Inherited friends tank

[merdock686]

My name is scott. a friend of mine passed not to long ago and i took is salt water tank to take care of but i only have fresh water tanks so i don't know anything about it so i am starting from the start but here is the run down 30 gallon a bunch of fiji live rock and live sand no fish or coral but does have some star fish it has a bio wheel filter on the back a water circulator heater and a very nice corral life lamp….. when i went to get it his wife said she hasn't touched it in week it was over taken by green algae all over the glass and live rocks and there is pink on the glass i cleaned most of the glass but i am not sure what to do with the live rock or the sand i saved over half of the water that was in it when i moved it …. i need help on what to do next ? please help i want this to be a sweet tank

 

[mr_X]

You could just pull the rocks and sand and scrub off the rocks with a brush, rinse them in the tank water, toss the sand, and then put them back, completely re-cycling the tank and starting over.
Moving the tank and trying to combat that algae and cyanobacteria (the pink stuff i'm guessing) is going to be an uphill battle.

 

[merdock686]

so you think it is best to take the rocks out and scrub them and get new live sand and start over

 

[mr_X]

Not live sand, that's a waste of money, just get dry sand. It will become live eventually. Yes, I don't think you should keep the sand. Usually, the sand bed has a lot of uneaten food and fish poop stored up in it that when disturbed, causes an ideal environment for algae to take off. Of course if the sand bed is only a month or two old, there won't be much in it, but I'm guessing this tank has been up for a while.

 

[MJSerik]

Aren't bio wheels bad for saltwater? I could be wrong.

 

[mr_X]

It's the same concept as bio balls in a wet/dry, but requiring less maintenance IMO. It houses aerobic bacteria, which is good to have, but it does nothing to remove nitrate. It's not a bad thing. If you have a decent amount of live rock I don't think it's a necessary component, but I wouldn't be afraid to keep it.

 

[merdock686]

thank you very much … how much sand do i get for a 30 gallon tank? and what do i do with the star fish ? how long do you think it will take to cycle ? and when do i now i can put fish in it and how much fish is it the same rules as fresh water an inch of fish for every 5 gallons ?

 

[merdock686]

there is a bunch of live rock i will upload a pic asap

 

[DIZZLE808]

In my 30 gallon I had about 45lbs of sand which was enough for me, if you're going for a DSB then you'll need more. Seeing as how you are going to cycle all over again I would take the star fish to the nearest LFS and give him to them. Cycling varies for everyone, my 30 cycled in about 2 weeks. Cycles can range anywhere from there to over a month. You'll also need to buy yourself a saltwater test kit. I use API Saltwater Master Test Kit. It tests Ph, Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates in your water column. At some point during the cycle your ammonia and nitrites will spike and then return to zero so the only thing that should show up in your test is nitrates. After that you can do a big water change then start slowly adding your fish.

 

[mr_X]

when you said "some starfish" i was picturing the tiny asterina stars, not full size starfish. If I'm correct, just leave them in the tank and let it cycle with them in it. Some of them will live and repopulate the tank.

No, the fresh water rule of inches per gallon does not apply to salt water. you will need to go to a site like live aquaria, and research the fish you like. They have a "nano fish" section which will probably be where you want to look for the most part.
Not researching the fish first will most likely end up bad.