Did I get a deal on this setup?

[-=Efrain=-]

I am new to the hobby and I just purchased this setup for 350 dollars total. This tank is 15 years old and the Tomato clown is suppose to be just as old. (is that possible) Here my short history and several questions at the end. Thanks for your help.

3-29-07 Purchased 15 year old 125 gal tank 5pm
3-29-07 Setup tank with 35 gallons of original water 1 am Just ran aerator over night.
3-30-07 Started making salt water and used prime and filled tank, started filtering water
3-31-07 Got water tested by local shop Old Town Aquarium and they said it was fine.
3-31-07 Added 5 gal of saltwater with a higher level of salinity because salinity was only 1.019
3-31-07 Pulled out all coral and soaked over night in bleach/water
4-01-07 Rinsed Coral with fresh water and placed in fresh water bucket
4-01-07 Measured salinity its up to 1.020


Tank
125 Gal 6’x22”x18”
100 lbs Crushed Corel
50 lbs Rock (not live)
Grundfos Pump (UP 15-42) 600 gph
2 Canister Filters
Lifegard Heater Module (AF-92)
Aquasystems Protein Skimmer
2 Bubblers (1 fine)
2 light fixtures w/ Aquatinic Bulb (10 29) 47” long
Water Temp 78
Salinity 1.020

Fish
1 Yellow Tank
1 Yellow Tailed Blue Damsel
1 Tomato Clown
1 Sergeant Major

Questions
Can I just put my hand in aquarium
How often to feed algae to Tang
No center brace glass is ½ inch walls bottom is 5/8 is this ok.
Should I run the protein skimmer
How many if any aerators should I be running

[serum153]

Please do not put those fish in your tank until it is cycled.

[silverwolf72]

Good deal. Is this going to be FOWLR?

[Bambalam]

Why was the coral put in bleach/water?

[MTB]

Why soak the coral in bleach water? Am I missing something?

[MTB]

Good question Bambalam.

[mfh_anderson]

bleach is chorline, you just used prime to get rid of chorline, why would you add it in again?

[-=Efrain=-]

This is a fish only tank It was just decorative coral and it was pretty much black in color. I was told I can put a little bleach in a 5 gallon bucket and soak the corel to get all of the black off of it. Then to rinse it in fresh water and make sure all of the bleach is off before I put it back into the tank.

[Bambalam]

Gotcha on the coral bleaching.

Sounds like you got a great deal.

FWIW the salinity looks kinda low.

[-=Efrain=-]

How can I safely increase the salinity. Please give me a step by step. I did a search and could not find any post that would tell me this.

[Bambalam]

IMO either increase it during water changes or with top-off water.

[salty3]

Sound like a great deal to me. Good luck with the tank.

[trpigg]

When you add your evaporated water back to the tank, just add water with the same salinity as in your tank and monitor the water in the tank until it reaches the point your trying to reach.

FOWLR salitnity is recomended around 1.023-1.024

[-=Efrain=-]

Thanks for in input Bambalam... But here is the tech question.. If I do increase it with top of water I would be using a 5 gal bucket to do it with. What should the salinity be in that 5 gal bucket to increase 125 gal that is in the aquarium. The aquarium is about 5 gal short right now. How would I do this..

[-=Efrain=-]

Thanks for in input Bambalam... But here is the tech question.. If I do increase it with top of water I would be using a 5 gal bucket to do it with. What should the salinity be in that 5 gal bucket to increase 125 gal that is in the aquarium. The aquarium is about 5 gal short right now. How would I do this..

[trwells]

In saltwater systems water that is evaporated from the tanks leaves salt behind. For this reason it is important to top off with fresh ro/di water. If you wish to raise the salinity then instead of topping off with freshwater top off with premixed saltwater (with a salinity close to the desired 1.023-4), this will continuously add salt to the tank and raise the salinity at a slow rate, giving inhabitants time to adjust. The trick is not to make an sudden changes. Also, it is certainly possible your clownfish is 15 years old. I have heard of clowns living over 20 years in this hobby, if kept happy and stress free.

[fish 511]

Sounds pretty good to me. Will be a good fish only tank. If i were you, I'd take out the bubblers. They cause a lot of evaporation and then salt creep. Just my 2 cents