New Tank

[mykpoz]

Well, not really new.... but new to me...

A buddy found out that I was looking at starting a tank, and he offered his to me as they are about to move, and he didn't want to fuss with it.

There are a few problems, that I think are easy enough to fix...

1. Currently the fan in the canopy has burned out... as a result they never turn on the lights... well if they do its only for a hour or so, as it gets too hot. This should and will be easy to fix.

2. They are using a HOB emperor filter like 400 or something for filtration. I plan to use this, but during setup and before I put anything new in the tank, i will have either a sump with a protein skimmer.

3. I get two free pets.... one is a snowflake eel, who is probably @ 16 inches long. The other is a chocolate chip starfish. I have heard the starfish will be a issue when i start doing reef stocking, so it will probably need to find a new home. The eel i have read mixed reviews from different people who have them in a reef tank with great success. Anyone here have a eel in a reef environment with any pro/con's?

i'll update more when i actually get the tank going and can figure out what i will need to do to get everything working correctly.

I know the current owner hasn't done any water changes in the past year, more along the line of just adding water when the level gets low.

Should i put the critters in the sump once its set up and use that to house them until i can drain and clean? or should i just do a ton of water changes for the few few months?

TIA

mykpoz

 

[lando]

What size tank?

Currently the fan in the canopy has burned out... as a result they never turn on the lights...

You will need a working light system if you plan on having a reef. Besides, what good is keeping fish if you can not see them? Do you know the type of lights and wattage?

They are using a HOB emperor filter like 400 or something for filtration. I plan to use this, but during setup and before I put anything new in the tank, i will have either a sump with a protein skimmer.

It is a decent HOB filter. A sump/skimmer combo will be much better.

I get two free pets.... one is a snowflake eel, who is probably @ 16 inches long. The other is a chocolate chip starfish. I have heard the starfish will be a issue when i start doing reef stocking, so it will probably need to find a new home. The eel i have read mixed reviews from different people who have them in a reef tank with great success. Anyone here have a eel in a reef environment with any pro/con's?

The CC star will be very destructive in a reef environment. The eat soft corals and can topple rockwork. The eel will do fine with corals but posses a major threat to any ornamental inverts (crabs, snails, shrimp etc...).

Should i put the critters in the sump once its set up and use that to house them until i can drain and clean? or should i just do a ton of water changes for the few few months?

It really depends on what the water parameters are. a major tank cleaning will likely disturb the biological filtration that is already established in the tank. This should be avoided. If you can manage to preserve most of the tank during the move, a frequent PWC schedule should help get things back on track.
Any LR in the tank? What type of substrate?

 

[mykpoz]

The tank is supposed to be a 55gal, estimates that its atleast 4 feet wide, and around 20 inches tall. Gosh, i really thought i put that on the original post, silly me.

He said that he replaced the bulbs with VHO's white/blue? last christmas, but never turns them on due to the fan not working (which can be replaced)

Substrate and live rock? It has sand, so I guess I will have to see if its the right kind of sand, as its only been fish only tank, and he probably didnt pay too much attention to the kind of sand. Also says there are 2 pieces of LR one large one and another flatter one, that the starfish and eel hide under.

I should have more info once i get to have a good look at it once its at my house.

but if there is anything else i need to look for/at let me know.

TIA

mykpoz

 

[malkore]

If there's only 2 pieces of LR, that's probably 10lbs or less. YOu'll want at least 55 lbs of live rock for biological filtration, up to 110lbs.

 

[mykpoz]

Since I am now looking at a sump solution, is there another recommendation for a skimmer since the BakPak2 is a HOB?