new tank questions

[flame82]

ok well i know this needs to be listed somewhere else but i have tried all day to get my question on here and this is the only one i can post in. so if someone sees please move it to the apporiate section.

anyways i picked up FREE a 65 acrlic bow front with a 20 sump( skimmer and wet/dry filter in it. there is suppose to be little over 100lbs of lr, not sure i didnt weight it, but its stacks 27 inch 17 inch wide and is at least 5 inchs thick and after moving it i would says its probably at least 100. the sand bed is at least 4 inch deep. 175 mh pendant

so problem one, i dont beleieve ro/di water was used so i have alot of green alage and some patches of bubble alage. i plan to fix phosphates by water change and a emerald crab to attach the bubble. so good ??

problem two the sand is full of junk no power heads were used so alot of stuff has piled up and it look that the tank has been up for at least 5 plus years. so if this is going to be a huge nitrate problem would it hurt that much to throught it out and by 10lbs ls from premium aquatics and the rest fill up with playsand to eventually become live sand.

the sump next issue i dont think i need the wet dry filter since i have almost 2lbs per gallon ?? and would rather out lr rubble in its place with chateo

ok and last the tank had a few fish and one of the hardest to keep a alive a mandarin goby. not sure how long this fish has been in there and i hope that there was copepods established in the tank. but i fear after moving it i may have a problem and does anyone know if i can buy some copepods somewhere. at sometime ago there was a person on ebay who sold these anyone buy some of them ?? and i cant send this little guy to the lfs they dont even know what they eat. i assume if i buy some grude from premium aquatics there would be some but maybe not enough to get any colony of them to support this guy early enough before he starves??

ok let me know if anyone has ideas i would like to get this set back and going and with 2 month upgrade to a 400 w mh and start adding corals and maybe a clam
thanks in advance

 

[flame82]

ohh forgot two things, i may use phosbuster to help remove the phosphates quickly to zero, i have found some say that mat leave some silicate behind i would assume i could reduce that easly by water change,

also i found at least 12 white jelly sack size if a nickel on the back of the lr. these all busted during transit today. i seen someone here post of them but i forget what their called and if they are good, bad, or harmless??

 

[HoopsGuru]

I would do water tests for phosphates, silicates, nitrates, etc. to try to determine what the cause might be. For everything else, I would do a large water change to bring things back into balance. My hunch is that the tank simply went downhill from lack of maintenance and turning that around will likely take care of things quickly. Keep in mind the emerald crab is an omnivore and may go after any kind of food if hungry (even fish) and may not touch the bubble algae. MAny people love them, some don't...I am in the latter but it is a personal choice for you.

For the sand problem...it may very well be filled with crap. Honestly, I would start over but this would probably mean at least a brief cycle (will likely occur even with just the transport to your house...lots of dieoff!) so the fish should be removed from the system to a holding tank. The mandarin makes it tough, especially if it is not weaned at all onto prepared foods, is it? If not, it could be trouble, and I would consider contacting a local reef club in Illinois such as The Central Illinois Marine Aquarists club. Perhaps someone could even take some orphans short or long term.

For the sump, I would not even use liverock rubble unless you have it suspended off the bottom of the some with quick flow through the void to keep detritus suspended. Otherwise, you have a similar nitrate factory. Remove any media slowly to allow the liverock to take over the nitrifying tasks completely. Trying to incorporate a fuge into the existing sump....or making a whole new sump would be beneficial in pod production, but not immediate.

Moving on, I believe the upgrade to a 400w MH is way overkill unless the bowfront is somehow over 30" deep which I don't believe it is. A 250w would cover your needs.

Removing the phosphate quickly is not necessary if you are going to do a large water change....unless the water used is the source of the phosphates which is a problem in itself. However, it appears you were implying that you would be using an RO/DI unit.

Finally, no idea on the white jelly sacks without a closeup picture.

 

[flame82]

yes the tank is 30 inches deep and the tank i can obviosly see that the maintaince was not down for a long while and i dont think the sump has run for a while the skimmer hasnt been cleaned for a while. nor will it be running for a few days i found that the pluming leeks water so i need to re silicon it and i will let the silico take at least two days to completly cure. so the sump is going to be dead as it is filled with slime and other stuff which wont help anything. so the live rock will go back into the tank with powerheads and new playsand from the home depot and i will have some livesand/grude from premium aquatics on monday probably 15lbs to get the sand started. the fish have already been in the rubber maid and i will just set them up with 22 gal rubbermaid for the week and watch water levels and then once the silicon seals i will fill the tank up so my overflow and sump can get up and running again and i will go from there

 

[flamingonhot]

i wouldnt see much trouble with keeping the mandarin,5 years is defintiely a long time to get a good copepod population,and plus if they had it that long it had to be eating something right?If you are worried about the copepods add a refugium with some live rock in it and get some sort of algae like liveaquaria's red gracilaria algae and put it in there so the copepods have somewhere to live and breed.I would definitelyy try to get in on prepared foods though just in case.

 

[cmor1701d]

You could also try making a pod pile from some rock rubble and seeding it with a detrivore kit from inland aquatics or others on-line or some LS from a local reefer. You could also try a MARINE COPEPODS KIT to grow your own till the tank is re-established.