I Bought a SEVERELY abused tank...HELP!!!

[Purevil21]

The other ballast is fine.

The rock has remained submerged, so when I add all fresh water to the freshly rinsed sand and the existing rock, I should be fine once everything settles down? Obviously I will check the parameters before adding livestock, but are there any spikes I should be concerned about?

 

[Purevil21]

There is a small part of one of the rocks that is not submerged, it doesn't fit in the bucket. You can see it in the picture, but all the rest of it is sealed and submerged in 5 gallon buckets.

 

[mr_X]

yes, take the ballast to an electric supply house and have them match it up for you. should be a cheap fix. btw, power compacts are not very efficient, and the bulbs are expensive. you might want to just toss that fixture too, and get something better.
i wouldn't worry about the little bit of rock exposed. just the same though, test the water for a week or so for A, N, and N.

 

[Purevil21]

Thanks for all of your advice, I appreciate it. I am going to buy some salt and sand today, start all fresh. Would you recommend scrubbing the rock or just knocking as much detritus as possible while it is submerged in the buckets? I promise no more questions after this, haha.

 

[mr_X]

i would just shake it off...how does it look? is it engulfed in algae, or just a lot of soot on it? if it's covered with hair algae, i would scrub as much off as i could. i might even "cook" the rock for a couple months instead of using it right away (this means putting it in a bin with water, heater, and power heads and blocking out all light).

 

[Purevil21]

There isn't a lot of algae, surprisingly enough. Just a lot of food waste, etc...

 

[mr_X]

then just shake the heck out of it in the old water and put it in the tank.

 

[Purevil21]

Cool, I have 60 lbs of white sand on hold at the LFS, that's all they had in stock at the moment. So I am going to pick that up, I will post pics tonight, hopefully I will have the tank up and running, minus one of my ballast. I will have to live with one for now.

 

[Purevil21]

I lied about the one last question, how do I know if the old bio balls are still good?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Also, can you buy replacement parts for lighting ballast? I can't find a manufacture anywhere, but the fan is making a lot of noise and jamming up, it still powers the lights though. Here are some pictures.

If you have problems finding a suitable fan, that fan looks like a computer fan. Might be possible to find them online.

 

[Purevil21]

I can post some pictures later when I start to clean the sump out, I have the sump and protein skimmer. does a 65 gallon tank need two ballast? I was just wondering if the two bulbs on the working ballast would suffice.

 

[Purevil21]

Yeah, I have found a few that fit the dimensions and power. They are about 5 bucks, I would just have to order and install. Will one ballast suffice in the mean time? There are two 18 inch power compact bulbs, I do need to replace them though, only one is burning bright.

 

[Krypt]

That light will be fine for the time being, just if/when you decide to start getting corals your going to need to upgrade your lighting with something more powerful.

 

[thominil]

Trash the bioballs, more effort to clean them than they are worth. More than likely you will have little bits of broken off rock (rubble) left in the buckets after you move the rock into the tank, take the rubble and stuff it in the sump where you currently have the bioballs.

If there are portions of hair algae, I would recommend you at least scrub those areas and then rinse the rock in fresh sw because a good sized small chunk of that can spread fast when the tank has been established for a while.

 

[Purevil21]

OK, SOOOO I am about to start adding the water. I bought all new lights and ballast. New Bio Balls, all new water, and 60 lbs of sand. I rinsed the sand thoroughly and spread it out, I have 2-3" of coverage on the whole bottom.

 

[mr_X]

nice! take some pics!

 

[Hinds04]

pics

 

[Purevil21]

BEHOLD!!!! LOOK WHAT I HAVE CREATED!!! haha

I will add the rock from my tank in the coming weeks. I will be checking the parameters as I go. The protein skimmer is busted, so right now I don't have one. I will look into it this week, I just didn't feel like messing with it tonight.

The new light system is a Deep Blue SolarmaxHE double T5 System. Has moonlights too, looks nice. I know it won't support corals now, I may upgrade later, but for my FOWLR it is fine.

I am happy to report that the Maroon Clownfish LIVED!!! He was turned in to the LFS for 16 bucks which went towards the new lights. I told the LFS his name had to be Rocky to have lived in that tank.

The tank has been circulating for two hours and the water is clearing up really well. It is really starting to look nice, I will change my rocks around tomorrow, I just kind of threw them in there tonight. I still think despite the issues it was a steal for 300 bucks. I do have a question, my pump is running very well, but it sound like it is vibrating sitting in the sump. When I pick it up off the bottom it is silent, is there anything I can use to dampen this noise? Perhaps some rubber spaces of some sort...

Thanks for everyone's advice, I am happy to see this ended well for everyone. I got a tank at a steal, even if it needed some work, I managed to save the clownfish and best of all that woman is torturing anymore livestock!

 

[mr_X]

try a mouse pad or one of those rubber protectors you put in the bottom of the sink, under the pump.
doing quite well it seems. congrats!

 

[Purevil21]

Here are some before and after pics of the sump. As well as a picture I just took of the tank. The pump was disgusting, no two ways about it.

I don't think any of the rock spent more than 5 minutes total out of water during the whole move, not bad at all. LFS said he would wait two weeks before adding my livestock, assuming all levels check out.