just got my cycled eclipse 12 system, what do i do now?

[gfk]

So i posted a while back about a friend giving me her eclipse 12 system that had been up for 2 years and had a puffer. turns out the puffer is really tiny and wont get any bigger, he is a sharped nosed puffer and is only about an inch and a half long, and has been livin in the tank for 2 years so apparently its big enough.
On to my questions. the tank is filthy. she told me to go to the salt water fish store here today and get some more water to top off the tank, and to get a test kit and a cleaning kit.
the sand in there she said is live sand but its hawaiin or something because it has parts of pooka shells in there, but i dont like it. i want the sugary looking stuff, so how would i go about changing the sand? should i wait til i clean the tank and dont have the fish in there anymore or what? also im planning on getting rid of the fish and buying more live rock (there is 2.5 pounds in there right now) and then growing some corals. she said she cant grow anything in there because he will eat it.
so is cleaning the tank, letting it run for a while, and making sure all the levels are correct and get a good idea of whats goin on, before doing all this a good idea? i just dont wanna stress the fish out anymore after the move but she didnt wanna clean the tank so that way it wouldnt crash on me, but i think she was just being lazy

 

[brownleaf]

Hi,
First, don't top off with saltwater. Ues RO/DI water. You can buy them at any market.
Second, clean the tank and do a 10% water change w/ saltwater that you buy at LFS.
Third, if you are to take out the fish, than change the sand after the fish is out.
HTH.
ps. Get the test kit, and /or take some water to you LFS for test. Than you have better idea how to test and read the outcome. And the LFS can test more things in the water for you.

 

[gfk]

thanks for the advice. also in the futre i want to buy the same aquariam but new since this one is all scratched up and stuff. when i do that, which wont be for a while, can i just put the water and rocks in the new tank, or will i need to wait for it to cycle?
also whats ro/di i saw what it meant but is it just bottled water or what?

 

[nflnutswif]

Anyone else have an opinion that the small sugary grain sand would really fly around in a small tank??
We have a neighbor with a 10 gal. that even a small power head creats dust!
Just a thought! :thinking:

 

[brownleaf]

You can just transfer everything over, you will learn how after a while.
RO/DI water is not just bottle water (yes it came in bottles). It's filtered water. You can even buy it at the water machine in front of the market. But do a test first to see if it's safe.
And the sand, yeh, try not to use too fine of grain.

 

[gfk]

ok i am back from the store. guy that worked there didnt try to sell me a bunch of stuff and was pretty helpful. i got test strips to check to see when i need to change the water, which is soon. and i got a salinity checker. it seems to be all over the place though, ill check it and itll be high, then low, then right on. i also got a sponge to clean the tank with and so now the water is all nasty, and its filtering right now.
so looks like its just cleaning time til i do the water change and then hopefully the tank will start to look better. im not ready to ditch it yet and get a new tank since i paid 60 bucks for everything, but i feel for not too much more i could have started from scratch and been ok. oh well live and learn i suppose.
they told me live rock is 6 dollars a pound and live sand is a dollar a pound, is that a good deal?

 

[brownleaf]

I would do a 10% water change just to be safe.
I got the LR for $4.50/lb in SF. You can shop around. LS is OK.

 

[gfk]

how do i get all the nasty stuff off the sand? just stir it up when i do the water change? also, should i just get some plastic tubing and syphen out the water? if so should i just aim the hose towards all the algae on the ground for it to pick it up?
the tank looks a lot better right now compared to what it looked like yesterday but i still got a long way to go

 

[redcoat94]

if you take a look at some of the posts on the board you'll see that most people do not suggest stirring up the sand bed. All you do is let loose nitrates that have built up in any dead spots and other nasties that may be hidden in there. What kind of cleaning crew do you have? Those guys are the best for cleaning your tank and keeping it that way. I'd recommend some hermit crabs and some nassarius snails to start. The hermits will pick up junk from the top of the sand bed and the nas snails will burrow down into the bed and keep the sand shifted and looking nice. I don't have one yet, but a lot of people seem to like gobies to help shift the sand also. HTH

 

[reverai]

Your salinity shouldn't be bouncing all over the place if you have a swing arm hydrometer. If you don't, you need to test the salinity with the water at 77 degrees or your results will be all over the map.
Steve