pre-owned tank, newbie owner

jedi582 · 07/11/2006, 11:52 AM

I just bought this house, the dude had a 100 gal saltwater tank set up and running. he said he didn't want to move so he sold it to me. well being the moron i am i bought it, and of course don't know anything about salt water tanks. can anyone give me any tips?

TIA

sir_dudeguy · 07/11/2006, 11:56 AM

well its already set up and running correct? if it is, then just ask him what exactly he did to it, and just follow that.
but i'd say just read a ton of threads on here and that wil lreally help you

mailoo · 07/11/2006, 11:59 AM

post some pics of the tank and all the peices of equipment and i am sure we can tell ya whats what and if anything is missing or wrong.....

A well established tank can be quite easy to maintain from what i know... its getting them established thats the tricky part.

sir_dudeguy · 07/11/2006, 12:00 PM

ya true..that will really help us help you.

jedi582 · 07/11/2006, 12:16 PM

well i can't get reach the previous owner. he did leave me a fish care sheet but nothing else. there is what appears to be cyano (red hairy substance) starting to grow, he did tell me the red stuff is good the green is bad.

LivinThaLyfe33 · 07/11/2006, 12:20 PM

the green hairy stuff...or the red stuff all along your sand bed...IMO i would go to you LFS buy some red sea salt and do a 10-20% waterchange and try to suck that stuff up with a turkey baster from the dollar store or where ever

jedi582 · 07/11/2006, 12:25 PM

there is no green hairy stuff.. just the red hairy stuff..there is red tinged sand on the bottom. i also have a problem my LFS is 50 miles away, anything i might need needs to be picked up at one time. with that being said, what supplies do in need?

kellyandcarrie · 07/11/2006, 12:49 PM

you lucky bugger! I would love to have a 100 gal. tank come with my house! I have to know, what did you pay for it? ( just the tank, not the house) Pics would help alot! So far it sounds like it needs a water change and more hermit crabs (clean up crew). But coming from no experience I bet you don't konw how. Run to your LFS (Local Fish Store) and plead for help! You might be able to get them to do a house call. I know that Big Als does home tank services, they could teach you. I don't know if you have one of them near you, look it up. Good luck!! Keep the questions rolling!

fsn77 · 07/11/2006, 12:53 PM

The first thing you'll need a good assessment of the system before you act. Nothing good happens quickly, but you can quickly have bad things happen by rushing things. First, I'd suggest posting some pictures -- a few close-ups of what you think are problem spots, a full tank shot, and other general tank shots. Some equipment shots would be useful, too, if you don't know much about the equipment.

Then, there's some questions...
Did he leave you any test kits? You should really have something to monitor pH and nitrate at minimum if it's a fish only tank, add calcium and KH (carbonate hardness) to the list if it's a reef tank with corals. There's many more test kits available, but those are bare essentials, IMO.
Did he have a RO/DI (reverse osmosis / deionization) unit to make water? Did he leave that for you, too? If so, it can take a couple of hours to make enough water to do a sizeable water change, so be prepared and look for appropriate water storage containers (if he left those, also).
Did he leave you any salt mix? Salt should be mixed into the water before you add it to the tank -- directions are usually on the package, be it a bag, box, or bucket.
What's currently in the tank? Fish, corals, live rock, sand, bare bottom, crushed coral, etc.? Posting pix will help a great deal here.

Some more info from you could really help provide better suggestions and possibly keep you from needlessly spending an excessive amount of money.

As for info, read through the FAQs and articles that there are links to on the homepage here. That'll get you started on your way to trying to understand all that's going on in your tank.

fsn77 · 07/11/2006, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kellyandcarrie
Run to your LFS (Local Fish Store) and plead for help! You might be able to get them to do a house call. I know that Big Als does home tank services, they could teach you. I don't know if you have one of them near you, look it up.

Don't expect that to come cheap... living that far from a lfs could easily cost you $200 - $300 for labor alone by the time you pay them for travel time, depending on how long they're at your place. A simple install on a reef tank ran $250 for a friend that lives about 40 minutes from the nearest lfs.

m3rcury · 07/11/2006, 01:02 PM

do you have any experience with aquariums? ever had a freshwater aquarium? there is a general maintenance schedule that people follow that if we know what equipment you have we can help you with.

i have a 40gallon tank and here is my general maintenance:

daily:
feed fish
make sure nothing died
check pH
make sure no equipment is clogged
add KH and Ca buffers

weekly:
clean canister filter
add freshwater to my auto top-off resevoir
check Ca, KH and nitrates
empty protein skimmer collection cup

every 2 weeks (would that be bimonthly or biweekly?):
25% water change
clean protein skimmer

So, if we know what equipment you have, we can help make a schedule like that for you.

fsn77 · 07/11/2006, 01:10 PM

You might want to try this...
See if there's a marine aquarium / reef club in your local area. It's quite likely that if you can contact them, one of the members might volunteer to come check out your tank and provide you with some hands on help and advice. If not, try to bribe them with some pizza...

A forum for an OK based club here on the board:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...s=&forumid=315

Their website:
www.omas.org

I realize that Tulsa is a long way from Pauls Valley, but there's some members in the local club where I'm at that drive hours to go to meetings, so there might be a member from that club near you.

07/11/2006, 11:52 AM	#1
jedi582 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Pauls Valley, Ok Posts: 8	pre-owned tank, newbie owner I just bought this house, the dude had a 100 gal saltwater tank set up and running. he said he didn't want to move so he sold it to me. well being the moron i am i bought it, and of course don't know anything about salt water tanks. can anyone give me any tips? TIA

07/11/2006, 11:56 AM	#2
sir_dudeguy Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 10,841	well its already set up and running correct? if it is, then just ask him what exactly he did to it, and just follow that. but i'd say just read a ton of threads on here and that wil lreally help you __________________ TAKE...LUCK!!!

07/11/2006, 11:59 AM	#3
mailoo Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Thailand Posts: 153	post some pics of the tank and all the peices of equipment and i am sure we can tell ya whats what and if anything is missing or wrong..... A well established tank can be quite easy to maintain from what i know... its getting them established thats the tricky part. __________________ Mailoo Current Tank Info: none Right now

07/11/2006, 12:00 PM	#4
sir_dudeguy Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 10,841	ya true..that will really help us help you. __________________ TAKE...LUCK!!!

07/11/2006, 12:20 PM	#6
LivinThaLyfe33 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 261	the green hairy stuff...or the red stuff all along your sand bed...IMO i would go to you LFS buy some red sea salt and do a 10-20% waterchange and try to suck that stuff up with a turkey baster from the dollar store or where ever __________________ 40Gal. SW 35-40 LR 20 Lbs. crushed coral Odyssea PS75 Protein Skimmer Arc-eyed Hawkfish Clarkii+Percula clowns 2 Bar Gobies Chocolate Chip Star Bulb Anenome Pincushin Urchin Hippo Tang

07/11/2006, 12:16 PM	#5
jedi582 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Pauls Valley, Ok Posts: 8	well i can't get reach the previous owner. he did leave me a fish care sheet but nothing else. there is what appears to be cyano (red hairy substance) starting to grow, he did tell me the red stuff is good the green is bad.

07/11/2006, 12:25 PM	#7
jedi582 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Pauls Valley, Ok Posts: 8	there is no green hairy stuff.. just the red hairy stuff..there is red tinged sand on the bottom. i also have a problem my LFS is 50 miles away, anything i might need needs to be picked up at one time. with that being said, what supplies do in need?

07/11/2006, 12:49 PM	#8
kellyandcarrie Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Canada BC Posts: 160	you lucky bugger! I would love to have a 100 gal. tank come with my house! I have to know, what did you pay for it? ( just the tank, not the house) Pics would help alot! So far it sounds like it needs a water change and more hermit crabs (clean up crew). But coming from no experience I bet you don't konw how. Run to your LFS (Local Fish Store) and plead for help! You might be able to get them to do a house call. I know that Big Als does home tank services, they could teach you. I don't know if you have one of them near you, look it up. Good luck!! Keep the questions rolling! __________________ Where did my money go?... oh there it is, in my reef tank... Current Tank Info: Live rock, some coral, a few fish, working on it =)

07/11/2006, 12:53 PM	#9
fsn77 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: SC Posts: 777	The first thing you'll need a good assessment of the system before you act. Nothing good happens quickly, but you can quickly have bad things happen by rushing things. First, I'd suggest posting some pictures -- a few close-ups of what you think are problem spots, a full tank shot, and other general tank shots. Some equipment shots would be useful, too, if you don't know much about the equipment. Then, there's some questions... Did he leave you any test kits? You should really have something to monitor pH and nitrate at minimum if it's a fish only tank, add calcium and KH (carbonate hardness) to the list if it's a reef tank with corals. There's many more test kits available, but those are bare essentials, IMO. Did he have a RO/DI (reverse osmosis / deionization) unit to make water? Did he leave that for you, too? If so, it can take a couple of hours to make enough water to do a sizeable water change, so be prepared and look for appropriate water storage containers (if he left those, also). Did he leave you any salt mix? Salt should be mixed into the water before you add it to the tank -- directions are usually on the package, be it a bag, box, or bucket. What's currently in the tank? Fish, corals, live rock, sand, bare bottom, crushed coral, etc.? Posting pix will help a great deal here. Some more info from you could really help provide better suggestions and possibly keep you from needlessly spending an excessive amount of money. As for info, read through the FAQs and articles that there are links to on the homepage here. That'll get you started on your way to trying to understand all that's going on in your tank.

07/11/2006, 01:02 PM	#11
m3rcury Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 325	do you have any experience with aquariums? ever had a freshwater aquarium? there is a general maintenance schedule that people follow that if we know what equipment you have we can help you with. i have a 40gallon tank and here is my general maintenance: daily: feed fish make sure nothing died check pH make sure no equipment is clogged add KH and Ca buffers weekly: clean canister filter add freshwater to my auto top-off resevoir check Ca, KH and nitrates empty protein skimmer collection cup every 2 weeks (would that be bimonthly or biweekly?): 25% water change clean protein skimmer So, if we know what equipment you have, we can help make a schedule like that for you.

07/11/2006, 01:10 PM	#12
fsn77 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: SC Posts: 777	You might want to try this... See if there's a marine aquarium / reef club in your local area. It's quite likely that if you can contact them, one of the members might volunteer to come check out your tank and provide you with some hands on help and advice. If not, try to bribe them with some pizza... A forum for an OK based club here on the board: http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...s=&forumid=315 Their website: www.omas.org I realize that Tulsa is a long way from Pauls Valley, but there's some members in the local club where I'm at that drive hours to go to meetings, so there might be a member from that club near you.