water!!!!

i just bought a 135 gallon tank. it has water in it with rock and crushed coral. looks like system has not been on for awhile. can the water still be used? Do i need start all over with the water?. It lalso has undergravel filter???

if it has an undergravel filter like a freshwater setup has i would start over.

what can i do with the rock?

ok what you do is drain the tank, remove the undergravel filter and use some other filtration (over the back, cannister, sump, or fuge). replace everything EXCEPT undergravel filter and fill with fresh saltwater. then run the system with a protein skimmer and the stuff in your tank (no livestock except rock of course) paying attentin to water quality. basically you can reuse aragonite and live rock.

I know I can use all the rock again, probly just keep it in a trash can for awhile with circulation. I am throwing the crushed corral away. I dont want sand or gravel on the bottom of the tank. Would like to put some hard plastic on the bottom.

igotatank wrote:

I know I can use all the rock again, probly just keep it in a trash can for awhile with circulation. I am throwing the crushed corral away. I dont want sand or gravel on the bottom of the tank. Would like to put some hard plastic on the bottom.

well i would go with a dsb in the tank, i am running bare bottom tank now and it doesnt stay bare long (fish seem to nasty it up right after feeding ), as soon as i can find some pavestone pulverised limestone and the stuff to mix up fresh saltwater i am going to break down my tank and put a dsb in it.