Taking down tank...a few questions

[goby2]

I'm going to college in a week, and I finally got around to taking down my aquarium.

Its 220 gallons, with a 75 gallon sump, and way more than my parents want to take care of for five+ years.

I'll be giving my fish, a yellow tang and a few damsels and the larger inverts to the pet store. But I have a few questions...I spent a ton of money setting this thing up over the past couple of years even though theres not that much in it.

Can I save the live rock and gravel for a possible future tank? or do I just have to completely start from scratch? I have a ton of gravel and maybe 30-40 pounds of live rock, thats been growing in the tank nicely for almost a year. its just so full of life I'd feel bad just letting it die. give the rock to the store too?

Is there any way to clean coralline algae off of acrylic/plastic? and any tips for cleaning the inside of a skimmer?

Hope fully my parents won't mind storing the tank in the basement untill I have my own place :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Well, you can dry out the rock and save it for future use, the gravel I would pitch as cleaning it and drying it out is a PITA and its cheap to replace. The dried rock can be used as a base for a new tank with more liverock added. As far as cleaning algae off the tank, use 100% white vinegar and soak it a bit it should loosen the stuff up. Clean the inside of a skimmer with vinegar also, take along handled spoon that fits up inside the body and duct tape a cleaning rag to it for a tool. Good luck in college!

 

[pcardone]

Take the live rock to college with you, and trade it for some beer.

 

[cindre2000]

And don't forget to start up a nano for your dorm room!