3 owner used tank

[captainE]

Help needed. I have been offered a 135gallon marine aquarium with custome cherry stand/canopy, 250 gallon cap skimmer, uv, wet/dry filter, 150 lbs live rock, 3 blue damsels, 2 yellow tang, pajama cardinal, 2 eng. gobi, spoted hawk & button polyp. The only thing this tank seem to need for inverts is a good lighting system. $1000.00

I have been wanting a marine system for many years but this seems like the best deal i will see. My bigest concern is that this aquarium is in an office and has been maintaned by several different companies. I don't think i can get reliable info on copper treatments inside the tank and hence copper problems wioth the rock and sand.

Is their a reliable test for copper before I make this investment.

 

[OrionGirl]

If the polyps are doing well, it's unlikely copper has been used. Corals don't do any better with copper than other inverts.

 

[captainE]

thanks for the reply.

I have read quite afew posts on wet/dry filtration and it seems that based on many of the more informed hobbiest this is an item i should remove or at least remove the bio-balls. Should i do this when i move the aquarium or wait untill it has re-sustained itself first.

I am considering hiring the current tank maintenace com,pany to help with the move but have nopt ruled out moving it myself. If I move it myself how much of the original water should i move withit. I would move the water in clean plastic 5 gallon water jugs, although a lot of work i could concievably move approx 100%.

 

[OrionGirl]

I would pull the media out gradually. You'll want to rinse away any solids when you set it up (using SW, of course), and then gradually remove them with each water change. This will provide max retention following the move, but gradually phase them out and allow rock and sand to carry the full load.

For the move: I wouldn't worry about keeping much of the water. Test it, so you know what salinity and pH are, then plan on filling with new water. Trying to save the existing water will just import the wastes in there--not really a good thing. You can save some of it for transporting the fish, rock and corals, but I wouldn't try too hard.

 

[captainE]

whew thats a relief, i read that you should transpdort 50-75% when moving.
I have not put a lot of faith in the book as it also encourages under gravel/wet/dry no LR set-ups for fish only aquariums. The books copyright was 1996 and last reprint was 2002 so i thought it would be fairly accurate. I hope the info on fish and inverts is a little more up to date then the equipment info.

well i have ordered Eric Bornemans' and look forward to reading about some more progressive techniques. .

This forum hase been a huge help and soon i hope to get some sleep instead of reading posts until 2-3 am.