purchase advice

a friend of mine has a marine tank, 4 ft, on a stand, with two metal halides and two t5 lights in the canopy. he wants to sell it so i jokingly said id give him 600 for it. which he accepted. anyway. say i buy this tank, would it be easy to just convert it to a tropical tank? what would i need to keep in mind?

 

yes yes yes - take it. the lights alone are worth more than that.

wash it out really well with vinigar to get rid of the coraline algea growing on it. What type of filter comes with it? I am guessing with those lights you want to do a planted tank? take a look in the profs forum about the palmfiber peat and chemicult mix.

hope this helps

 

What he said!!

 

Damn!! Great deal!

 

Take it, take it, that is a great deal

 

Playing Devils advocate
yes great deal - but ...
Do you have the space for it, the time to properly maintain it and lastly can you afford the long term maintenance cost?

 

i dint know about the vinegar. thanks for the tip. as to space, i have. and cost, ill start low tech and work my way up when i can afford to

 

and so MTS sets in....lol

 

MTS has been with Ferryman for a while.. his budget just doesn't always allow for it.

 

yep. the budget is a good thing
, its possibly the only cure to mts

here are pics (when the tank was still filled and coral filled)
i dont have ones of just the tank as its empty


it works with an overflow and sump, i will ask if i can get the sump too, otherwise ill have to make my own/use different filtration

 

VERY NICE!!

Make it a marine tank man! You're getting the lights anyway.

 

Forget marine dude... those lights with CO2 will make a flipping AWESOME planted tank. I don't who says marine is better than tropical--> They need to be dragged behind a car on a tarred road wet with vinegar!

 

LOL!

You dare to snub me?!? I KILL YOU, INFIDEL!

 

I got rid of all my coraline algae very easily in my marine tank when I converted it to freshwater.

I added 500ml pool acid to 500lt of water ( total tank volume ) and switched all the power heads on and ran the sump uplift pump at full volume. After two days, the coraline algae came off the back glass, which was completely covered, in sheets. I did not even have to use a scraper, just a piece of filter floss. All my pumps were very nicely cleaned as well. I then drained the tank and for the next six days, I ran the tank with fresh water ( no acid ), changing the water every two days. Each time I would check the ph of my tap water and then the tank water, when they matched up for two consecutive water changes I figured that all the acid was out.

ALL the coraline and any marine algae was removed and the tank looked brand new again.

Just be careful, pool acid is very corrosive, and burns like sh#$%t if you get some on yourself. If you get it in your eyes....well goodbye eyes!

 

Would pool acid not damage the silicon? ANd the rubber seals in the pumps?

 

Zoom, I honestly don't know. There has been no damage to the silicon or rubber seals in my set up, but I cannot say what it would do. Remember that the dilution rate is very low ( 0.1%), no more than 500ml acid to 500 lt water. When I make up the mix, I do a tongue tip test ( not very scientific or clever, but best I could do at the time ) I make sure that I cannot taste or feel the acid / water mix on the tip of my tongue. Stick your finger in the water / acid mix and then put a drop on the tip of your tongue. IF YOUR FINGER OR TONGUE STINGS THEN THE MIX IS WAY TOO STRONG!

First fill the tank with water and then slowly add the acid. The idea is to slowly break down the calcium / coraline algea over a period of two to three days. Vinegar would probably be safer, but I cannot stand the smell of the stuff. Pool acid is sold in plastic 5lt containers, so I assume that it would not affect silicon.

If you are at all unsure or uncomfortable with this method, rather do not use it, as mistakes can have disasterous consequences to both your health and the tank. I have used this method a few times in the past and all has been OK, but I do have a very healthy respect for chemicals and know what can go wrong if you try and get too smart.( I set my bedroom on fire when I was a kid at school, messing around with chemicals!) To me it is a calculated risk and I am a bit nuts, I like to push the limits in most things that I do.

 

id actually be more comfortable with a vinegar based solution. lol. how would i apply it though? in water/ or on a cloth or something. also, thd back is painted but needs a touchup. do i just touchup or scrape down and repaint? whats best, enamel or pva

 

Congrats on the purchase Ferryman and good luck with the clean, i used vinegar once in a bucket with a little water and then a cloth .... i would scrape the back complete down and repaint. Cant remember if i used enamel or pva ,,, all i know is it was satin silk paint if that makes a difference,, paint was like rubber when done

 

Satin silk is enamel.

Don't use normal paint unles you going to let the tank stas for a few days to dry. Rather use a non-toxic paint. Most hardwares sell a product called everBOND (Not everSEAL) which is non-toxi, fast drying. It's actually a waterproofing product, but will work well on the back of a tank. Not sure of the colours available tho!

 

luckily the back didnt need touch up, i recieved the tank yesterday.
I still cant believe i got the tank at rock bottom, scary how dumb luck smacks you in the face sometimes.

I am now in the process of cleaning everything out, luckily there is little trace left of any coraline-anything. there's a bit of crusty-ness on the rim of the sump overflow, but thats about it.

what i can say for marine tanks is this, RUST, freakin'ell there is rust on the chains suspending the canopy, the frame of the stand, lol, even the computers that were in that room with it were rusted all the way to the mobo's. so i dont think ill ever really concider marine tanks an option. the other problem is that there is salt residue on just about everything, so i'm stripping things down and giving them a good scrub or wipedown as necessary.

really looking forward to getting it up and running, but patience is needed.
One quick question, does anyone know the "aquaflora waterlilly mix" that nurseries sell? i was wondering if that might be a possible substrate for the tank?
i am going to try my hand at a proper planted tank this time round. in time i'll have to get co2 and regulator etc as well...

btw will a sump like this work well, or will i need some modification?


this is the current configuration. it seems it works like so:
left in, overflow to next chamber with little piece of glass stuck on top by the rim, overflow to next chamber...

would it work if i replaced the little piece with one that goes almost to the bottom?
e.g. in, under, over, out

like so