Buying a used 90 gallon acrylic tank & want to use it for fish/live rock/soft corals. Current owner using as a fish only tank (pic attached). Do I scrape off the algae growth on the back of the tank, or do the water quality benefits outweigh the aesthetics? Will bring most of the water with the tank when I move it.
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Is it hard coraline algae or soft green or brown algae? If it is corraline most people prefer the back glass covered. You can scrape it but it will grow back in a reef setup. You must be careful scraping it off of acrylic if that is what you decide to do. Keeping the back glass clean is more trouble than it is worht IME, it is hard enough keepiung it off the front and sides!
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Nice tank, congrats! I would say start clean so you know what is on the walls. Coraline will grow and cover the back wall in 3-5 months if you seed it (ask for some coraline covered rubble from a friend or LFS) keep the water chemistry proper and have enough PAR from the lighting. So much of the future of the tank depends on what you put in as you start. Same goes for the rock & the sand. Best of luck, read more than you think you should on your anticipated inhabitants, then plan on providing the best environment you can for them and enjoy.
this is why I dont like acrylic tank's It's so hard not to scratch it. But they are so easy to lift and move then a glass tank. Wish you the best of luck
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The easiest way to remove the coraline is to set the tank out on the deck and fill it with tap water, add a few gallons of vinegar and let it sit overnight. Then drain the tank, and refill and repeat the process.
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Moving the water maybe more trouble than its worth. I would probably mix up some new water. Also, depending on the age of the tank, I would replace the sand also. The bacteria in the LR should be good enough.
Keep the LR submerged in the original tank water for as long as possible during the move.
I agree with Tony on filling the tank with tap water and then cleaning it off, Once it dried and then wet again it's not hard to clean, Done it on glass and acrylic tanks in the past.
Ok, got the tank home & debating what to do with the substrate & some of the rock. Some of the rock has algae that's dark green/nearly black. I'm assuming I want to get rid of this, not to mention it is ugly as hell. Also, the sand from the previous owner is really fine & seems to be taking a long time to settle after I've added about 20 gallons of water. Still hasn't settled much after 4 hours. Should I remove/replace the sand, or could I simply add some courser grade argonite over the top? No fish at this point, so I'd like to get things settled down before I start adding some.
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