, if you are only storing it for a few weeks to a month, you might not need to feed it really anything at all. Or just throw in a few pellets and some flake flood in storage, and that'll rot and give you the ammonia it needs.


Personally, I'd try to keep the rock alive. IT will save you so much cycling time, and it looks healthy. No reason to kill it unless there are problems you are aware of in the tank.

[cedwards04]

A local fish store has agreed to keep the fish for him for a month while we get the tank moved and set back up, so keeping the fish alive shouldn't be a problem.

[hkgar]

DO NOT kill the rock. It's called live rock and I wouldn't start a reef without it.

[MizellB]

Ok.. so I’m going to store the rock in the 55 gal food grade containers while I’m getting the tank set up... the LFS is going to store the 3 fish for me for free. What about the dry rock he has ... could I put that into the LR storage to help turn that into LR?

[rffanat1c]

Yes. Just put it all together. Wouldn’t hurt to have two containers and swap once a week with fresh water. Just take rock out of bin 1 and put in bin 2. Make new water in bin 1 and after a week swap again


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[MizellB]

nice! Thx