rebuilding a neglected tank

[purplefirefish]

I have a 120 that has been neglected for at least two years. On the good side there are still some coral and fish alive. On the bad side the whole front of the tank is covered thick with corraline algae. I am in the process of moving everything out of the tank into another tank that I have. This second tank will eventually be the sump for the 120. Everything is going smooth except for removing the corraline. I have scraped and tried using vinegar, but I have made very little progress. Does anybody have have suggestions for removing the corraline?

 

[Len]

I just did a similar thing this weekend. I let the coralline take over the glass for over the last year. I manually scrapped it off with Kent's Pro Scrapper and razor blades for the really tough areas. If you can get under to the deepest layer of the coralline, it tends to flake off in large chunks.

Vinegar does very little to break apart coralline. Alas, I think what you're going to have to do is a lot of manual labor. Doing it "wet" is easier then dry, and it also helps prevent scratches.

 

[Anonymous]

I just did a similar thing this weekend. I let the coralline take over the glass for over the last year. I manually scrapped it off with Kent's Pro Scrapper and razor blades for the really tough areas. If you can get under to the deepest layer of the coralline, it tends to flake off in large chunks.

Vinegar does very little to break apart coralline. Alas, I think what you're going to have to do is a lot of manual labor. Doing it "wet" is easier then dry, and it also helps prevent scratches.

Hence no pictures... :wink:

 

[Sea Turtle]

If you go the hardware store you can buy a razor blade holder that holdes the blade hrizontally. Use that. It will work very well and will also allow you to apply pressure to the razor blade.

 

[Anonymous]

Assuming the tank is empty, what about CLR? (I'm not advising it, just asking)

 

[Anonymous]

you need to dilute it first, but you can use Muriatic Acid.
IIRC, dilution to 10% is about equal to White Vinegar(Acetic Acid) so for a stronger solution, 20-30% would still be safe as a wash(NOT SOAK) to help get the coralline algae off the glass(assuming the tank is glass - you didnt specify)

Always remember pour acid into water, NOT water into acid when diluting, and always wear hand and eye protection during use.

 

[thomas576]

wallpaper scraper

 

[purplefirefish]

I have finally finished scraping the tank glass. It took taking the tank out of the basement and putting it in front of me in the living room, and 2 Kent scraper blades. Now I have to decide on a return pump. The sump will be in the basement, approx. 8-10 ft. below with 5 elbows. I have to plumb around a wall. I am hoping for 800-1000 gph at the return. Any suggestions for a return pump? I was looking at a Mag 24 at first but have decided to have an external pump. Also I haven't decided if I should use tubing or hard plumb the return. I am going with pvc for the overflow, I think :?

James

 

[Ben1]

An Iwaki 70 rt or its equivalent in the panworld models (200ps) would be a good choice.

I would use flexible PVC for the return line.