The Puffer Forum

As mentioned in the classified I just posted, I will be getting a 55 gallon in just one short month, for free!! YAY.
My dad was given the aquarium a few years ago, but I guess he's not gifted in the realm of aquaria, and although he loved his aquarium, he ended up taking it down. (I personally think his problem was the damsels that came with the tank, but that's beside the point).
My family is in MD and will be driving down to FL for my graduation next month, and he is bringing the tank with him (we're assuming it's going to fit). It comes with.. everything. Powerheads, skimmer, test kits, sand, (dead) live rock, heater, etc, etc. I am 99% sure I will finally be journeying into the world of marine aquaria when it arrives. I mean, given all the rock, who wouldnt?! Haha.
The thing that concerns me the most is that he "cleaned" the tank. With bleach. My heart just about stopped. He says he rinsed everything really really well, but I am TERRIFIED to use anything. Are the rocks salvagable? The sand? The aquarium itself? Ugh ugh ugh. I don't know the details of how exactly he went about cleaning, I can get that from him tomorrow probably.

Bleach is better than soap. Just rinse, rinse & rinse again. Then fill it up & pour a bunch of dechlor in there. You'll be fine.

Oh thank goodness, thank you PP!! That's the same thing my dad told me, but like I said, he doesn't have the best track record with his aquarium, so I wasn't sure if he was right or now, haha. Now I feel like a rotten child!

My dad doesn't know exactly how much live rock there is. Do I just stick it on my bathroom scale? Hahaha. And how much actually live LR should I purchase to get it going? How much do I need for a 55? Augh so excited again!

Yes, weigh yourself before & while holding the rock & subtract.

I totally have this awesome mental image of you weighing rocks on your bathroom scale.

Anyway, I would assume this method of weighing is fine, but if he has taken the tank down it's no longer live.

Anyway, you need 1.5-2 pounds per gallon. So you need 82-110 pounds of liverock

sounds like a huge PITA. moderately less excited, haha. i will have to get someone to snap pictures of me doing this so i can share.

supposing i have enough rock, i'm curious as to how to get it live? do i go and buy some live rock? how much of that do i need? too bad everythings dead.

Soo many questions. Is there a reputable source that will tell me how to set up a community tank? Like what fish are compatible with what, how many I can have, etc? I'm not all for it, really, but if I decide thats the route to go, I'd like to know what to do, haha. I'd really really like to get a dwarf lion, but the fiance wants a community.

Yep get some good cured LR and it will seed your dry rock for you.

How much you need depends on how much dry rock you have. You could start with a 1lb of LR but it would take for ever to seed lol. The more LR the faster everything will get up to speed

You can learn a lot here. They have a section for new people to ask all their questions.

http://www.reefcentral.com/

dry rock sounds so much ... smarter ... thank dead-live-rock. hahaha. ugh i should sleep.

thank you for the link, glitter! it's added to my favorites

http://www.liveaquaria.com gives fairly good advice about compatibility. Also, http://www.bluezooaquatics.com.

+1 to instant funny image of you holding rocks on a scale. Lol!

Awesome! You are so lucky to be getting everything you need!!! Especially the LR! My husband and I have decided to re-set up Ares old 110 gallon as a FOWLR tank. Everytime I think of purchasing the LR I cringe. I did find a place online that has LR at really awesome prices with free shipping! We pay $7.99/lb around here whereas from the site we will be paying about $3/lb. You'll be surprised how much a small chunk of LR can weigh!

My 1st LR purchase was from http://www.liveaquaria.com.