What to do with a free acrylic tank, suggestions please :)

[Elmo18]

Well, it looks like I'll be getting a friend's parents tank. It is an acrylic 75 gallon, not sure of the actual dimensions yet, but the depth looks to be 18 inches from back to front. It comes on its very very nice stand and custom made hood. I'll have to repaint it with some nice enamel again but wow I got all this free.

At the moment it still houses freshwater fish and they are still in there at the moment. First off, the tank does have minor scratches from the algae scrapers probably. How would i go about taking those out? I dont see many but do see some light ones.

At my first thought, I will convert this to a reef tank after all the freshwater and all the animals there are gone. Do you guys know if PetCo will take back freshwater fish? If they don't, I will have several freshwater fish to donate if anyone here wants them.

I am not sure of the species at this moment, but you can see some of them from the front of the tank. I really would not want it to go to PetCo and then die there (not saying that PetCo doesn't take care of their animals......but well i've had bad experiences). There will also be tank decorations, plastic ones and small stones that are in the tank now.

If anyone here is interested in free freshwater fish, I will be posting another message here in about 1-2 weeks. I looked in the tank and saw snail shells, but not sure if any are alive.

I'd like some suggestions on what type of tank it should be Sandy reef or mostly rockwork with LPS corals there. I will place 4x96 Watt VHOS on there for the start, I believe 2 aquasuns and 2 actinics. The great thing about this is that I most of the equipment ready(heaters, pumps, etc).

Looking at the tank it has ONE overflow on the back left side of the tank. The Durso pipe that was there was cut and the overflow is not used att his moment. If you look in the picture the water level is maintained below the overflow level. It runs on a siphon at this moment and falls into a sump and then another return pump brings back water. I know this is dangerous if power runs out and they have already flooded the floor once before. However, say i fix up the durso and repipe everything so it falls intot he sump from the drilled bottom. I will take the bioballs out but what do I put in itsplace? I will take a better picture of the sump later on as I have just ran out of batteries

And lastly, with a 75 gallon which is rather small to the tanks you guys have....... is it better to put a DSB of 4 inches or maybe just 2?

Here is pict.

[scubadude]

Well 18" depth isnt alot so I would go around a 3.5" SB level maybe even 4" and you really dont need high powered lights if your interest lay in LPS and softies. The thing w/acrylic is its much easier than glass to drill so plan your plumbing and evolve everything around that or try to make it all mesh together. HTH Bud!

[Ironreef]

Do it right from the start= think it out. U can buy a buffer kit for the scratches fro Marine depot ect... i would make a cloosed loop they are sweet. here look at this 75g http://www.fitermania.com/75gallonreef/

[Elmo18]

Ok I got mostly everything today: the Instant Ocean, new thermometer, SG kit tester. I've already have the lights and the other equipment. Only thing I'm missing so far are the plumbing parts, which i will have to think about. The durso, as I stated above is broken so I will have to fix it first, and then redo the connection from the drilled tank to the sump. Do you recommend PVC for going from tank to sump or Flex tube? (the clear kind). Right now by looking at the connection, it's been siliconed the heck out of it. I really want it a little cleaner so I'll have to break that, too.

Also, anyoen know why the recent price increase in live rock? I've gone to a couple online stores and either there are no sales, or if it is on sale, it's a little higher than what I've been paying for them.

I will probably go Premium Fiji and maybe some Branch rock. Recommendations for these? or I will probably order from Jeff's or FFexpress.

Thanks again,

Elmo

[Bamm Bamm]

send it to me..