Ok, that's a good start, knowing what you want to do with it.
My plan of action:
A) Hardware
1) RO/DI-he will want a fairly good sized one. I have about 300 gallons of
water in my system and I went from a 50 gallon a day to an 80 gallon/day and
would not want to go with less. Spectrapure and nothing else.
2)Skimmer-Big. This list is very pro-Ron H skimmer, and never heard bad
things, talk to him for models and sizes. I have a 6' Lifereef and like it.
3) Circulation- Don't need tons if it is fish only, but for that size tank,
I would try to get something rated for 1500-2000 gph minimum at the
appropriate head. No use using powerheads, so go with a big external pump,
or 2 smaller ones.
4) lighting- for fish only add at least 2 more, preferably 4 more NO. Again
it is for fish so you don't need tons of light, but if you added an Ice cap
660 and 4-110 watt vho's it would brighten it up nicely (I won't go on about
MH, but you could do it)
5) Ozone/UV-Not my bag, I don't use it, but if he wants to overload the
tank, they might be helpful, again, I'll defer to Ron on that one.
B) Clean-up
1) After all of the above is in place (At least ro/di-the rest is more for
the currently non-existing inhabitants). start massive water changes> Bear
in mind that the spectrapure pre-filters only last around 300 gallons, so
maybe buy an extra set or 2 at the beginning.
I would do 2 or 3 or 4 50% or larger water changes right away and one right
after the other. While you do this, manually remove as much algae/slime as
possible. You need to clean up the water. If it is possible and the tank is
really a mess, I would think about doing a 100% change first, then several
30-50% change after
2) If the rock is really bad (i.e. dead), take it all out, scrub it down,
then add it back in, or part of it and add more cured or fresh rock. At this
point I wouldn't worry about uncured, the tank is likely going to cycle
again any how. Assuming there are no animals in the tank, and at this point
I would get rid of any fish in there.
3)Substrate, if it is really large grain, either dump it, or drop it down so
it just covers the bottom. I would still take it out myself and go with a
finer grade, I am a deep sand bed guy, but that's only my preference.
4) PATIENCE! Leave the tank animal free till it is in running order then
start adding the animals. I like to wait 3-6 months, but some people don't.
IF you are starting with a new tank, then maybe you can use Ron H's "Stock
it quick" method, but for a tank that is as messed up as you make this out
to be, I wouldn't rush it.
My 10 cents worth,
Derek
See my reef at Http://www.geocities.com/reefsalot/
Under HEAVY construction!
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2001 2:50 PM
Subject: Re: 300 Gallon Tank
> Just talked to him again, Probably start out with a fish only with live
rock
> tank. Even if we added corals it would be soft corals and maybe some lps.
> Wants to make it as self sufficient as possible. What kind of RO/DI unit
for
> making that much water and are there any plans for an auto top off for a
tank
> that big any of you know of.
>
> Glen
>
________________________________________
LEAVING THE LIST
================
To stop receiving messages you will need to send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a command to remove you from the list. The list
manager controls who belongs to the list.
For example:
--------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Doe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: <not needed>
UNSUBSCRIBE
--------------------------------------------------------------
