Inherited tank

[golum]

I have just moved into a flat which has a fully functioning saltwater coral (not live coral)tank around 70-80 gals. It is obviously well established but has no fish. As far as this newbie can ascertain it has a heater, pump and filter all of which I have left running.
It is such a feature of the living room I intend to get some fish but obviously, from the research I have done I need to test the water but have no idea how to go about it, and how to maintain good conditions for the fish I will get.

I would also like some advice on what type and how many fish would be suitable for this type of set up and a complete newbie.

Any, and all advice would be greatfully recieved.

 

[DansMarineTank]

Lucky You!

i would want to check the quality of the water, so you will need an ammonia nitrite and nitrate tests should aim for 0 on the first two and <5ppm on the nitrate. You also need a hyrometer to see the salt levels in the tank, at a guess it will be pretty high at the moment given evaperation.

Can you tell us a bit more about the filter? is it inside the tank? is it an external enclosed unit, is it a tank underneath the main tank? is there any rockwork in the tank ?

how long has it been uninhabited? you may wish to start afresh

 

[mogurnda]

I guess if I were to walk into a flat with a SW tank and know nothing about it, I'd want some time to think about what to do.

Here's what I'd do:
Get a hydrometer to measure the salinity. The easiest and cheapest are the little clear boxes with swinging arms, and they'll do for monitoring specific gravity for the moment. Add fresh water (reverse-osmosis preferred, but tap will do for the moment) to make up for evaporation. That will buy you time for the next step.

Learn as much as you can. There are some good boards like this one, www.wetwebmedia.com, www.reefcentral.com, to name a few. I also would recommend some good books: Fenner's Conscientious marine Aquarist, Tullock's Natural Reef Aquariums (not just about reefs) are my favorites for general knowledge.

It will be a big help to anyone who answers your posts to know what's in the tank, like the kind of rock, coral, brand of filter (or at least what it looks like), lighting and so on.

Finally, as you learn more, try to look at different styles of tanks and figure out what you like. Only fish? Fish and a few easy corals? A full-blown reef?

If you are willing to deal with a few inevitable bumps in the road, it will be great fun.

 

[golum]

Thanks to the fishoholics that answered my call for help, very useful and informative.

Have taken your advice and have done a bit of an inventory of all the stuff the landlord left me with and what items are attached to the tank.
I am based in Macau, near Hong Kong so am not sure if any of the items I have will be familiar to you.

TANK
It is a room divider 60 inches long, 18 inches wide and 30 inches deep, and is rounded at one end. The base consists of about 2 inches of broken grey/off white coral. The tank contains 3 large pieces of off white coral down the centre of the tank. The coral and tank sides have brown algae deposits, some of which will be hard to get rid of due to the large central lumps of coral being so close to the tank sides. There are no plants in the tank and no marine life as far as I can tell.

LIGHTS
Two tubes are mounted in a hood above the tank, one blue, one yellow. Not sure of wattage, but will attempt to remove them at the weekend and find out.

MECH EQUIPMENT
In the tank is a hose arrangement that streams water across the surface of the tank.
A glass heater sits in the tank corner, but cannot determine brand or capacity till the weekend.
Three lines of bubbles stream from the bottom of the tank fed presumably by the externally mounted “Hailea Air Pump”.
In a cupboard under the tank sits a Jebao Filter and having looked at the web site think it is
Style No.: 304
Flow rate: 1200 l/h (320G/h)
Hmax: 180 CM (6Ft)
Voltage: 220-240V/120V
Hz: 50/60 Hz
Watt: 20W
Approvals: GS/CE
No other technical data is available
It contains a one inch thick coarse mat, which I am assuming needs to be cleaned or replaced periodically. I will switch it off over the weekend and investigate a bit more.

As well as an assortment of nets, tubes and siphons was a hydrometer. The reading it gave was just above the 1.010 mark.

There is also a number of bottles of chemicals.
Biosea Buffer + dKH Generator Carbonate Hardness Regulator.
Duocai Trace Elements
Duocai Jodine – Enriched with Iodine
Biobacteria (of dragon fish)
Rainbow PH-Increasing reagent
Seahorse Brand Liquid – Cures fin and tail rot and velvet disease.
No idea if I will ever need to use these, but could anyone advise under what circumstances I would need to use them.

There does not appear to be any kits for testing the water so I will try and source some in the next few days.

Cleaning the inside of the tank will be difficult due to the large lumps of Coral and the fact that the hood appears to be permanently fixed with two long hatches either side of the light tubes. I will see if I can remove the whole thing so that cleaning can be made simpler.
I will continue to use all the resources I can to increase my knowledge and will go book hunting in the near future.
It’s a good job I like a challenge.
I think that is about all for now.

Will keep you abreast of my progress

 

[DansMarineTank]

Hi There,

The salinity looks a little lower than i expected i would have expected it to be very high due to evaperation but the salt remaining.

I have a hunch this may have been a brackish water tank (river esturys exc) sg usually arround 1.005. where as marine is much higher at 1.020- 1.026. This does not mean it cant be used as a marine tank but may require you to start afresh with substrate/ rock / filter media exc.

 

[mogurnda]

Yeah, either a brackish tank or set up for african cichlids or some other hard water fish.

I agree that it would probably be best to tear it down and rebuild it as a SW tank if you decide to go that route. I worry a bit about how much medication has been used, and how much has been absorbed by the coral.