Complete Newb! Help? :)

[Uselesstool]

Hello there everyone. So a little background first. I have been reading this forum and another popular forum for over a year now off and on. I was getting really serious about putting together a salt water tank. However I ended up getting engaged and things got hectic, my slush money became almost non existent, and I basically put everything on hold.

Well now I'm married, and have been fortunate enough to be given a tank from a friend of mine who no longer uses it. I did some measurements and calculated it to be roughly a 47gallon tank. Now that I'm married, we are again moving on to the next stages in our lives and are looking to move into a new place within the next year, so again do to money restrictions, I think I've decided to build a fresh water tank, instead of a salt system. Although I LOVE salt water tanks, and the several options that come along with it, I just don't feel I can devote the necessary time, and money that the system would deserve.

So now I'm at the point of looking to put together a fresh water system instead, a little easier on the pocket book, maintenance, and hopefully it will help get me started since this will be my first tank.

Now for the questions, and just so I say this ahead of time, I'm a total newb, even though I have been doing plenty of reading, and research, so I apologize if these questions are somewhat idiotic. But hey, that's why I came to this forum, because so many of you are a wealth of knowledge.

Here are the pics of the tank, mind you obviously the tank needs to be flipped around.. but you get the idea...

So I guess my first NEWBIE question would be.... the holes in the bottom of the tank... I assume these would typically be used for a sump setup in a salt water system? If so, then what would the step be for me in a fresh water setup? Would I still want to use this for a filtration system in a fresh water setup? and How would I go about doing that?

Next item, cleaning the acrylic. While its not in horrible shape by any means, is there any suggestions for just cleaning the film, and just the grime in general on it, as it has been sitting for a couple years I would imagine. I know I need to be careful as once I put water in there, I would not want any chemicals from cleaners to contaminate the water during its cycle. Or does it not matter since it will cycle all of that out before I add fish?

My next question would be surrounding a freshwater setup. I think I want to go with a planted aquarium, as I'm not a big fan of the fake plants/rocks etc. - So I would want to pickup some hardy, real plants (Swords for example) and maybe some driftwood type of elements. I have read on several different

Anyways any other advice that you guys could give would be very much appreciated and I'm sure I will have questions that will branch from your responses. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, and thanks in advance!

 

[Deep Seven]

Welcome Aboard

So I guess my first NEWBIE question would be.... the holes in the bottom of the tank... I assume these would typically be used for a sump setup in a salt water system? If so, then what would the step be for me in a fresh water setup? Would I still want to use this for a filtration system in a fresh water setup? and How would I go about doing that?

Yes, those holes would be for a sump. Most people do not use a sump in a freshwater system. The freshwater tank I'm building right now will. It's really up to you, you can hide your filters, heaters, and pumps in the sump. If you decide not to use a sump you'll probably want to plug the holes. If you do use the holes I'm not sure how that works, hopefully someone else can chime in.

Next item, cleaning the acrylic. While its not in horrible shape by any means, is there any suggestions for just cleaning the film, and just the grime in general on it, as it has been sitting for a couple years I would imagine. I know I need to be careful as once I put water in there, I would not want any chemicals from cleaners to contaminate the water during its cycle. Or does it not matter since it will cycle all of that out before I add fish?

I'm not sure about acrylic, but you definately don't want to use detergents. Careful you don't rub sand or grit into the acrylic because it will scratch. For glass you want to use bleach or vinegar, in a diluted solution. And yes it does matter. The cycling process won't remove toxic chemicals.

Your next question seems incomplete, not sure what you're asking.

 

[XimeD]

I am kind of a newbie too, but I very recently bought a used 75gal acrylic tank that had been used for saltwater and then stored for a year so it was really dirty.

I did some research online and found this article:

How to Clean an Acrylic Tank | eHow.com

I did it and it worked great for me! Also you can use brillianz or novus acrylic cleaner for the outside.

Main thing is that acrylic scratches very easily so you need to get the dirt out by vacuuming/soaking with no scrubbing. I had some salt deposits on the inside of mine and used a wet high grade paper towel to get it out.

Best of luck, hope this helps