Newbe with a free 210 gal

[CTD]

Sounds like you are not going to be bored for awhile so enjoy the fun then enjoy the tank and please make sure to post "after" pictures.
I am excited for you best of luck!
BTW great score on the tank.

[dffhogs]

OK, here is the plan:


I will take 3 65-80 gallon trash cans with wheels. I will use these to put the water in. I have 4 29 gallon totes that I will put the live rock in, with water. The fish will be bagged and taken right away to a freinds tank. The totes will be taken as soon as ready in an SUV. When they arrive, a heater and power head will be added. The tank will then be disassembled and moved. The tank and stand will go in the back of my truck and the trash cans will go on a trailer I will be pulling.

I will set the stand then clean and set the tank. I hope to get this done on Friday.

Saturday and Sunday will be cleaning everything else and refilling the tank. My RO unit should arrive on Friday so I should have enough time to make some water to top it off on Sunday.

What am I missing?

[CTD]

Time to eat and sleep!

[bigdman]

I'm not sure if anyone else mentioned this, because I made this mistake a few weeks ago when I set up a tank that was in storage.

DONT USE SOAP!!

That vinegar idea sounds good, someone told me to use bleach but everything has to be completely dry before you fill it back up with water otherwise the beach will get in the system but when dry does not leave residue. I used rubbing alcholol. Good luck bro. I priced out a 210 gal system and it would run you about $2700. emtpy.

Personally. I would empty everything out and probably not put most of it back. Its more fun to watch it grow from scratch.

[dffhogs]

Update:

The move went as I expected. I got the tank cleaned and moved onto the stand Friday. Saturday I started adding the water, 80 lbs of new sand and the rocks that didnt have any growth, along with heaters. Sunday I added the rocks with growth and toped it off with about 35 gallons of mixed saltwater.

It is a 180 gallon tank instead of a 210. 72" x 24" x 24"

It looks like everything that was growing on the rocks is still alive and doing well except for the calupera, I scrubed it off.

Just tested it and here are the results:

PH - 8.3
Alkalinity - 2.3 (says normal on the Red Sea pro-lab test card)
Ammonia - .25
Nitrite - 0.0
Nitrate - 0.0
Specific gravity - 1.024 (refractometer)


Like I said, everything looks alive and doing well.

How often should I continue to test and when can I add the fish back in?

[Ziggy953]

180 for free beats a 210 that you had to pay for!

since this was a move I would get the fish back in there and be mixing SW up ready for a PWC if you see a spike in ammonia. I doubt you will since you kept the rock submerged. Test the water daily for a week or so just to make sure that you don't get any spikes. I would suggest doing Weekly PWCs for the next month and then do PWCs every other week. Sounds like a lot of work but you will develop a system and it will be painless.

Make sure that the water temp is stable as well. Oh and acclimate the fish to the tank before putting them in.

[dffhogs]

Originally Posted by Ziggy953

180 for free beats a 210 that you had to pay for!

since this was a move I would get the fish back in there and be mixing SW up ready for a PWC if you see a spike in ammonia. I doubt you will since you kept the rock submerged. Test the water daily for a week or so just to make sure that you don't get any spikes. I would suggest doing Weekly PWCs for the next month and then do PWCs every other week. Sounds like a lot of work but you will develop a system and it will be painless.

Make sure that the water temp is stable as well. Oh and acclimate the fish to the tank before putting them in.

I agree, cant beat free

PWC - 10%, 20%, 30%???

[Ziggy953]

I would do at least 20% weekly for a while. Test your water once a week before you do the water change and see what your parameters look like. If you are getting good readings then you can cut back on the pwcs. I would still do PWCs every other week. Keeping fresh SW replenished in the tank makes a huge difference in the health of your system.

[dffhogs]

Originally Posted by Ziggy953

I would do at least 20% weekly for a while. Test your water once a week before you do the water change and see what your parameters look like. If you are getting good readings then you can cut back on the pwcs. I would still do PWCs every other week. Keeping fresh SW replenished in the tank makes a huge difference in the health of your system.

Thanks, will do.