New Member Intro & Looking for Referral/Help

[MikeATL]

Hi all- new member here and am looking for recommendations/referrals to help set up a 135 Oceanic tank/sump that I acquired over the weekend. My wife and I are getting into the hobby together, and she'll be setting up a Red Sea 250 we got as part of the two tank deal. We're really looking forward to becoming supporting members and attending meetings, as we've heard great things about ARC! While this is her first tank, I do have some previous experience although my last tank was ~17 years ago and have kept up w/the hobby somewhat and have been wanting to set up another tank for years and came close a few times to pulling the trigger but life kept getting in the way until now . Both tanks had been neglected for a while but were up and running and need a complete reset which we'll be starting today now that the tanks have been moved. We're planning on nuking the rock with separate bleach & muriatic acid baths due to algae & pests that were in the tank and taking our time to start them back up after giving everything a good cleaning. While the tanks were running and I know I'm in for a long cycle w/that approach, I'd like to minimize the chance of having problems down the road.

I need some help with plumbing the 135 at a minimum, and would like to have the tank inspected to see if it would be best to reseal it before I start it back up. Unfortunately this deal didn't give me enough time to plan everything out before moving it. As I planned on nuking the tanks, I wasn't concerned about saving anything. While I'm not against doing it myself, now that the tank is in my house (and stinking) I'd prefer to avoid the time it takes to research and to do it right. This would be my first plumbing experience as well lol.

Do you have recommendations on a LFS/service that could do this or is anyone in the community interested in helping? I'm in Cumming. Any good threads you'd recommend for DIY? I'm certainly not against paying someone to do it but my main concern is time at this point.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

[vols22]

The membership is worth it 10x over. Nice tank! I got a red sea e260. I would check out youtube as far as things you have asked about. There is a lot of info that you can actually watch there. There are two really good fish stores in duluth, atl aquariums and nemo. I also think there is a diy guy on youtube...maybe diy king? cant remember. Good luck, I am sure someone will chime in on your issues, good luck!

 

[Adam]

Hi Mike. Welcome to ARC!

This is a tough time of year to clean tanks because it's best done outside. If you can rinse them out and wet vac the loose crud out it will cut down on the smell from them quite a bit. You can then start cleaning the tanks with vinegar and razor blades, taking care not to get into the silicone with the blades. While I did nuke my rock with bleach and acid I would now recommend against it. I would order Sodium Percarbonate to mix with water and nuke the rock with it. It creates hydrogen peroxide that will disintegrate the organics in the rock when mixed at high enough concentrations, which can then be rinsed away. Bleach just turns the organics white but leaves most of it behind. I quick acid wash after that will help remove any left over PO4 that is bound to the surface of the rock. Again, this is best done outside due to the vapors and it will foam up pretty heavily which can be very messy.

There are several members near you that might be able to help with the plumbing on the 135. The closest store to you is Pure Reef. Very good people there who will be able to help you if you can't find anyone locally to come over.

 

[Trizzino]

Post some pictures of what we are working with. I am in Alpharetta and there’s plenty of members in Cumming. Here is my tank plumbing (green piping) and the white is my parents setup I did at their house. I did most of the mock up outside the tank by measuring the space under the tank and saved only a few pieces to cut once it was under the tank. It saved a ton of time and made the final glue and install much easier. Unions are your friend. What is your timing on needing it plumbed? I may be able to come over and give you a hand.

 

[jcook54]

Please note the shower pan liner at the bottom of the stand. It's a tremendous thing to have when you find out there's a small (or big) leak. Run it up as high as you can and it'll hold quite a bit of water. Welcome to the forum and do post some pics of what you're working with. There are quite a few folks that can help you along the way. In my experience, it's better to do the plumbing yourself and build the confidence to add and revise later.

 

[MikeATL]

Wow, talk about super helpful thanks all!!!

@anit77- I'll definitely check out the Sodium Percarbonate, and certainly will be doing the heavy cleaning outside. The tanks were sprayed off about as well as possible before the move, and am on my way now to get lunch & cleaning stuff to start cleaning as much as I can without a fill, at least on my tank. My wife's Red Sea is going to be infinitely easier
@jcook54 - the previous owner was incredibly deep into the hobby and had already put the liner in. He was also pretty involved w/ARC based on what I understand a few years ago and probably got the idea from here. The amount of stuff I got is pretty ridiculous tbh, maybe at some point I'll list it all.
@trizzino, I've attached pics below before the move, I don't think it's that big of a deal but not having experience here scares me a bit. Your setup looks sweet!! We had to cut the bulkheads off as well to get the tank out so those will need to be replaced also. I can also grab some pics of the seals if that would help?

Left (installed):


Right:


Sump:


Full tank:


Wife's Red Sea:

 

[lmm1967]

Nice Tanks - you're gonna want a costco size jug of vinegar to start with.

Like @anit77 said - I'd work on getting all the crap rinsed out, sucked out with a wet/dry vac, wiped out with paper towels etc - whatever works best to get as much junk out of them as possible.

Then start soaking with water / vinegar. and CAREFUL scraping - tanks scratch easier than you think sometimes - stay away from the silicone.

Personally - and it's just my opinion - I'd start from scratch with the plumbing, including the bulkheads. Get rid of those valves and put gate valves in - you'll be much happier down the road.

 

[MikeATL]

Appreciate all of the input. We’ve now bleached the (120 lbs) rocks, cleaned the tanks, resealed the big tank and overflows using RTF 108, replumbed the sump, ordered flex spa/connectors/true union gates/reg gates/mega flow overflow kits to replumb. Found out both of our skimmer pumps were bad so ordered replacements along w/test kits/BRS Reactor and salt & sand. All of the equipment got soaked in vinegar and then bleached. Ordered 3 32” Reefbreeders Photon V2+ lights (2 for the 6 footer & 1 for the Red Sea), which went out of their way to verify that their light would fit perfectly in the Red Sea 250 canopy w/o issue and even sent me a pic of a recent install. Got the sand cleaned and the small tank started w/a raw shrimp this week. Waiting on the sealant to cure on the big tank before doing a water test but hope to have it starting it’s cycle next weekend! I forgot how much work it is to do this right and was trying to be lazy I think lol.

I’m hoping to pick up some more rock this weekend. I’d really like to find someone with nice pest free wet rock (100-200 lbs) that I don’t have bleach but will if I need to, that’s just a lotta work. I have a bunch of Matrix but it seems the general recommendation is 1-2 lbs of live rock per gallon of DT still holds. I didn’t realize you couldn’t “real” live rock any more and have been looking at TBS rock which seems like one of the better aquacultured vendors out there. I’m hesitant about getting bad hitchhikers but guess that comes w/getting more variety in your tank. Open to thoughts here.

I’ll post a pic once we get them both up and running, should be a pretty stark contrast to the last pics

 

[Jarad]

Post some pictures of what we are working with. I am in Alpharetta and there’s plenty of members in Cumming. Here is my tank plumbing (green piping) and the white is my parents setup I did at their house. I did most of the mock up outside the tank by measuring the space under the tank and saved only a few pieces to cut once it was under the tank. It saved a ton of time and made the final glue and install much easier. Unions are your friend. What is your timing on needing it plumbed? I may be able to come over and give you a hand.

@trizzino I still love seeing this string of images. Some real quality and good looking design and plumbing there. Amazing job.

 

[MikeATL]

Ya, just to be clear mine will look NOTHING like that before I post the follow up pics. That’s nuts.

 

[Trizzino]

Ya, just to be clear mine will look NOTHING like that before I post the follow up pics. That’s nuts.

Thanks @raybiotech. My first two tanks plumbing looked nothing like this either. It’s all a learning curve. You’ll get there.