Used Tank

M

Mule-kick

AC Members
Mar 12, 2005
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Hello, Just picked up a used 45 gallon tank at a garage sale with all the stuff with it. The price was very cheap so anything I can use is great. :dance It came with 3" sand bed, about 40-50 lbs of rock, Penguin 330 bio wheel, 200 watt heater, a Maxi-jet 500, and an Aquaclear 4000. It was used as SW and I plan on doing the same.

I would like to start off slow and then slow down....

Not knowing anything about this sand, (btw looks fantastic!..fine grain with little bits of shell in it) or the rock, should I clean it? if so, how?

Also, I have an old 29gal tank I thought about using as a sump for this tank.
Is having a sump worth it? Is it a good setup?

Thanks for any input. GREAT site!!
 
Welcome to AC, Mule-kick!

Always a good idea to start slow.

You may have to lose the sand. If it has been on the bootom of a marine tank for a few years, it is probably full of tiny debris that will be an excellent source of nutrients for algae. It's also hard to clean.

The rock will probably be good for base rock, which you can seed with live rock. What does it look like?

I like having a sump. It gives the skimmer a place to live, as well as providing space for other bits of equipment. With a 29, there may even be room to partition off a refugium. If possible, I'd suggest getting the main tank drilled, so that you don't have to deal with siphon overflows to get water to the sump.
 
The rock looks like it had purple growing on it and green algae dried on it.

I checked and the glass is tempered and so drilling is out. Does that rid the idea of a sump?

To be honest, the sand was in 2 buckets with no lids and the mice had been in it.

Nick
 
OK thanks shooby, went down and bought overflow and can't seem to figure this thing out. How full should my sump be, is there a priming ritual I need to do to this thing? I have GX 4100 for the return but can't get overflow to syphon into sump.
 
Great! Got the overflow hang on tank figuered out and tank is RUNNING!

Now....s l o w and e a s y

Added salt, will wait about a week to make sure all is well and go from there.
 
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