HELPPP!!! dont know wha to do

[tntfish]

Ok guys Im alil cofused about all of this stuff my friends father gave me a saltwater tank 135 gallons he has it running but it full of algae he has let it go he dosent take care of it anymore he is giving me evrything he has i have no clue what i will need? the lights he has are shoplights which i do not want but im not sure what kind of light to get how many watts or anything. i have a few other questions to like how do i start when i move the tank from his house to mine i want a nice fish nd nice coral aniemone something like this

I want color mabey not this exagerated nd beautiful but at leats close i need to kno what parimeters are need and tips and how to do everything basically the tank brings protien skimmer uv light slump box heaters 2 big power heads and some pumps that im not sure the use sorry for being so vauge the prob is that ima alil lost PLZ HElp anything wil be a great help

 

[drew11588]

how far is his house from yours?

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

First of all, Dam your lucky.

Second, Get some friends over and some plastic bins. Remove the rock and put in bins with tank water in to keep moist. Put corals in bags and fish in bags or buckets depending on the size.

Empty the rest of the tank water and either throw away the sand or save it but wash it well. Take the tank off the stand with 4 people. Carry to vehicle and place on cardboard. put blankets on top and bungee down. Drive slowly with it.

Take the stand to the home and have water ready to fill tank with, salt added and at 78 degrees. Have the tank placed on stand and fill with new sand/ washed old sand. Fill with water and place in rock, and equipment.

 

[thincat]

How soon do you have to move the tank? X4 is giving you good advice on moving the tank. You will need a source of Reverse Osmoses(R/O) water and some reef salt. Ask if your friends Dad has any extra salt. Get the tank up and running before you get any fish, Anemones and/or corals. That picture in your first post is of a well maintained reef tank. This is what you must strive for. You need to do lots of reading. The Shop lights are for a fish only tank and will have to be replaced if you are to do corals or anemones. Google T-5 aquarium lights and metal halide aquarium lights so you won't get sticker shock at the high prices for reef lights. Yes, they are expensive.

 

[tntfish]

The Tank is about 2 mins from my home Thank u guys alot extremly helpfull

 

[drew11588]

your gonna want to keep ur livestock in a separate tank under light until your main tank is up an running for at least a few days

 

[tntfish]

Ok guys im moving in the tank tommorow hopefully...... i have to make this mix tho im kinda scared dont wanna mess it up i have 2 hydrometers so help me out i have instant oceAN sea salt i jus pour it in with a cup nd stir right? and what about the temp? i also have a pump tha sucks water and throws it out threw a pipe its to transfer the water from the 55 gallon canister to the tank when its here.. should i turn it on to cycle the water in this 55 gallon container or should i take it out and turn on the heater oin ther and just stir? pllzz help

 

[thincat]

As far as the heater and the pump, you can do both. set you heater to ~80 degrees and let the pump stir your water to help desolve the salt. You should do this tonight if you are moving things tomorrow. Mix `to directions and fine tune with your 2x hydrometers as close to 1.025 salinity at 80 degrees water temp. Let this run and before you add it to your tank...test it again as it may go higher as all of the salt mixes. If higher, adjust with RO water, If low add a little more salt and mix for awhile.

 

[tntfish]

Ok i gat the tank here protien skimmer conected so is one of the power heads all live rock and my saltwater is in the tank i couldnt get the sump because he has a DYI system and he jus has the sump and a pipe running from the sump to a 55 gallon container with a protien skimmer and then a return 55 gallon container i know it wierd i dont understand why he has it this way but basically what im askin is what do i do with the sump how do i set this thing up or can i jus connect this XP3 canister filter that i have to it its noe filtering a FW tank but can be removed NEED hELP faST!!

 

[thincat]

1) Am I to believe that his sump consist of two 55g containers?
2) Do you have the containers?
3) Where do you have the skimmer?

 

[tntfish]

no it was connected to 2 55 gallon containers idk why but it was i just wanna kno how hook up this sump

 

[Innovator]

I think a picture of the setup under the stand would be worth a thousand words. It sounds like the skimmer is separately contained, which could be "iffy" regarding intake/return leveling. I would purchase a single sump (acrylic is easier to manipulate imo) instead of hassling with a double sump. You can set up the XP3 until you figure out what you want to do. Seriously though, why don't you have your dad help you set it up at least?

 

[tntfish]

he isnt my dad he is my friends dad and he is a lazy guy he dont help me told him like 100 times but i dont want to those big old barrels in my house i need to make the sump work

 

[thincat]

Okay, my question still stands, where is the skimmer located. The main work is done, you have to watch the ammonia and nitrite readings for the first week to make sure you don't start a new cycle. What type of skimmer do you have?

 

[thincat]

Is your tank reef ready? By that is mean does it have holes drilled into the tank or does it have overflow boxes. You do have the sump or do you have to buy one? How many fishes are there in the tank now? If you have fishes, don't feed them very much so you don't over pollute the water until all is up and running.

 

[tntfish]

I have the sump but the tank is not reef ready there are 3 fish a damsel not sure what the other to are i went to the lfs they have a beautiful SW tank he told me he will ask his manger if there is another way i can put in this sump with out it being reef ready and the protien skimmer is on directly conected to my tank

 

[thincat]

Okay, just relax and take things slow. You got all the hard work done. It's great that the LFS is helping you. Let them help you, but do check back with us to double check things. LFS's are a great resource, but they can be behind the times in this fast changing hobby. Make a list of the important things that you want to do. Then prioritize (sp) the list as best as you can. This will break down the hugh task into smaller chores that are a lot easier to handle. Do not feed the fish every day. Feed them everyother day and very little until you get the sump installed.

 

[thincat]

Here's anothe link:Xtalreef

 

[tntfish]

 

[tntfish]