New set up....

[MikeyinTX]

Just picked up the aquarium, turns out it's a bit smaller that I thought at 50g, not 65. Not sure how the guy got 65, but oh well. Still think I got a decent deal. It came with an Eheim canister filter that the guy wasn't sure worked. He said the set up has been in his garage for almost a year, and SURPRISE, the filter never got emptied, so that was NASTY!

I figured out that the filter has some broken parts, but I filled the canister up and got it to spray water all over the garage for a quick minute, so I'm guessing it's good. I think I'll need about $50-$75 in parts to get it back to like new condition. Anyone have any thoughts if that's worth it? It seems to be a pretty decent filter from looking quick online, so it seems like it would be the smart route to go.

The aquarium itself has a decent amount of calcium/crud on it, so I'm going to try vinegar and see how well that breaks it down before I hit it with something like CLR.

The light is a standard florescent set up. I'd rather have a nice LED set up, but I'm going to do a bit of research and see if I can't make this set up work at least short term to save some up front $$$.

The stand could use a good wipe down, and I figured I might as well hit it with some varnish while the set up has been broken down.

Anyone have any comments, suggestions?

 

[MikeyinTX]

Can anyone tell me what these are? I'm guessing some sort of filter media, but I've never seen anything like it before and have no idea if I'd rather chuck and buy new, need to try to clean them up, or if I even want them in the filter!

 

[brandon429]

those are called bioballs, harmless to use or not use along with any other filter, just part of options for extra surface area.

 

[klesel]

Bio balls there a biological filter most people throw them away now days . if your doing a reef no need to em the biological is in your live rock . plus those things get cloged up with debri and nitrate factory.

 

[MikeyinTX]

Thanks! Found what they were once I posted, but you just saved me the research of figuring out what to do with them! [emoji6]

 

[MikeyinTX]

Thought I would throw up some pics before anything gets done.

 

[MikeyinTX]

Thought I would post a couple pics now that the stand got cleaned and a couple coats of varnish.

The tank is mostly cleaned, there's one area on the glass that's still has "crud". I have no idea what it is since I let it soak with some straight CLR and that did nothing... If anyone has any ideas how to get it back to brand new I'm all ears. I tried good old fashion elbow grease, but that does nothing unless I uses a scrubby, which ended up scratching the glass. I tried a "glass safe" scrubs and ended up with just burning up the scrub and a bunch of calories :/

 

[Ronnell]

What r the dimensions of the tank. It looks like it could be a 75

 

[MikeyinTX]

What r the dimensions of the tank. It looks like it could be a 75

48x12x20... wouldn't be the first time I did math wrong, but I did it twice and I put it into one of those online volume calculators and got pretty much the same thing...

 

[Ronnell]

48x12x20... wouldn't be the first time I did math wrong, but I did it twice and I put it into one of those online volume calculators and got pretty much the same thing...

See if this will help u out

 

[Ronnell]

You measured it length (left-right) width (front-back) height (bottom-top)

 

[MikeyinTX]

Yes, I didn't have the numbers right in front of me when I posted, 48L, 12W and 20 height. However, I did it super quick, so looking at your post it could be a 55 as well. I pretty much rounded to the closest inch [emoji45]

 

[MikeyinTX]

Finally got it started! Almost done filling after 3 days [emoji5]️

 

[pondman]

Good luck in your build great start by the way

 

[Ronnell]

I am going to get a 30+ g trash can from Dollar General about 15 dollars

 

[E048]

Ditch the canister, it's not too late to drill your tank and go for a sump

If you don't want to drill get an overflow box

Canisters are a good way to get unwanted cyano blooms and hair algae

Other wise it looks good, I never did like how skinny 55g tanks are

But oh well good luck

 

[Ronnell]

Click here

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/228955/