Is it worth it?

[leeveh99]

Hey guys, just new to the site and the hobby and I have a few questions. I have a friend that has a Salt Water sytem going, rather, half going. He started the system up about 8 months ago and it was doing awesome. He moved away and left his brother in charge of the tank. The brother did not look after it. It is stocked with live rock and at least two inches of live sand on the bottom. He has a very powerful protein skimmer and powerhead but due to the lack of maintnance, both have quit working and I am not even sure how long they have been off for. He does however still have a large canister filter with the output going directly into a uv sterilizer so there is very little filtration/water movement going on, but still some. The tank obviously has not had any water changes in at least a few months and there is quite a bit of detriment on the live rock. The heater has kept the water at a consistent 78 degrees. I guess my biggest question is about the live rock and live sand. Is any of it going to be salvageable if I take the right steps to clean it up? Or would I just be wasting my time because it will all be "dead". I have already given him the money for the entire system so I am just wondering if it will be a waste of time with the live rock/sand, should I just throw it out and get new stuff that has not been put through so much "torture". I appreciate all the advice in advance and look forward to being a regular contributor to this forum.

 

[rive1404]

Well first of all, Welcome!

And that system can, in fact, be salvaged. You can either choose to toss the stuff in there or seed it with a couple of new pieces of live rock and let the cycle take its course. It's your call. Some of that stuff may still be alive.

 

[buddha_red]

Welcome to AA


Do you have a picture of what your working with? If the tank has potential, it can be salvaged.

 

[leeveh99]

Pictures









hopefully this worked...

 

[thominil]

Looks good to me. Are there any fish/inverts?

 

[Zer0]

Yeah .. that tanks looks awesome. Im 100% sure you can get it up and running good as new with a little work. A few water changes if the water is spoiled and you should be fine.. As long as he wasnt dosing anything like copper directly in the tnak you should be fine.

 

[Etunes]

That tank should be able to be salvaged no problem, It looks like the skimmer needs to be replaced and needs water changes. I think i would add 1 piece of cured live rock to give the system a little jump. But besides that i would not really do anything. If the tnak was big enough i would make a sump but there is really no need to.

 

[Zer0]

Well idk, the skimmer is collecting that gunk.. so it looks to be fine. You might just need to clean it out instead of replacing it. The only way to tell if you need to replace it or not is to completely clean it out and see if it still does its job correctly. As for the sump part, course its not needed, but it sure would help quite a bit. If your getting this whole setup for free, or your going to be the one taking care of it.. for no $ ofcourse.. then i think it would be wise to setup a sump with some side cash. It would well be worth the while, and would help the tank a long way. I would definitely go with the sump if you really want to help that tank out. But other than that, as said, a few good water changes should help it out more than you think lol.

And tbh.. i really like that rockwork rofl. Looks nicer than mine Also.. it sortof looks like a 40 gallon.. but i could be wrong. You never did state how big it was so can you let us know how many gallons it is? If its anything less than 40G then i would agree on it not needing a sump. You could still get one, and it would make things run along smoother, but with a tank less than 40G, a weekly water change would accomplish the same thing as the sump.

 

[fishmonkey]

wow it doesnt look too bad. just add somee liverock and clean the protien skimmer and you should be fine!

 

[InfernoST]

If it's broken it can be fixed with a little patience. Looks good to me.

 

[Etunes]

Sorry, i read his post wrong, i thought it said the skimmer didn't work. So scratch that from my post.

 

[Zer0]

No need to scratch it out. You could be right in the first place. He said it "looks like they've quit working" so it could be broken.. and could not be. So we will just have to see whats up with it when he tells us. And as Inferno said, im sure with a little TLC you could get it back up and running perfectly.

 

[leeveh99]

No fish , he thinks maybe one crab left but has not seen it in a while. He told me he never dumped any copper in the tank and he says its a 60 gal tank. Also, the protein skimmer and powerhead do not work at all. Both pumps must be shot. Thanks to everyone for the insight!

 

[Etunes]

1 crab will not do it for that tank. Once you get it back up and runnning you need a full clean up crew with snails, crabs, hermits, etc. And you definatly need a skimmer. You might want to consider making a sump.

 

[thominil]

Etunes, hermits are crabs lol, and I do not recommend them. If you have snails, the hermits will go after your snails when they need a new shell if you don't keep spare shells in the tank. I agree on the sump. Is there any way that you can get the name and model of the skimmer from your friend? It may even be on the skimmer itself. This is just so that we can tell you if it is worth replacing the pump for it, or whether you should just get a brand new skimmer. For powerheads, try hydor koralias. They may seem expensive, but the "cheaper" powerheads will cost you more when the time comes that you need to pay your electrical bill.

 

[jessicasmarine]

You could soak the impellers on the pumps in vinegar give them a good wash and see if they start up. If they havent been taken care of they could just be encrusted

 

[leeveh99]

Hey guys, big update. I got the tank from my friend about three weeks ago and set it up in my house. I got 2 hydor # 3's and a protein skimmer. Also put a couple pieces of cured live rock in from the LFS. Left the tank to cycle for a few weeks. I have started to get some hair algae and a nasty diatom bloom ( no R/O, just tapwater conditioner ). Coraline algae is starting to spread nicely. I want to go ahead and get my cleanup crew in there to do some damage control ( 4 hermits, 4-6 snails? ) but I just want to make sure everything is good. Lights are on for 9 hours.
Here are my parameters as of last night.

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm
S.G. 1.027
78 F

I have not done a PWC yet but will be doing that tonight so I think that should help with my Nitrate levels as well as trying to get rid of as much hair algae and diatoms.

I was thinking of getting 4 hermits and 4-6 snails. I do have some sponges growing, I have seen a large brisstle worm and I have also found a spinioid ( spelling?) worm.

Do you guys think my tank is ready for the cleanup crew and maybe some fish?

 

[mandarinlove]

I wouldn't start putting any sort of cleanup crew or fish in there until you put RO/DI water in there. Tap water is only going to keep your phosphate levels way high and you were always going to continue to have algae problems.

I didn't read the previous posts but if you are planning on making this a reef tank, you REALLY should get RO/DI water from your LFS or get a unit.

I am new to this, but to the best of my knowledge, tap water is not a good thing in a reef tank.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[CaptainAhab]

CUC is fine but you might want to concentrate on the algae eating variety since you don't have anything creating waste yet. If you're not getting fish remember you need an ammonia source to keep that bacteria alive (ammonia, fish food, etc).

 

[leeveh99]

Well I did want to get a couple of clowns in there as well, as long as my perameters are good. If it is ok to put a couple in do I still have to quarantine them first? Or is the quarantine process usually used to prevent the transmission of sickness from fish to fish?