bringing back a 90gallon.

trigger40

trigger40

Well-Known Member
hello,

at my school i have resently taken a 90 gallon that was donated to our marine science program at school. to start of the tank has no live sand or live rock. they have plenty of base rock that has been sitting around for what looks to be a few years. but it once was live. so i put it in the tank over the summer to see if it will start to clean up and it did. but i dont know what it did to the water. the sand is sand that they got from the beach and our water in my area is in great condition so no worries about the sand having anything bad on it.


so i have taken a peice of base rock home washed it off and added it to my tank to get it too seed the school tank. i have no idea how long i should waite for it to become live. thats all i need to know for now im trying to take this thing one step at a time but ther are fish in the tank right now. two damsel fish, a striped blenny(not the one that is colorfull), snowflake eel, and a red drum. so i am trying to get a bio filtration going. the tank does a sump but its got a crapy skimmer that i cant seem to get to work right so i do need help ther too.

thanks
 
geridoc

geridoc

Well-Known Member
It can take months for base rock to be seeded with the diversity that you normally find on live rock. Since there are already fish in the tank you need to worry about their survival first as the tank cycles. Get an ammonium measurement kit and measure daily. If (when) the levels begin to rise above zero your choices are to either begin to do large water changes (which will drag out the cycle) or dose the tank with something like "Prime" or "Amquel Plus" as directed on the bottle. These don't remove the ammonia, but convert it to a non-toxic form that the bacteria can still use, so the tank is still able to cycle. And don't worry about a skimmer - it isn't necessary for a fish-only tank. And - keep asking questions!
 
trigger40

trigger40

Well-Known Member
first off thank you for the reply. i have been doseing with prime. do you think i should bring a peice or two of my own rock just to have some sort of bio filtration. maybe over time i can take out the skimmer and replace it with a refugium(ill need help with this). ther have also been weekly water changes ther about 10% so more water and more often.
 
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mauler

mauler

Active Member
Well you can use your rock. I thought you kept it in your hypo tank which I was thinking such a huge jump in salinity might just kill it
 
mauler

mauler

Active Member
Then I guess it couldn't hurt. Also what's the plan on the red drum when gets big? I vote make fishsticks
 
trigger40

trigger40

Well-Known Member
nope, never, i love that thing. im gona let it go in the little bay behind my house or donate it to bass pro or something once it reaches like 10''. and i perfer them blackened anyway lol.
 
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