noob questions, please dont laugh at me

[prelag]

I was chatting it up with an old friend about aquariums and jokingly mentioned I was interested in getting an eel to kill stuff in an aquarium. He told me that his 3 year old son recently dumped windex into his 30 gallon saltwater tank and killed everything. He offered to give it to me for free.
So, basically, I have a tank that has been sitting outside in his backyard for 2-3 months. The live rocks he had in the tank before the windex incident have also been sitting outside for 2-3 months in the vegas summer heat (110 degrees a day).
So, onto my questions.
#1. I have the rock soaking in a bucket right now hoping I can bring it back to life with live rock I plan to buy at a LFS. Is this a good or bad idea? I figure the windex is long gone by now.. or is it??!?
#2. I have a brand spanking new power filter. It is a AquaClear power filter rated for 5-20 gallon tanks. My friend gave me his old filter when he gave me the tank which has a broken motor? (it could be something else, not to sure) So, should I just use the brand new filter even though it isnt rated for my tank or take my friends motor to the LFS to see if they can fix it (he recommended i do so) Btw, I plan to buy a skimmer once my cycle is complete, so keep this in mind when making your decision on which filter I should keep as the power filter will be running along side a skimmer.
#3. Sand... My friend is a semi genius so I trust his judgement. He tells me I should look for Southdown Play Sand at home depot. It is a very good aragonite sand and has fine particle size. It will cost about $4 for 50lbs as opposed to the stuff sold in the pet stores for $30 for 30lb bags. Does anyone have anything to say on this matter?
#4. Are there any drawbacks to using sand versus crushed coral? I guess my main concern is the fish kicking up the sand and making the tank dirty.
#5. My friend used tap water just fine. What is the benefit to using distilled water? I know tap water contains some bad minerals but if it doesnt kill off the fish whats the big deal? (not trying to sound like a pompous ass, just never heard anyone explain why tap water is so evil other then "it has bad minerals!"
#6. I figure when I add the water to my tank it will be cloudy because of the sand. Should I have my power filter running or turned off during this period of cloudyness?
Thats all I can think of for now!

:help:

 

[joec21]

srub that dead rock as good as you can.
one of the bad things about tap water and i'm sure you'll find out about this is
Red Slime it over takes your tank and ruins everything.

 

[joec21]

Originally Posted by prelag
#6. I figure when I add the water to my tank it will be cloudy because of the sand. Should I have my power filter running or turned off during this period of cloudyness?
off, you don't want sand grinding in your filter.

 

[jjlittle]

Tap water is bad for a couple reasons first most cities are treating the water to make it even usable with all types a chemicals.It has clorine in it which most people just add a declorinator solution I would say 90% of the people that use tap will have some ill effects with live stock and have many more problem maintaining good water quality & will have many algea breakouts . Algea is the most common I hear with tap water.
Most people go with sand rather then CC it is also suppost to be better then CC.
I would not run your filter but make sure the water is circulating.
I would pressure wash the rock which got windexed.
If you get enough LIve rock 1 to 1.5 pound per gal you would not even need a filter the rock would be your filter.
Hope this helps ya

 

[sly]

Originally Posted by prelag
#1. I have the rock soaking in a bucket right now hoping I can bring it back to life with live rock I plan to buy at a LFS. Is this a good or bad idea? I figure the windex is long gone by now.. or is it??!?
Windex has a lot of ammonia in it which kills fish. Try soaking the rock in distilled water and put in some ammonia lock from the fish store. Change the water everyday for about 2 weeks, putting in ammonia lock each time for a week. After the 1st week, just change the water without adding ammonia lock.
Originally Posted by prelag
#2. I have a brand spanking new power filter. It is a AquaClear power filter rated for 5-20 gallon tanks. My friend gave me his old filter when he gave me the tank which has a broken motor? (it could be something else, not to sure) So, should I just use the brand new filter even though it isnt rated for my tank or take my friends motor to the LFS to see if they can fix it (he recommended i do so) Btw, I plan to buy a skimmer once my cycle is complete, so keep this in mind when making your decision on which filter I should keep as the power filter will be running along side a skimmer.
Your AquaClear would not do any good on a tank that big. It would be better to use the filter that the tank came with. If it has any filter media in it like carbon or filter floss, be sure to change it. Not only is the media extremely dirty from sitting out in the open for so long, but it is probably contaminated with windex. If you can replace it, then do so. This includes carbon, floss, bio-wheels, etc...
Originally Posted by prelag
#3. Sand... My friend is a semi genius so I trust his judgement. He tells me I should look for Southdown Play Sand at home depot. It is a very good aragonite sand and has fine particle size. It will cost about $4 for 50lbs as opposed to the stuff sold in the pet stores for $30 for 30lb bags. Does anyone have anything to say on this matter?
Your friend is right. Southdown is good sand for aquariums and will not release silicates that normal sand will. Silicates cause algae problems.
Originally Posted by prelag
#4. Are there any drawbacks to using sand versus crushed coral? I guess my main concern is the fish kicking up the sand and making the tank dirty.
Here is where I will disagree with most of the people in this forum. I prefer CC greatly over sand. Looks have nothing to do with it... I don't like Deep Sand Beds... They crash too easily when disturbed. DSB's are designed to house anaerobic bacteria which will break down nitrate into nitrogen gas which is harmless. They work great but have the problem of not being able to be cleaned. There are many times where people have vacuumed out their sand only to have it crash and kill everything in the tank. DSB's also have the problem of being permanent. If you ever want to move your tank, you will crash the DSB and will have to wait for it to cycle again. Rather than using a sand bed to remove nitrates, I like to use extra LR and macro algae to do it. Then I just use a shallow CC base that will not house anaerobic bacteria and I stir it ocassionally with my finger to stir up any settled debris so that it can be removed by the filter floss. I like to actually remove dirt from my tank, rather than simply letting it sit there and hopefully convert from one form to another. The important thing if you use CC is not to make it too deep. It should only be deep enough to cover the bottom (about 1 inch). If it is deeper then you will get slime mold growing on it and you will have to clean it frequently (which is what most people have done, that's why they don't like CC...) Keep it shallow and it will be fine. Let non-crashable things like LR and macros do the filtering instead...

 

[sly]

Originally Posted by prelag
#5. My friend used tap water just fine. What is the benefit to using distilled water? I know tap water contains some bad minerals but if it doesnt kill off the fish whats the big deal? (not trying to sound like a pompous ass, just never heard anyone explain why tap water is so evil other then "it has bad minerals!"
See my post in this thread for more info on types of water... https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=176365
I'll also add that tap water does have minerals which do not evaporate. Water does... As your tap water evaporates it will leave behind its silicates and other "bad things". Then when you top off with more tap water, you add more minerals to your system. Again the water will evaporate leaving the minerals behind. Over time you will get water that is extremely unbalanced in disolved mineral concentrations. You will have problems keeping your alk high which will cause pH shifts and you will not be able to keep your calcium high which will hurt your LR. Also if you have heavy rains, then you will have high bursts of silicates in your water which will cause severe algae problems. Tap water is not consistant and quite frankly, salt water IS a science...
Originally Posted by prelag
#6. I figure when I add the water to my tank it will be cloudy because of the sand. Should I have my power filter running or turned off during this period of cloudyness?
Always keep your filter running... One reason that the water is cloudy at first is because the sand is "too pure". The particles are too light and will become suspended in the water, making it cloudy. As the tank matures, biologic elements like protein wastes will stick to the particles and will weigh them down. Then they will settle and your water will clear. If your pumps aren't running, then you will not have the circulation you need to distribute these biological wastes and your tank will be cloudy longer. Just make sure that you don't point your power heads straight down so that it keeps blowing the sand around. Let them gently circulate the water instead.
One last thing... buying a protein skimmer is really one of the FIRST things you should do. It is never soon enough to get one. They will not slow down your cycling in that ammonia and nitrites are not removed by them anyway... But they will remove other wastes that would otherwise accumulate in your tank. It is best to start removing these wastes as soon as possible. Skimmers are also very good at oxygenating the water. Oxygen is something that fish love... :happyfish