Help!! I acquired this thing....

[a.mac]

I acquired a 27"tall by 66" long approx. salt water fish tank w/ the purchase of our new home. It is built into the wall. I don't know what kind of filteration system it has or even know where to begin. He has it all set up, but it is just water right now. There is some kind of secondarty tank under it (hidden by a built in wall) that it looks like the main one is supposed to drain into or something. I am tired of looking at an aquarium full of water. Can anyone tell me where to begin or how to figure out how to figure out what I even have? Please speak moron language b/c I am really, really green in this area.
Thanks,
A.Mac

 

[nu2salt]

if at all possible you will need to post some pics of what you got
that will make it alot easier for you to get help with your tank.
congrats on the tank. it will become an addiction that is alot of fun if you start slow and read and ask questions.

 

[doahh]

Got any pics?
The aquarium on top we refer to as the Display Tank or DT
The one on bottom is probably a pump/skimmer housing/ refugium called a sump/fuge
Is there any sand? Rock? Is it already salt water or is it Fresh... Did it come with any test kits or chemicals...
last off what does the filter look like... is it full of blue balls or a white ribbon looking thing?

 

[bigskyreef]

I would recommend buying a book on saltwater aquariums. That would help you see what you are getting into. It would also help you figure out what questions to ask and what kinds of creatures you are interested in keeping.

 

[a.mac]

I att. some pictures. #1 is the fishtank. Yes, it has water and sand in it. But the water has evap. half way down the tank since we moved in about a year ago so that is how long I have not done anything w/ it. #2 is a pict. of the top filter and #3 is a pict. of the bottom tank. Thank you for any help you can give me and for your quick responses.
A.Mac

 

[scotts]

OK so what you have is a display tank with a sump or refugium on the bottom. Your display tank is also in in-wall tank since it was designed to be in the wall. Your tank is designed so that you have all of your fish in the tope tank, and your filters and heaters in the bottom tank. Your second picture is called an overflow. You will have a pump that pulls the water from your sump and pump it up into your display tank. The water will drain into your overflow and from there go down into you sump. however you do have to start a siphon in your overflow before it will work.
So that is a brief overflow of your set up. Hope this helps. I have a thread on here titled something like "so you are new here" It might help you out.
Scott

 

[a.mac]

That really helps. I know that the guy we bought the house from told me he had all the stuff for the siphon. I think it's out in the shed. I'll have to get my husband to set it up. He's a contractor, so I'm sure he can do it. I looked on the set up your aquarium thread 101. Very informitive. I'm determined to get this thing up and running for the summer. Should I take out the sand our leave it in? I do know that there are bacteria or something in the sand that help w/ the eco system. But, since this has been sitting so long, I don't know if I should start from scratch.
Thanks,
A.Mac

 

[a.mac]

Is this a pretty good setup or do I need to modify? :thinking:
Thanks...

 

[trainfever]

If its been sitting for a year, I would empty the tank completely and start over. You can reuse the sand but I would just rinse it real good.

 

[cjml]

:happyfish Wow! Sounds like it could be a great tank! I agree-empty the tank and start from scratch-get some professional help from a good reliable source -to help you get started. There is alot to learn! But how lucky to have the tank set up already-very expensive to just get what you have! Keep us posted! :happyfish

 

[purebullet]

defently drain all the water and clean the sand out real good also post some more "in depth" pics of your sump(bottom tank) so we can see what kind of filtration you have

 

[scotts]

Well good news and bad news aboutyour sand. Right now it is...... sand. However in the future it can again be live sand. What the live part of LS means is that, as you said, there is bacteria and bugs and critters and worms in your sand. What these do is eat the waste in your tank and stops the waste from decaying in your tank. What you will need to do for the sand to become live again is to seed it with either a bag of LS or some LS from someone elses tank. However that is in the future.
To answer your question, yes you will need to clean the sand. In fact you will need to clean everything in your system. Take the sand out and put it in some buckets and add water and stir up your sand. I am sure you will get a lot of dirt from your sand. Do this until the water is clear. Now is also a good time to take the pump out and clean the insides of the pump. Hubby should be able to help with that. Or take pictures of your pump and set up and I can walk you through it. You will also want to clean the tank. Use vinegar NOT bleach and clean the glass in your tank.
I owe you an apology, after looking at your third picture you have a wet/dry filter not a sump. I personally do not know much about them, they act a little different that a sump, although the water flow that I mentioned before will still be the same. You will need to pull that out and clean it. Inside one compartment witll be a bunch of weird shaped balls. These are called bio balls. I am sure they will have all kinds of crud on them that will need to be washed off.
Well that will keep you busy today. Sorry for the typos. BTW what type of contractor is your hubby?
Scott

 

[a.mac]

Thanks for all the great info. I think I'll be putting the kids to good use this week. Sounds like a great learning time. I'll fit it into Science. After all, they're learning about oceanography right now. That's the joy of homeschooling them.

I'll have to get help w/ the bottom tank and getting it out, it's in there pretty good. I'll get more pictures of the filteration system when I get the thing out. So I'm guessing the first step is getting all the water out and getting the sand cleaned out real good like instructed. I'm assuming I can get LS from the lfs. Can I use some LS from the other tank that is in my Bedroom wall? That tank is freshwater. It actually does have fish though. If not I'll just go to the lfs.
Thanks again,
A.Mac
Scott... hubby is a building contractor, so he can do it all. The problem is, he's pretty busy, so I handle this kind of stuff. I need a new hobby anyway. I don't like shopping for shoes and purses, so I'll shop for fish.... :happyfish

 

[baloo6969]

where are you located? I'm sure someone on here is close, and may be willing to stop in and give you some advice.

 

[a.mac]

north/east coast of florida, near gainesville. Anyone close?
A.Mac

 

[scotts]

OK all is good. Hubby can help you pull the pump apart if needed. All you have to do is clean the impeller and put it back together. Yes you can get a bag of LS from your LFS. All you need is one bag to seed the sand that you have. That is assuming that you already have enough sand in there to begin with. No you cannot use the sand from your FW tank. That will not have any of the critters that you need for your LS. In fact now is a good time to tell you that SW is really much different from FW. It is harder work and much more expensive. But then it is also much MUCH more fascinating. I just think it is fair to tell you now than for you to put all the time, effort and $$ inot it to find out you don't really like it. Not fair to you or the anilams you put in there.
So assuming that you still want to do SW now is also a good time to tell you there is no absolutley right way to do a SW tank. There a many ways to do a SW tank. It looks like your tank was a Fish only tank. This means that it only had fish in it, basically like a FW tank. This may be because the fish that were in there were aggressive fish or were not reef safe fish. Don't forget that many of the fish sold are predatory, or aggressive, fish. Also some fish love to eat shrimp and will eat any that you put in there. A lion fish is beautiful but it will eat anything that it can get it's mouth around, and the have big mouths.
So onto Fish Only with Live Rock. A FOWLR tank is similar to above but with LR in it oc fourse. Why have LR? Because it can enhance the look of your tank and also is part of the biological filtration like LS. ALthough it hold different organisms than LS and has the purple Coralling algae that is very deisrable in SW tanks.
Then there is a reef tank that is similar to above but with corals in it. This is of course the most fascinating and the most expensive tank. Although I would say it is the most popular tank here. With tis type of tank you really have no idea what you are going to see in your tank next month or 3 months from now. This is the type of tank where people have chairs near the tank so they can sit and star into their tank from inches away to see what is in there.
With that said it is kind of a good idea to try and decide what type of tank you are going to have. For instance you do not want to get a fish that is not reef safe, then decide you want to go with a reef tank.
Well I think I have blabbed enough, plus my wrist is starting to hurt. :scared:

 

[scotts]

Here is a thread for Florida people. https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/170627/florida-or-close-to-it