New tank woes. Decisions decisions decisions

[masongecsey]

Hey everyone!

I found a deal on Facebook marketplace for a Jbj 45 gallon flat panel rimless tank that is up and running. I couldn’t pass up the deal and picked it up on Sunday. It was still running and had three fish in it. My original plan was to sell off the fish, tear down the tank, give it a good clean and start from scratch to eventually move the livestock from my 13.5 gallon over to it.

Now that it’s already up and running at my house I’m debating just keeping it running and cycled while revamping it with a good clean, siphoning of sand and redoing the aquascape. I’m hesitant to do that now because tonight I found a decently large amount of vermetid snails on the rocks that are pretty covered in algae and spirorbid worms in the back filtration chamber.

Which way would everyone recommend doing it? Tear it down and start from scratch or revamp it while it’s running.

Any and all advice is welcome.

Thank you ahead of time.


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[five.five-six]

vermetid snails

 

[Jimbo327]

Personally, I would start over. Not because of the vermatid snails, because I can use bumble bee snails to take care of those. I would like a fresh start and make the tank my own...with a new scape and change anything that I want to set up.

If you like the fishes, keep it in a QT tank while you restart.

Doesn't sound like it had much corals. I will set you back a couple months if you decide to restart. So it all depends on your situation. Sounds like you want to upgrade and move a smaller tank into the bigger tank.

 

[masongecsey]

The tank didn’t have any corals as it was FOWLR. I’m leaning more towards tearing it down and redoing it fresh. Anytime that I save with reusing the original stuff I feel will get outweighed by nuisance algae and pests.


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[banuvatt]

I would start over like I had some pretty bad experience with fish dieases(brooklynella, then multiple rounds of flukes) I buy everything from a quarantine vendor now.

 

[ndrwater]

The tank didn’t have any corals as it was FOWLR. I’m leaning more towards tearing it down and redoing it fresh. Anytime that I save with reusing the original stuff I feel will get outweighed by nuisance algae and pests.


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This is the real best answer... As we all know, nothing good happens fast... Vermitids and bad algaes... Pull pin, throw grenade, start over. Keep the little tank rolling while you get the new one clean and running. Add sand, media, whatever you can from the 13 gal to the new tank.. faster AND fresher...

 

[masongecsey]

I just sold off the last fish that came with the tank last night. I tossed the sand, stripped the rocks in water and muriatic acid and the tank is running right now with water and citric acid. I’m excited to start fresh with new stuff knowing I don’t have any pests or old issues to mess with. Thank you to everyone for the input.

A question I have specifically about the JBJ 45. On the Evo 13.5 it is standard practice to plug the hole in the back wall to force everything through all the chambers in the rear. Is there any reason not to plug the 3 small holes in the rear wall of the JBJ for the same reason?


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[masongecsey]

I just sold off the last fish that came with the tank last night. I tossed the sand, stripped the rocks in water and muriatic acid and the tank is running right now with water and citric acid. I’m excited to start fresh with new stuff knowing I don’t have any pests or old issues to mess with. Thank you to everyone for the input.

A question I have specifically about the JBJ 45. On the Evo 13.5 it is standard practice to plug the hole in the back wall to force everything through all the chambers in the rear. Is there any reason not to plug the 3 small holes in the rear wall of the JBJ for the same reason?

This is the rock after stripping it. I’m thinking it was either “life rock” or “real reef rock” with how purple it was and the amount of epoxy on them.


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