Newbe with a free 210 gal

[dffhogs]

Someone is giving me a 210 gallon tank. It has LR and 2 clown fish @ 3", 1 yellow tang @ 5.5" and 1 unknown (at least to me) fish, it is about 2" and is a deep blue with a yellow tail. The tank has not been kept very well. It has algae and who knows what else growing everywhere. I will be moving the tank this coming Friday. I need help in cleaning? What do I use and what do I clean? The pictures below didnt come out too good. The tank had a very dirty front glass (half covered in algae) and I have a cheap camera and dont know how to photo an aquarium.

 

[Tank2379]

WELCOME TO AA!!!

OMG! Thats dirty.... First off I probably would clean off the Algea thats on the front glass to kind of get a better look or picture and what else is in there.... With your Sump IDK. You skimmer is a mess needs to be cleaned I difinetely do a Water change and Clean whatever algea thats on the LR or on your Sand Try siphoning some out and maybe replace it with new Sand. But like I said with your Sump I have no clue I will let one of the others let you know better on what to do with it. Good luck and Congradulations on the pick up.... I wish I had A free 200 gallon tank thats awesome.....

 

[brutus]

that tank scares me back to the freshwater pictures

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

that tank scares me back to the freshwater pictures

lol!

 

[dffhogs]

WELCOME TO AA!!!

OMG! Thats dirty.... First off I probably would clean off the Algea thats on the front glass to kind of get a better look or picture and what else is in there.... With your Sump IDK. You skimmer is a mess needs to be cleaned I difinetely do a Water change and Clean whatever algea thats on the LR or on your Sand Try siphoning some out and maybe replace it with new Sand. But like I said with your Sump I have no clue I will let one of the others let you know better on what to do with it. Good luck and Congradulations on the pick up.... I wish I had A free 200 gallon tank thats awesome.....

I have always had freshwater tanks so this is ALL new to me... I just couldnt turn down a free 210 gallon tank. I will not be able to view the tank again until I pick it up this coming Friday.

I am looking for the best way of moving everything and resetting up the tank. I know it needs cleaned but dont know how to go about doing it. The main questions I have are:

How do you clean the skimmer?
How do you clean the bio balls, or do ya?
How do you get the algae off the rocks, or can ya?
Do you clean all the s$it off of the water jets (power heads?)?
If I replace the sand, what do I replace it with?
How long will the fish survive in a tote with a power head and heater?


Its a great find and I aint complaining....I just dont want to kill everything!

 

[dffhogs]

that tank scares me back to the freshwater pictures

Me too, but its free

 

[brutus]

cant beat that. im sure someone will help you rescue it ... nice big tank

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

How do you clean the skimmer? i clean mine out with an old toothbrush and hot water, id use vinager and a toothbrush then a thorough cleaning with hot water (and toothbrush).
How do you clean the bio balls, or do ya? i'd pitch them and move some small pieces of lr to that area.
How do you get the algae off the rocks, or can ya? a big scrubber. be careful though, it looks like they have some corals on them so be sure not to mess with those.
Do you clean all the s$it off of the water jets (power heads?)? yes powerheads. and yes clean them off the same way you do with the skimmer.
If I replace the sand, what do I replace it with? replace it. replace with new sand, your choice what type but stay away from crushed coral or other coarse substrates.
How long will the fish survive in a tote with a power head and heater? they should last a while. i'd put some of the lr in the tote(s) with a powerhead pointed at the lr for some filtration. also an airstone would be great for some gas exchange.

 

[dffhogs]

How do you clean the skimmer? i clean mine out with an old toothbrush and hot water, id use vinager and a toothbrush then a thorough cleaning with hot water (and toothbrush).
How do you clean the bio balls, or do ya? i'd pitch them and move some small pieces of lr to that area.
How do you get the algae off the rocks, or can ya? a big scrubber. be careful though, it looks like they have some corals on them so be sure not to mess with those.
Do you clean all the s$it off of the water jets (power heads?)? yes powerheads. and yes clean them off the same way you do with the skimmer.
If I replace the sand, what do I replace it with? replace it. replace with new sand, your choice what type but stay away from crushed coral or other coarse substrates.
How long will the fish survive in a tote with a power head and heater? they should last a while. i'd put some of the lr in the tote(s) with a powerhead pointed at the lr for some filtration. also an airstone would be great for some gas exchange.

How do you clean the bio balls, or do ya? i'd pitch them and move some small pieces of lr to that area.

Do I put lr here in the corner flows?:

And here?:

 

[Justin_Toronto]

Dark blue with yellow tail, sounds like a blue tang to me.

Honestly, what you're looking to do will take a few weeks to do properly. Before doing anything, take those fish/animals to the LFS and sell them for a credit, OR ask them if they can hold them for you for a few weeks.

Ask your LFS for some large styrofoam containers with lids, most seem to have these sitting in the back room. Use this to move the live rock, with the lid on they will maintani their moisture for a few days even.

Buy a good RO/DI system and start making fresh water for the aquarium. You'll need some large containers (I use garbage bins) to hold the water while it's being made.

Dump all that water out of the aquarium, don't bother bringing it home with you. Empty everything frm the aquarium, as a 210g even empty, is heavy. (rocks, sand, ornaments, water) Don't worry about cleaning anything until you get home.

Use a gravel vaccuum to clean the cyano off the sand before removing it. Other than the cyano on top, the sand seems to be in good shape to be used after a few rinses.

Once you got everything home, you can use an algae scrubber and some fresh water to clean the glass, it's better to rub lightly 5 times then hard once and risk scratching the glass. I find it easiest to do this cleaning with the aqurium sitting on the floor, so you can walk all around it and clean it properly.

Next, start scrubbing some of the nuisance algae from those live rocks in those styrofoam containers.

You can clean/rinse the live sand in some freshly made SW. You'll never get the water crystal clear, you just want to remove the large waste particles and algae from the sand.

Then you can begin cleaning that sump and skimmer out. Bioballs work great as long as they're NEVER moved. Move them and you'll have problems. Either rinse them out and start fresh with them (don't remove ALL the stuff from them, there is tonnes of beneficial bacteria on them), or get rid of them and buy some Live Rubble to use in there instead. (or a 50/50 mix, and down the road you can start removing the bios for rocks.)

Clean out that skimmer really well too.

Next you can hook everything back up. Then, head to your local hardware store, or LFS store... because there will be lots of parts you'll want to replace or upgrade at this time. (plumbing, lighting, filteration, etc.)

Put in your live sand, live rock, and water. You can mix the salt in the water at this time.

You'll need to wait a while for your tank your cycle, it shouldn't take too long though. My tank had a lot of stuff from a preexisting aquarium as well.. (rock, sands, etc.)... it didn't even take a full week to cycle, and during that time my LR came with a blenny, some starfish, hermits, and snails, and I have't had any fatalities either. So it shouldnt' be too bad.

Next, you can start introducing your fish back to the aquarium.

And last, you can enjoy your new free aquarium.

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

Dark blue with yellow tail, sounds like a blue tang to me.

Ask your LFS for some large styrofoam containers with lids, most seem to have these sitting in the back room. Use this to move the live rock, with the lid on they will maintani their moisture for a few days even.

i agree with everything but that^, what about all of those mushrooms all over the rocks?

 

[pat8you]

I would talk to your LFS to see if you can sell back those fish for credit. No matter what you do to that tank as far as cleaning it you will need to cycle it again which will take a while and you shouldn't have fish in there during the cycle.

I wouldn't reuse the sand. It will have all kinda of things built up in there that could cause you mini cycles and other issues. I wouldn't risk it and get all new sand. Its not all that expensive considering what you will spend on all the rest of the things in the tank.

Hard to tell from the pictures but if that section of the sump is submerged then i would replace all those with LR rubble. If it's water trickleing over the bioballs then i think you should probably keep the bioballs. Not positive cuz i have never had that kind of a sump. Either way i would give them a good cleaning in a bucket with a pressurized hose or a pressure washer if you have access to one.

As far as cleaning the tank. I would just take that thing out in the back yard with a hose and a dish scrubber (plastic brissles) and go to town.

For the rock. As others have suggested get a big bucket/trash can kinda thing and the dish scrubber again and start scrubbing off as much as you can.

The long and short of it is your going to have one sore arm after a long weekend of scrubbing down everything.

 

[Justin_Toronto]

i agree with everything but that^, what about all of those mushrooms all over the rocks?

Scrub everywhere except where there's a coral of course. I scrubbed mine and still have around 10 mushrooms (different types), a large kenya tree, some zoo's, and a few unknown tree-type things. Scrubbing helped get the nuisance algae off the LR's I purchased, and left the coraline behind.

Personally, if I have the chance to adopt an aquarium, I wouldn't want to adopt the same problems the original owner had with it.

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

Scrub everywhere except where there's a coral of course. I scrubbed mine and still have around 10 mushrooms (different types), a large kenya tree, some zoo's, and a few unknown tree-type things. Scrubbing helped get the nuisance algae off the LR's I purchased, and left the coraline behind.

Personally, if I have the chance to adopt an aquarium, I wouldn't want to adopt the same problems the original owner had with it.

yea but you said that the rocks cold stay moist for a few days? surely you wouldn't do this with corals?

 

[pat8you]

I would say go to the LFS and buy a couple pieces of rubble and just pull the mushrooms and random corals that you want to keep off the old rock and glue them to the rubble. Those old rocks are really going to need a good cleaning.

 

[dffhogs]

I would say go to the LFS and buy a couple pieces of rubble and just pull the mushrooms and random corals that you want to keep off the old rock and glue them to the rubble. Those old rocks are really going to need a good cleaning.

Just glue them on with superglue?

 

[dffhogs]

I would talk to your LFS to see if you can sell back those fish for credit. No matter what you do to that tank as far as cleaning it you will need to cycle it again which will take a while and you shouldn't have fish in there during the cycle.

I wouldn't reuse the sand. It will have all kinda of things built up in there that could cause you mini cycles and other issues. I wouldn't risk it and get all new sand. Its not all that expensive considering what you will spend on all the rest of the things in the tank.

Hard to tell from the pictures but if that section of the sump is submerged then i would replace all those with LR rubble. If it's water trickleing over the bioballs then i think you should probably keep the bioballs. Not positive cuz i have never had that kind of a sump. Either way i would give them a good cleaning in a bucket with a pressurized hose or a pressure washer if you have access to one.

As far as cleaning the tank. I would just take that thing out in the back yard with a hose and a dish scrubber (plastic brissles) and go to town.

For the rock. As others have suggested get a big bucket/trash can kinda thing and the dish scrubber again and start scrubbing off as much as you can.

The long and short of it is your going to have one sore arm after a long weekend of scrubbing down everything.

Thanks for the advice, I think i found someone to "fish sit" for me...

 

[dffhogs]

Dark blue with yellow tail, sounds like a blue tang to me.

Honestly, what you're looking to do will take a few weeks to do properly. Before doing anything, take those fish/animals to the LFS and sell them for a credit, OR ask them if they can hold them for you for a few weeks.

Ask your LFS for some large styrofoam containers with lids, most seem to have these sitting in the back room. Use this to move the live rock, with the lid on they will maintani their moisture for a few days even.

Buy a good RO/DI system and start making fresh water for the aquarium. You'll need some large containers (I use garbage bins) to hold the water while it's being made.

Dump all that water out of the aquarium, don't bother bringing it home with you. Empty everything frm the aquarium, as a 210g even empty, is heavy. (rocks, sand, ornaments, water) Don't worry about cleaning anything until you get home.

Use a gravel vaccuum to clean the cyano off the sand before removing it. Other than the cyano on top, the sand seems to be in good shape to be used after a few rinses.

Once you got everything home, you can use an algae scrubber and some fresh water to clean the glass, it's better to rub lightly 5 times then hard once and risk scratching the glass. I find it easiest to do this cleaning with the aqurium sitting on the floor, so you can walk all around it and clean it properly.

Next, start scrubbing some of the nuisance algae from those live rocks in those styrofoam containers.

You can clean/rinse the live sand in some freshly made SW. You'll never get the water crystal clear, you just want to remove the large waste particles and algae from the sand.

Then you can begin cleaning that sump and skimmer out. Bioballs work great as long as they're NEVER moved. Move them and you'll have problems. Either rinse them out and start fresh with them (don't remove ALL the stuff from them, there is tonnes of beneficial bacteria on them), or get rid of them and buy some Live Rubble to use in there instead. (or a 50/50 mix, and down the road you can start removing the bios for rocks.)

Clean out that skimmer really well too.

Next you can hook everything back up. Then, head to your local hardware store, or LFS store... because there will be lots of parts you'll want to replace or upgrade at this time. (plumbing, lighting, filteration, etc.)

Put in your live sand, live rock, and water. You can mix the salt in the water at this time.

You'll need to wait a while for your tank your cycle, it shouldn't take too long though. My tank had a lot of stuff from a preexisting aquarium as well.. (rock, sands, etc.)... it didn't even take a full week to cycle, and during that time my LR came with a blenny, some starfish, hermits, and snails, and I have't had any fatalities either. So it shouldnt' be too bad.

Next, you can start introducing your fish back to the aquarium.

And last, you can enjoy your new free aquarium.

Thanks for the advice, I thiink I found someone to "fish sit' for me..

 

[Ziggy953]

Congratulations on the free tank! 210 is a great size tank and offers a lot of options.

I'm glad you have some one to take the fish for you as you have a lot of work to do. Nothing is ever truely free. LOL.

A lot of good advice has been given but here is how I would handle this.

1. Buy a couple of 32g trash cans from Walmart ($12)
2. Siphon water out of the tank and into the trashcans. (about 1/3 full to start)
3. As you remove the rock, pull the macro algae off the rocks and toss it. That is caulerpa and not something you want in the display tank. This is ok to have in a refugium.
4. DO NOT reuse the sand. Sand is not expensive and not worth reusing for the possible issues it can cause.
5. I would not use the bio balls at all if you are planning on making this a reef system.

You do not need to put LR rubble in the overflow towers. The rubble will go in your sump where the bio balls are/were. You want the LR rubble to be completely submerged.

You are going to want to keep the LR in water to keep it alive. I would save as much of the water from the tank as possible just for this purpose. Judging from the pics it loosk like it will take a couple of trash cans and maybe more just to hold all the rock from the tank. Getting an RO/DI unit ASAP is a very good idea. Check on Ebay you should be able to pick one up for about $100 shipped. Get some salt mix and get to making some water. An additional 32g trash can from walmart will help you out there. Cleaning the tank out is just a matter of some elbo grease and time. No soap (I'm sure you knew that already though). I use a razor blade to scrap the glass and then wipe it down with water and a paper towel. Rinsing the tank out really well is also a good idea. Be prepared for this to take a couple of days to get everything done.

As the others have said clean everything. The skimmer will probably need to be replaced eventually as it looks rather small to handle a 210g tank. That can come later though.

When you get everything home I would put a power head in the trash can with the LR just to keep the water moving.

 

[pat8you]

Just glue them on with superglue?

Yeah thats pretty much what it is. Your LFS will have something for it. I believe i use a "three little fishes" brand and it works nicely.