My Oh My Many questions about big and small tank

Well it has been a long, long time since I have been here. Its nice to be back!
Instead of bore you with all the details of how and why I am in some of these predicaments I will just say this. My wife and I bought a farm just over a year ago, the house needed completely remodeled as well as the forest removed from what used to be fields and the barn demolished. All while my father has been "tending" to our tanks.
Well the kitchen is basically remodeled, minus ceramic tiling the counter top. We put a temp one in to use for a while. This is where our nano tank shall live.

Well I guess I probably got carried away with that but I will section my questions based upon the two tanks.

NANO TANK
This tank will be moved on Friday. I have done an emergency water change since its been "A While" since one was done, but at least it had top offs. All that is left in the tank is two black clowns. One looking a tad white or gray and getting beat up by the bigger one.

The tank has not had light in months. (No algae YAY!) but the rock looks like dead rock, even thought i know its not. The Retrofit LED lighting I made for it 10x3W LED Doesn't Work anymore. I don't know how or why but it looks like my dad dipped it in the tank a few times. More salt thank LED....

QUESTION 1:

So I need a good light for my 8 Gallon Nano. I plan on putting some nice corals in there. Last time I had corals in there they were zoa's from the big tank and they were not happy Maybe too much light? too little? who knows. I would like a pendant style light that I can hang from under the upper cabinets. I as thinking AO SOL NANO after looking on ebay and getting excited about the 20x3w LED Clip on but it has no dimmer, no way to set up actinics to come on early and shut off late. I would like a good light something that I can grow with. Maybe something that can later be used on a 29g Bio Cube after the dining room is remodeled. If not then honestly something that will "hold" resale value. Or something cheap enough to just hang on to. Tank size is 12x12x14 want light to be good for any coral my wife finds.

QUESTION 2:
I don't think there are any copepods or anything else living in the tank. Should I keep my rock and add some or Buy all new rock and toss this rock in the fuge of my 90?
Question 2B:
Sand, sand sand, I think the right thing to do is empty tank leaving the sand in and transport the tank without moving the sand bed as much as possible to prevent all kinds of bad stuff (cycle)?

90 GALLON TANK
IT will be a while before this tank gets moved unfortunately. The whole living room is going to be remodeled. ( I am doing all the work my self so it takes a while) This tank seem to be doing good. Except for a few things:

QUESTION 3: Most of my corals seem to haven been taken over and killed by what I think are brown button polyps. They cleared out everything except some mushroom that are now translucent, my candy cane coral, and my ever growing Frog spawn that is doing awesome! How do I get rid of them they are on every rock. I have read about a bleach dip and a peroxide dip. I don't mind doing the chlorine dip as I will replace the rocks with some new live rock and then put the now dead rock back in the tank. I need to get some more live rock anyway. What are you guys and gals thoughts, or should I wait till the move to tackle this.

Question 4: The 90 Gal tank also has been taken over by feather dusters There also everywhere from rock to glass what do I do about them.

Question 5: There seem to be a lack of copepods in this tank too. None in sight. Before they were everywhere at night, everywhere in the overflow area and fuge. Now none to be seen. Maybe the fish ate them all? How concerned should I be?

Otherwise the 90 Gallon seems to get doing good fish look healthy and the 2 corals look good, the button polyps look good too (wish they weren't)

I guess my thoughts on this are when time comes to move the big one restock the fuge with new live rock to get pod population healthy again.


Well I have more questions but those unfortunately can wait till the big tank gets moved. Such as new stand, led lighting for it, and new power heads, ect ect.


If it wern't for the complete cost and all of our beautiful animals I would start from ground up here at the new house instead of stressing everything including my self moving a huge tank. I just hope once They are both moved here they will be in tip top awesome shape like they used too...

Well I am glad I kept this short :frustrat: sorry i guess its a bad habit. Thanks again. I am going to go do some research, searching, and maybe stop in the chat room.

Sorry again, Thanks again, Glad to be back!

P.S
To Reefers to be:
Don't go buying tanks before you buy a house that needs work!

 

I would use new sand keep the rock. As far as lights, lots of options...If it was me I think I would look at either a par38 bulb or just get a cheap fixture from aquatraders. Not sure what to say about the large tank. Maybe some pics so we can tell if maybe you have a majanio infestation...really hope it isnt. (btw probably didnt spell that correct)....As far as the pods go...you probably still have some in there.

 

Can you sell some of the feather dusters & frog spawn to a LSF? With the frog spawn maybe trade the rocks with nice ones on them for fresh more volume of LR without. This would be a huge advancement toward your needs for fresh LR & PODs. Maybe get store credit towards lights. They could have a feather duster sale & get good money for large rocks with frog spawn on them... wish I was near... I love them.

 

Hey everyone the fish tank move has got bumped up to today I will post some pics of the tanks new home. I will also take pics of the mystery item in the 90 gallon. I will ask my lfs about the crater duster rock, but definatly keeping my frog spawn since it is doing so well.

Thanks everyone

 

The feather dusters that you say are all over your rocks might be colonial hydroids, which are not something you want in your tank. I'd google pics of colonial hydroids to see if thats what they are.

 

I would get a couple pieces of live rock to seed your tank, as well as a variety of pods from reefcleaners. If everything is dead like you say, you will need a CUC. I would ditch the sand, buy new, and order a CUC from John at reefcleaners. As far as the light, cheaper options include a DIY, a retrofit from RapidLED, a Kessil A150, or some Par38 bulbs. Nicer options include the new AI Vega, the EcoTech Marine Radion (recently price dropped), or a more advanced DIY kit.

 

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies I dont think I have colonial hydroids thankfully

I am going to get some live rock from my lfs or the new one that just opened a few weeks ago tomorrow. I did ditch the sand in the small tank since i still had some left over that I never used from the nano set up. I tried to fix my DIY led light that I had made 2 years ago but i couldn't get it. I am going to look at light setups tomorrow for it. If all else fails just DIY one again of some sorts.

Well here is some pics. First of the 90 Gallon that is still at my dads. I guess my wife and I are going to get a 125g for the new house and give the 90g setup to my dad to set up as a fresh water tank. He was super excited when we offered the tank to him.

Everyone was still waking up the lights had only been on for a about 30 min.




Mystery? This is what has taken over


And now the Nano:


Looks like its on life support:



And there new temporary until another room is remodeled and they get a bigger house pic:


Water params are great have water set up to do water change tomorrow just in case. Hope to get some CUC tomorrow if all params check out good. By the way the lighting they are using right now is just my LED under-cabinet lighting looks good to me, just no corals for now