About to purchase a big used tank, need some info...

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illuminum

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 6, 2003
Messages
307
Location
Southern California
Alright, well I've found a nice tank for sale and it's a whole lot bigger than I orginally planned for (which was an 80 gal) , but the price seems right.

It's a 260 gal acrylic and is currently a FO tank with a large dog face puffer, pork puffer, 2 yellow tangs, emporator, rass, and a large maroon clown. I'd want to convert it to a reef system over time, but first I need some help from all of you here at AA.

According to the owner, it's got:
Chiller
UV Sterilizer
Skimmer
two over flows with extra bio balls
lots of coral (Fake) and rocks
custom hood with 4 long tube lights (unknown wattage, my assumption is they're VHO's, def. not MH's)

I got the photos and it looks like he's got a wet/dry filter under the tank and I've heard from many people that you do not want a wet/dry if you're going to run a reeftank. Can anyone provide some input on that? Pros & cons maybe? I could just empty it out and just turn it into a regular sump, right?

Also, if I do decide to turn this tank into a reef system, what sort of light requirements would I need? I don't plan on having any stony corals b/c I know I wouldn't be able to keep them alive w/o MH's. I would like to have clams though if it's possible. And how important are actinics in a reef? What benefit do they provide? What would I miss without them?

More Q's about the reef conversion...

Can I just start swapping the regular rock with LR, or use some of the existing rock as base rock for my LR, or is it slightly more complicated than that?

Is Live Sand really necessary? What are the pros of it and what are the cons of it? Could I just put a layer of live sand over the already existing sand, and would it seed the regular sand over time?



I know I just threw alot of questions out there that could be discusse for pages, but I would really appreciate some input here. This would be my first SW tank (I stuck to FW in the past for simplicity's sake). I've done a good amount of research on how to keep a SW tank and a reef system, but have a good while to go to become nearly as educated as any of you all. Once again, any help would be highly appreciated. One more thing, is there anything in particular I should keep an eye out for when I'm checking out the tank to make sure everything is ok?
(I'm so excited)

Thanks!
-Greg

Oh I almost forgot, here are the pics. They're big so I'll just link them for you.

Edit: I fixed the pics. thanks for pointing it out
http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/underneath.jpg

http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/uvfilter[1].jpg

http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/full tank shot.jpg
 
In reverse order

1. If the sand in the tank has been there for any amount of time, it is live sand. Same with the rock, its just not "pretty" live rock. If you want coraline algae and whatnot, you'll have to seed the existing rock with at lease 1 piece of coraline covered and have some patience.

2. For a 260, I'm thinking MH is the only way you're going to do any kind of corals, even low light. The tank is, I'm guessing, pretty darn deep and nothing else is going to pack enough punch to penetrate down that far. Clams are hi intensity light animals just like most sps. "Actinic" lighting gives a color that many people find pleasing. It can make some items glow kind of like a black light. Other than that, its just like any other light in your tank.

3. You can use a w/d on a reef as long as you clean it real often to keep build-up down. Otherwise you will have water quality issues.

4. You can use the w/d as just a sump by removing the bioballs and prefilters.
 
justmy2cents said:
The big question is how much? :mrgreen:

$1800

Indy, If you take a look at the pics, the looks like it'll be way too short for MH's. It would probably cost me an extra $1000 dollars just to get the tank properly lit with MH, not including construction of a new hood. The tank is about 8 feet wide, but I don't have the exact Length and Depth measurements on me.
 
Indy, If you take a look at the pics, the looks like it'll be way too short for MH's. It would probably cost me an extra $1000 dollars just to get the tank properly lit with MH, not including construction of a new hood.

Well, for a 260g reef tank, I think most people would say MHs are the way to go. You need a lot of light for a reef that large. You could scrap the canopy and use hanging MHs.

$1800 seems like a lot for that setup being used. If it came with LR, or better lighting, it would be a good deal. More details on what type of ligting, skimmer, chiller would help...
 
1. If the sand in the tank has been there for any amount of time, it is live sand. Same with the rock, its just not "pretty" live rock. If you want coraline algae and whatnot, you'll have to seed the existing rock with at lease 1 piece of coraline covered and have some patience.

Depends on your definition of live sand. It may be live in terms of bacteria growth, but it would be missing all of the neat pods and worms in live sand from an aquarium with LS and LR :)
 
1800$ Dont sound that bad to me if every thing you listed is included. I got my 125gal. as a wedding present and i still have with fish and all about 2500 in it
 
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