Newbie Help Needed If Anyone Can Point Me In the Right Direction.....????

[sandysylvester]

Hello everyone. My name is Sandy from Tuckerton NJ and was referred to this site for help if needed. Hopefully someone can clarify what I am supposed to do?

1st off let me explain I have bare minimum salt water experience. I owned a 29 gallon tank years ago running on a bio-wheel filter. The tank was fairly successful but my knowledge is limited to a small setup with limited "stuff"....

I was the lucky "buyer" of a 72 gal bowfront tank. The whole works I got for a bargain, but the setup is nothing I am familiar with.

1st off it has a black overflow box. That is the part I am most confused with. It has a Danner pump which hooks up to the one side and returns water through the top on independant lines. My question to all of you is what is supposed to go in that box for filtration?

I was down @ Ocean Aquarium, and was told there is a filter media on top, underneath would be small pieces of live rock. Is that all I need? It seems easier than the bio-wheel with cartridges in my opinion? I don't need carbon anymore?

Not looking for a reef setup, Would like to go back to what I had which was live rock, some fish, and hopefully an anemone down the road....

If anyone has information on how or what I am supposed to do would be appreciated. I plan on getting the bulk of what I need tomorrow, but won't be setting up just yet.

Another question I have is I have an Aqua something UV filter. How do I know if that thing even works? I plugged it in, but do not see any lights to tell me it is operational?

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds!

 

[mnat]

Welcome to the site and yes we can help you here. One of the best ways to get help here is post a picture, as they say it is worth 1000 words. A cell phone snap could help tremendously.

 

[TanksNStuff]

I agree with Mike. A pic would answer many questions we might have that would be necessary to help give you correct advice.

Overflow boxes could be for draining water to a sump (separate tank used to hold skimmers, media reactors, live rock and/or macro algae that all play a part in filtration. ) Or, the overflow could be a separator wall to a self contained sump in the back of the display tank. This version is smaller and therefore limited in what you can put in there.

In either case, I'd suggest using activated carbon for starters.

UV sterilizers are generally considered a bad choice for a reef tank but for a Fowler (fish only with live rock) it could be a useful benefit.

Again, post a few pics of the tank and we can make much better suggestions.

Oh and welcome to the site.

 

[adesimone1]

Welcome to the club! Nothing needs to go in the overflow box. Your filters should go into your sump or wet dry tank which sits under the tank. As for the uv if you plug it in and don't see a light you need to replace the bulb and possibly the sleeve. Don't leave it plugged in long due to they get very hot and it will blow out the bulb if no water is passing thru it. We run a UV sterilizer on our reef tank. Water clarity is amazing with it.

 

[sandysylvester]

Sure everyone. Let me see if I can add photos here:
Tank overall:


This is the inside of the black box. It does have 3 grates that go in there for different levels, but I do not have them in there at the moment.


Here is the pump and uv sterilizer.


The previous owner had the pump plumbed to add the uv onto. I do know the white tube hooks into the black box on the right side, and water is sucked down the middle, then through the plumbing to that and into the pump. The person I bought this from had intention of setting it up and never did so I cannot talk to the actual owner who had it in operation. It also has a homemade protein skimmer that I have no idea how it works, but for now I planned on leaving that out. I got the whole setup with light and all for 100 bucks! That was a deal I could not resist.
We did re-caulk it and had it in operation outside to be sure the tank does not leak. Everything seems to work great.

 

[downbeach]

Looks like a nice set up, good luck with it and welcome to the club.

It doesn't appear that there are any bulkheads in the tank. If it were me I'd probably remove the overflow chamber and drill the tank for a glass holes overflow or a beananimal, and add a sump/refugium under the tank, either in the cabinet or if you have the room plumb it to the basement.

This might give you an idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSYqSeW1mQg

 

[redfishbluefish]

Looks like you got a great deal!


I agree with Jim (downbeach), if the tank is not drilled, rip out that large overflow and install a 1500 gph Glass-holes overflow (www.glass-holes.com). If the tank is drilled, then I’d leave it the way it is and set up a sump below (or in the basement.) With the type overflow you have, the two holes are usually in the bottom glass. Now, one more thing with drilling, if you have to do this….the glass can NOT be tempered. If it is tempered glass, it will immediately shatter into a million pieces once the drill bit hits the glass….and by the way, the kit from Glass-holes will include everything, including the bit to drill the hole. So what you need to do is determine if the glass is tempered. The easiest way is that if you know the brand of tank, you can check with the manufacturer. If you don’t know the manufacturer, HERE is the method to check if the glass is tempered. I used a pair of polarized sunglass to check the tanks I’ve drilled.



Have fun! You might want to start a thread in “Tale of the Tank.

 

[sandysylvester]

Yes the glass is tempered and the sticker says do not drill.

 

[downbeach]

Yes the glass is tempered and the sticker says do not drill.

Whole tank or just the bottom?

If you can not drill the tank, another options would be one of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zVGwdRVHU4

 

[TanksNStuff]

Looks to me like thats an AGA (now know as Aqueon ) and their tanks are usually tempered only on the bottom.

This spec list concurs the bottom is tempered. Also, the description of the bow fronts says the front glass is also tempered. I don't think you would want to drill the curved glass anyway though.

I'd still use the various methods to find out if the back is tempered, and if not, I'd definitely go with the glass holes overflow the others mentioned. That box you have now is one of the "limited" versions I mentioned before.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Do not believe the label. OR, it might only be for the bottom glass, as mentioned. How do you know the SIDE glass is tempered? The 40 Breeder I recently drilled had a label on it as well. Here it is:

However, when I tested the glass using the method described above, it was not tempered. So do the test with a computer screen (or phone screen) and a pair of polarized sunglasses. Glass-holes overflows require the side glass to be drilled, not the bottom glass.