Picking up my new tank tommorow

[ReefNewb]

went and looked at it today. My gf found it on cl last night. 60 (ish) gallon, rimless, cornerless acrylic tank. Has a cpr backpak on it, also a canister filter (ill prolly just clean up and sell it). It has a blue tang and a bi color angel in it. The viewing area is covered in coraline, and looks like some hair algae. from what i saw the lr looks to be algae infested. So the tank need super cleaning. mh lighting with two mh bulbs and two actinic t5's. Plus a bunch of extra stuff in a box she said. All for $100. yup. tank needs a gooooooood cleaning, but ill just put the fish in my 55 until i can get this puppy up and runnin. im stoked. im gonna post pics of the liverock when i get it all home to see what yall think of what i should do with it, just scrub it off or do the whole bleaching and drying and start fresh. Pics wil lbe up tommorow around noon. Takin it down and moving it at 10 tommorow.

[Derekreefer]

I would recommend using Vinegar or the tank and pumps. Cleaning an Acrylic tank can be a real pain and vinegar will make the Algae flake off. For tough spots I would use an old credit card so you don't scratch the acrylic.

[ReefNewb]

I'm gonna stop by RCA and see if they have an acrylic scraper

[ReefNewb]

If the coraline has the hair algae on it, would it be unwise to try and use it to seed my 55 gal? And would it (coraline) "die" if I drain all the water out, take it home and then scrape it?

[Starsprinkle Rainbowsmile]

Depending on how bad the tank has been neglected, you may have to end up cooking the rock.  Vinegar works well on cleaning the equipment.  But I wouldn't seed anything from this tank into your existing tank without thorough treatment.

[ReefNewb]

picked it! this is what i had to work with....

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

plus about 40 lbs of nasty good sized lr..

and two fish that had no fight left in them, took this during acclimation..

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

well after many hours of cleanin and scraping, this is what we got for $100

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

And what about the fish you ask. tang is doing great, the bicolor angel is still laying around hopefully destressin...

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

By collynhartman at 2010-08-17

So what yall think of the buy?

[Timfish]

I'd say it was a good buy inspite of all the work to clean it up. The Regal Tang looks really thin. The lights should work fine for that size tank but new fixtures & ballasts most likely would be brighter and more effecient, I guess that's a judgment call if the expense would justify replacing the old lighting equipment.

[ReefNewb]

The tang is in my 55 gal for now till I get the lr cleaned up. The tank i bought is hangin in the garage for the time being.

[Starsprinkle Rainbowsmile]

Yeah, that tang does look neglected and malnourished.  I bet its been through quite a lot.  Now, it needs some TLC and a good diet.  You can be that fish's hero!

Also, I bet a lot of that equipment will clean up nicely and with a little work and some additions you can make a proper reef out of it yet.

[JamesL]

H o l y c o w.

It went from that to that?!?! Great job on cleaning it up!

[ReefNewb]

The pic with the liverock in it, is my already setup 55 gal. Just used it to house the two fish in and give em happy new home till I get the new one set back up. Just in case there's any confusion

[ReefNewb]

UPDATE.... The bicolor angelfish that was in the filthy tank, has gone to fishy heaven. I guess the stress of the tank swap was to much on the little guy. The tang is holding strong though, eats seaweed and mysis everychance it gets. So hopefully he will make it through.

[Brooks]

Looks great! So glad the Tang is doing well... that was just awful that they had treated it that way. It still looks big for a 60g tank... you might want to consider selling or giving it away after he is nursed back to health. Just an option to consider.

[Robb in Austin]

Are you adding selcon or any fish vitamins to the seaweed? Might be a good idea if your not. Sorry to hear about the angel.

[ReefNewb]

im gonna try and maybe do the garlic thing? ill have to look at the package and see what all it has in it already

[ReefNewb]

Well, I'm sorry to say, the tang will be dead in the next few hours. She is ghost white with a few dark freckles, gilling hard and when she does swim she just darts to the top like she's trying to jump out. Yesterday I finally took the time to scrub the liverock that came in the tank and checked the salinity of the water the fish were in, it pegged out my gauge. 1.032. Kinda numbed cause I really think it's not fair for the two fish that lost their life cause someone just didn't take care of the fish she had..... Either way rest in piece Hoppy (bicolor angel) and Dori (blue tang).

[Brooks]

:'( Sorry to hear your Tang died. Neglect is a terrible thing...

[ReefNewb]

i wonder if you can call animal cops on that? im mean heck she owns a dog training academy. what does she do to the dogs?

[ReefNewb]

and my next question, whats a humane(ish) way to dispose of a tang of this size? flushing it is def not gonna work. i dont wanna bury it in the back yard like momma wants, cause the dogs would have a field day.

[JamesL]

and my next question, whats a humane(ish) way to dispose of a tang of this size? flushing it is def not gonna work. i dont wanna bury it in the back yard like momma wants, cause the dogs would have a field day.

I think practicality would have to come in here and I personally would put it in a large ziplock bag, and then in the garbage can.

[ReefNewb]

Found her dead at 9:01am, my brittle star was trying to get a piece of her I think. Put her in a gallon ziploc with a little water and in the garage freezer till trash day

[Brooks]

i wonder if you can call animal cops on that? im mean heck she owns a dog training academy. what does she do to the dogs?

You might be able to give them a 'tip' on what she has done with the fish, and they can keep a close eye on the dogs she tends to until they have hard evidence against her. From what I've seen, the doggy and kitty cops really only tend to doggies and kitties. I've never really heard of someone getting in trouble for neglecting a fish tank.

[NonSequitur]

... or even birds for that matter.. I made so many calls about a local "pet store" that had a badly self-mutilating cockatoo that desperately needed a trip to the vet, but they refused to take it, since the owner "knew birds" and "it was fine." Neither animal control nor the local PD would do anything about it.

Apparently puppies in tiny cages were ok too.. grr, don't get me started.

Sorry..

Looks like you got a great deal on the tank, though.. with a little TLC it'll be beautiful in no time.