New to saltwater. Need some advice on used Red Sea max 250.

[Safarali]

Hey guys. I have only been in the salt water hobby a few months. I did almost everything wrong on my first set up but now it's running well and all fish/inverts/corals look happy and doing well. (Didn't kill any of them) I think I got a great deal on a Red Sea max 250 65 gal. It has the upgraded led lights full spectrum. And everything seems to be in working order. Still has live sand/crushed coral in it and some water. Few inches. Lots of alge growth all over. I bought it for $250 and it's actually in perfect condition physically. Now do I threw away the sand? Best method of cleaning it? I personally like the color of the Alge. What would you guys recommend I do first as it is a used tank ? The guy who owned it bought a larger Red Sea model and transferred his rock and livestock to that. It wasn't a poorly maintained tank. Whatever info you have will certainly help. My buddie the reef guy has gone on vacation so can't Harras him

[AlanM]

I'd make sure to give all the sand a really good stir to get the detritus suspended and get the crud out.  Maybe fill it with a couple inches of saltwater on top of the sand a few times with all the sand on one end and use a siphon hose into a bucket with a filter sock in it.  Then dump the saltwater back in and do that a few times.  Then start afresh. 

 

Basically I'd want to keep the mature sand bacteria and maybe bristle worms and whatever else is living in it, but get rid of the detritus that inevitably fills up sand over time.  

 

Then I'd run it for a while with rock in it with no lights on (so no extra algae) but with all filtration on to get rid of extra nutrients and to seed the new rock.

 

Then run it for a while with lights and let the algae grow and harvest it to export nutrient.  Then I think you're good.

[Safarali]

Thank you. Had some people say literally wash out with a hose. Didn't think that was right

[tom39]

When you say "I personally like the color of the algae", what kind of algae are you speaking of? There are many types that have beautiful vibrant colors of algae that you definitely don't want in your tank. Not being able to see the algae, it would be my suggestion to remove the sand from the tank and wash it out with a garden hose as others have indicated to you prior. That may not sound right but it is a proven method to clean sand.  

[AlanM]

Well, washing with hose is not a terrible idea.  You basically put it in a bucket and keep stirring while running water into it and letting the detritus kind of overflow out.  It will be nice and clean.  I don't know if you are starting with live rock, but this would probably render it dead sand because the saltwater organisms won't live through it.  Depends on how much you'd value keeping the sand alive.

[Origami]

Rinsing the sand with a hose is a common technique when transferring sand to a new tank. It suspends detritus and washes it out as the bucket overflows. (Do this outside, obviously.) A freshwater rinse like this, though, will kill off worms and such in the sand. Also, if your water is heavily chlorinated, however, you can kill off some bacteria this way. 

[sethsolomon]

I am personally one of the people that will also recommend rinsing your sand with a hose as it has less chances for mistakes. It's a tradeoff you will have to choose. Rinsing with saltwater will keep the bacteria alive and get some of the detritus out  but it can risk releasing excess nitrates and some gasses locked in the sand (Nitrogen sulfide?)   But if done right,you will continue to have a good solid bacteria to keep your tank stable as before the transfer.  As the hose method removes almost all chances of getting the excess nitrates and gas in the water.  But you will have to dial back the feeding a bit to allow the sand bacteria to establish itself.   

[zygote2k]

Pictures please....

[Safarali]

No pics yet. I have scraped and cleaned the tank and washed out the sand. Think I need 50 to 75 pounds of live sand? I have about 30 pounds of rock so thinking another 35 or 40 pounds of live? Anything you all would recommend ?

[madweazl]

I used 100lbs of live sand in my 75g (48x18" footprint) which made for a 2-3" sand bed across the tank after the lower rock work had been placed (now it's about 1" on the far right and 6" on the far left with the pistol and gobies feverishly redecorating on a constant basis). I have a pretty low rock structure and used roughly 50lbs of BRS' dry reef rock. 

[Safarali]

Thanks. Similar to what I was thinking. any recommendations on the filter? Or? Media ?

[madweazl]

That is largely personal preference. I've run tanks with wet/drys, sumps, without, skimmer, no skimmer, pretty much every configuration and I've had success with all of them. I prefer running sumps for the sake of hiding items that would otherwise be in the tank. They also provide some added volume to compensate for the rock and sand that displaces a fairly large amount of water. I try to keep things natural as possible; I like running a refugium (some say they're great, some believe they do little). On the latest setup I wanted the fish to be a focal point vs the corals but it has turned into a bit of both now. This pushed me to using a skimmer to help offset some of the fish waste and I also started carbon dosing in the form of vodka a while back. There have been a couple hick-ups the past year where I lost fish and corals but it has been largely successful overall. Ultimately, you'll decide the approach you want to take and pretty much all are viable. 

[sen5241b]

I did a successful tank upgrade and nothing died. I rinsed the sand in a big pan with tank water and some fresh mixed salt water, stirring the sand and pouring off the grayish cloudy water, adding more water to pan, repeat until the water in the pan turned clear.