Pudgeshambley
Active Member
I am really lucky I am not saying too late. Glad you said that.
Used tank
- Thread starter Pudgeshambley
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davidcalgary29
2500 Club Member
I'd use citric acid (powder, mixed in water). Vinegar is generally fine, and great for the outside of the tank, but can corrode some third-party equipment.
This is the time to give your equipment a good cleaning -- before water is added. I'd also do a water test at this point by adding water in the tank and letting it sit for a few days -- to determine if there are any leak issues.
Karen00
2500 Club Member
I would just give those a rinse. Does the carbon filter have carbon that's replaceable? If so I would change that out. Anything that has replaceable media I would put fresh stuff in.
Pudgeshambley
Active Member
I got everything cleaned out. Except I can't figure out how to get the inner parts of the protein skimmer clean. It has been out of water for six days now. Ended up not putting the rock in because it has vermited snails on it. Got water and live sand for the lfs. Marco Rock coming tomorrow, hopefully. Trying to decide how to seed the tank now. Is the live sand enough? I bought a bottle of bio-spira but haven't used it. The lfs suggested that and a little bit of fish food. Have read about putting part of a shrimp in. Any suggestions
Karen00
2500 Club Member
What is the manufacturer of the skimmer? Is the live sand the CaribSea live sand or a different type? Theoretically the live sand should be enough to insta-cycle the tank but you would still want to monitor parameters to see if a cycle happens (meaning don't go putting in fish and/or corals right away). With the live sand you don't need additional bacteria and you shouldn't need anything like shrimp, however if you get weird results in monitoring for a cycle you can always add the shrimp (in a mesh bag) which should then show some changes in levels as the live sand does its thing. I used the live sand and dry rock and my tank instantly cycled but I still tested for a few weeks just to make sure everything was fine. I then added one fish and monitored again for a few weeks. The key is to go slow.
Pudgeshambley
Active Member
It's the red sea reefer max e 170 AIO. So it's their skimmer. It's just one solid piece of plastic. It is Carib sea. This is my first tank so I haven't bought any tests yet. They have a hanna kit that looks like it includes almost everything but it's 260 dollars and I have no idea if that is good or if the brand is good. Seems like most people use different brands for testing different things. Anyway, would the hanna kit be a good place to start?
Pudgeshambley
Active Member
Added some seachem matrix also
Karen00
2500 Club Member
Usually there is a way to pull apart/pull out all the components for cleaning. Hopefully someone who has one of those AIO's will chime in or maybe you can post a specific question about this under the hardware section (I don't think there is a Red Sea tank section). Alternatively maybe you can contact Red Sea about this. I guess if you can't get it apart then it will be fine. It's just always nice to get a used tank as clean as you can.
