Just Acquired a 125g! Newb Aquarist inc!

[matte]

Hey all,
I was actually directed here by a friend to help with tips/info/etc/etc on a new SW Tank.
Long story short, I acquired this tank from a friend, it sat for along time with his rock half submerged under some nasty water (1yr maybe) but it was "established" at one point. The good news is, it comes fully loaded, including PC lighting hood (10k Fluorescence and anitics(sp?) with LED moonlighting), ~20g sump, skimmer, overflow, powerheads, & RO Unit.
According to my friend because he was my main info sourse, "we should just throw everything in the tank, fill it up and let her rip."
Now, my knowledge of just reading for the past couple weeks on here, should i take the time to scrub/clean all the (dead, soft, nasty looking) algae (my buddy said leave it on there?) off all the dead/live rock, i don't know if it still alive, friend says its probably still alive?
The sand is just disgustingly dirty, lots of ditrus, should I take the time to rinse this as well?
And of course, from listening to friend he pushed to cycle the tank quick and of course, with fish. So I bought a clean up crew (10hermits, 10snails) & 4 cromies, and have 1 cromie left

I just think he rushed this thing entirely too fast. and I've been misinformed via his "advise".

Little help please! Also, I apologize if I'm all over the place above, lots on my mind. I'm just confused on what i should "clean" and what i should leave alone.
And thank you all for the great info in here! (also will be purchasing a Reef Book sometime today to help with the "startup", maintenance, and the chemistry, because I have a feeling I'm going to have to basically start over)

 

[shwstpr88]

Ok step one stop taking advice from your friend all together.
Step two Clean the hell out of that tank. you say it sat in scummy water for over a year I assume the water was not heated an power heads running is that safe to assume?
If this is the case that live rock is in bad shape, take it out and scrub it of any algae that may be on it.
Stir out that sand of all the crap it has accumulated.
Clean the tank do not use soap elbow greese works well you can use bleach but be sure to rinse and drain very well.
Once you get the tank looking clean and free of any old algae fill it up get your salt levels right, temperature right, water moving, filter running, add your "live rock" and allow the tank to cycle even though your rock may or may not be alive any more it can become live again over time.
Get yourself a test kit and learn the Nitrogen cycle of a marine fishtank. Allow the tank to cycle completely before adding ANY fish. There are multiple ways to get the ammonia moving...ghost feeding, dead shrimp, etc.
Get that far and see where your at.

 

[matte]

I had a feeling that was what i was going to need to do. :/ clean rock in saltwater or at this point does it even matter?
For cleaning the sand, after the sifting, i'm assuming to suction all the water out, makes sense.
As far as it sitting, your assumption is correct, no heat, no powerheads, it just sat.
As far as the tank itself, cleaned it prior to putting everything in, till it was spotless, i'm anal about cleaning, hence why i had such a hard time believing that the sand and rock was "fine just the way it is".
As far as my clean-up-crew, would it be possible to toss them in a QT for the time being?
[edit]
I was also thinking, could i possibly do a 1-2pc at a time, and then return to the tank to limit the amount of disturbance to the already existing lifestock?

 

[deejeff442]

definitly clean everything.i like to use vinigar instead of bleach .i clean sand in a 5 gallon bucket .put 4-5 inches of sand at a time mix it up ,let it settle for 10 seconds then just spill out the dirty water keep doing it untill it is clear.you will lose a little sand but its easy.
as for therock by now it is probably dead.did it still have a smell to it?
just wash it good in salt water.like the other poster said you should probably come here foradvice rather than you friend.saltwater is a patient hobbie.you never want to add things fast .especially when you are learning get a good test kit and use it,learn how they work and watch how things change over time in the tank.
where are you keeping the cuc now?you could probably return them to the store for credit untill you are ready for them.

 

[matte]

The LR: It had a salty smell, nothing too foul. Reminded me of a low tide smell. The rock itself isn't completely white, there are hints of nice greens and reds, but again its covered in gross/old/decaying algea.
The C.U.C is still in the DT. They've been in there for ~week. I've only lost 1 Astrea Snail and a hermit and two fish. They have actually done a lot of work to the rock since they've been in there (cleaning wise).
I'll see what my LFS can do. If they'll even take them back.

 

[deejeff442]

so this set up is already running?
did youget a test kit?
is the water clear?
you really need to get some water test results and probably do a water change.if everything is in there already i would just leave them in there and start daily water changes.untillthewater test good like no ammonia.

 

[matte]

I've been testing since before I actually put livestock in the tank. the tank itself has been running for probably for ~2-3 weeks with nothing but the rock and sand. But this was before I had any type of water testing. I just wanted it to run, check plumbing, flow rates, and the sort.
I wanted to be sure that there was no ammonia or nitrites before i started adding lifestock, did the tank actually cycle with all the sand and rock prior to when I actually started testing, I don't know.
Actually, all my tests were good prior to livestock. Just everything was/is "dirty".
Current tests as of noon today:
0 ammonia
0 nitrites
20ppm nitrate
~8.0 pH (the test tube color was a little in between 7.8 and 8.0)
1.026 sg.

 

[deejeff442]

those tests look great having some nitrate tells me it went through the ammonia and nitrite cycle already.
you should be good to go at this point with a couple fish.
get a list together of the fish you want and if you dont have a qt put a couple small fish in there .a couple days after you add them test the water to make sure there is no ammonia spike.if there is do your water changes accordingly.then in a month or so add another fish.
nitrates affect corals more than they do fish.
thats a pretty good size tank so have fun.

 

[matte]

So about the nasty/soft/decaying on the LR, should i just leave it for now, an maybe spot clean it, via vacuum during water changes, rubbing it, turkey baster, etc etc?

 

[deejeff442]

i love that you are right on the computer getting back to post.i'll tell ya ive been at this since i was 14 and now i am 40 and still love it as much as when i started.
when you do your next water change just suck up the loose stuff on the rock and that should be good.the cuc should take care of the rock maintence for you.i like to keep alot of snails and hermits .

 

[matte]

oh. i've been reading like crazy for the last couple weeks. I knew absolutely NOTHING about this hobby. But thought it would be fun and something to do!
Well cool. I was really worried at first, i may have just worked myself up a little bit

 

[matte]

Well have some bad news :/ I lost another fish today And an Emerald Crab, no it wasn't just a molt, i made sure

I did the basic water testing.
1.026 SG (should this be lower? I've read 1.023-025 normal)
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
~20ppm Nitrate (working on this with water changes of 20g each week, this will be my 2nd week maybe i should up it more to maybe 30g - 40g?)
8.0 pH
79 F temp.
But then i pulled out my reef testing kit just to see some other numbers.
460 cal (i forgot the unit of measurement)
0.5 ppm Phosphate.
Now from what i've read, phosphate breaks down/consumes calcium. which would stump coral growth and I image other things. But also remedied by water changes (tested my RO water and it has 0, imagine that).
Could that amount of phosphate be causing a lot of my issues?
[edit] also I was doing a little bit of clean up on my rocks via a baster, and mixed the water a little bit, and by a little bit i mean a lot because my rocks are pretty dirty still (refer to above for the full story :/), could this have spiked the problem?