New to Saltwater -- Taking over a friend's old tank

Idoc · Nov 4, 2016

Hello all... Well, after years of freshwater aquariums and the deep desire to setup a saltwater tank, I'm finally doing it! I finally retired from the military and settled in my "permanent" home, so now I can focus on my tank and not worry about moving around the world every couple of years!

I am purchasing a friend's 75g tank that he setup last February, but moved into housing that doesn't allow him to have a tank now. So, he shut down his tank (sold off all livestock months ago) and has been storing it in a basement for a few months. The live rock is still in the water, along with the sand, but he hasn't had any flow to it during this time. I'm glad we don't have any live inhabitants to worry about...I'm assuming all his equipment works, but it has been sitting awhile without use.

Since I don't have to worry about moving live inhabitants, this should be a sort of simple procedure. But, I would appreciate any advice anyone would give on how to handle the live rock currently in the system's stagnate old water. The current rock looks kind of rough with a lot of brown "junk" and some green algae growth on it. I'm concerned because I did see a couple of "dead" hermit crabs in the tank...he said everything else was sold, though. The local Reef store owner said the rock should be fine...recommended setting up the system and letting it run awhile without any lights to kill off some of the algaes. I'm going to start fresh with new live sand since the current sand looks a little rough as well...and new water from my LFS. My questions:

1. Should I keep a few cups of the old sand and "plant" it in the new sand?
2. Recommendations on how to proceed with "cleaning" the rock or other ideas?
3. Any ideas on moving this aquarium? I've seen some do's and don'ts on the site browsing today!

Thanks in advance for any ideas or comments!

MamaLovesHerReefTank · Nov 4, 2016

As far as the rock goes, it would be a good idea to clean it with muratic acid before using it. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/muratic-acid-to-clean-dry-rock.258764/ Here's a thread that's on R2R. Also it might be a good idea to get some help from #reefsquad

melypr1985 · Nov 4, 2016

Welcome to R2R! Here is an article that may help some. It won't be exactly what you are doing, but there are many tips that you can use. Good luck with the new build! Click here -->>> Are you Moving???

Drakonis · Nov 4, 2016

Main point i have is make sure you start fresh so to speak. when you use rock and sand that has life on it you bring good and bad, and both can be hidden even into months later of the tank running again.

bw777 · Nov 4, 2016

Thank you for your service

Drakonis · Nov 4, 2016

I had Neomeris pop up 4 months after tank boot up with rock from someone else. if i could be rid of that the tank is doing very well otherwise.

Idoc · Nov 21, 2016

Lori LeBlanc said:
As far as the rock goes, it would be a good idea to clean it with muratic acid before using it.

Drakonis said:
Main point i have is make sure you start fresh so to speak. when you use rock and sand that has life on it you bring good and bad, and both can be hidden even into months later of the tank running again.

Well I took both of your advice given, lol. I purchased new live dry rock (Pukani from BRS) which will be used in my new setup, but also performed an acid wash of the existing rock to clean it for storage or sale. The rock cleaned up nicely, but there are still "green" patches in the pores that didn't come off with the follow up rinsing (see attached). I acid washed them for about 20-25 minutes only. Do you think I should do it again on the select rocks with the green still on them?