Score!!! Now what do I do with it??

[justahannah]

Hi all! I got super lucky last night, on craigslist a guy was giving away a free* Red Sea Max 130D system (there was a request for a small donation to thank a secretary for letting us in the office during the weekend) and he picked me! It really pays to use proper grammar, include a number, and not ask questions past "How fast do you want me there??" .

Anyway, it looks like a 34 gallon all in one type setup, everything's clean and well taken care of, and he says it worked great when it was taken down a couple years ago so I'm over the moon except I have next to zero salt water experience. I'm reading the stickies and thinking fish and live rock would be fun but would definitely appreciate some custom advice. Are these units truly all-in-one and plug'n'play, or are there certain relatively easy and inexpensive tweaks that make them more efficient? Is there anything other than watching for leaks that I should pay special attention to during setup of a used unit? What beautiful but easy critters would you put in if this fell in your lap? Anything else I might not spot in the stickies/during research that I really ought to know?? Thank y'all so much in advance!

 

[OrionGirl]

Live rock, and I'd probably stick with inverts and maybe one fish. A pistol shrimp and shrimp goby would be fun, since you'd get to see them better in a smaller setup. Since it sat dry for so long, clean and test before filling with SW to be sure there are no leaks. Go slow--get the tank up, get rock in, get established in the routine before adding stock. SW isn't more difficult than a planted FW tank, just requires different maintenance.

 

[justahannah]

Thank you so much! I finally had a chance to set it all up last night and it needs a new heater but otherwise everything seems to work great. No leaks so I'm letting it run with tap water for a couple days to soak out the old deposits, then I'll give it a final scrub before going salty and getting the cycle started.

Ultimately I'd like a good variety of inverts (I'm ridiculously enamored with pom pom crabs already), and eventually a few fish. If I can pull it off in this tank, I'm looking at tail spot blenny, a sharknose goby, and something else charismatic/centerpiece-y in the 3" range. Does this sound reasonable in 34 gallons? And when I get there, is there a particular introduction order that is best? Thanks again!