cleaning old setup

[swnooob]

hello, this is my first post here. i am getting a 110gal acrylic tank and setup from my neighbor. he pretty much just gave up. he still has rock and sand in it as well. ive searched around the net a lil but wanted to knw if anyone has any advice how to clean it, and is the rock n sand still ok to use?

 

[cam78]

I would remove everything from the tank very very carefully because you do not want to scratch the acrylic. The Rock is dead and is now considered base rock (look that up). The sand is dead too but might just be worth chucking that and replacing it with new aragonite or live sand. You can clean the rock using water and scrubing with a brush tooth or a nail brush. You will later want to add some live rock to the tank to seed the base you already have.
Cool project have fun with it and take your time. Oh yeah you will love this board. A ton of REALLy knowledgeable people will help you out.
Oh yeah...To clean the acrylic maybe once you get all the rock out fill it up with water and let it sit. This will loosen up everything off of the glass and then siphon it out.

 

[natclanwy]

The rock and sand are fine to reuse, as far as cleaning acrylic be very careful or you will scratch it. Vinegar works the best for loosening coraline algae and other calcium deposts on the surface of the acrylic, I would spray the inside of the tank down with vinegar and let is sit for an hour or two then fill the tank with water and use a credit card or other plastic scrapper to loosen any leftover deposts. If there is a huge amount of coraline algae on the tank, I would problably fill it with a mixture of vinegar and water and let it set for a few days.

 

[contraband629]

I would advise to rinse the sand thoroughly to remove all the old "crap" thats in it. Buy some new and to mix with the old sand as well as new live rock to mix with the now base rock. Also boil and rinse the old rocks before using it.

 

[swnooob]

thanks guys.. ya i knw it should be a fun process. we'll see what happens..
- boil the rocks in a pot?

 

[contraband629]

Yes boil it in a pot. Just bring the water to a boil with the rocks in it. No need to spend a long time cooking it or anything. This is just to make sure you kill off everything. By the way, welcome to SWF. Also clean your tank with water and vinegar. No need for chemicals.