Setting up a new 125g

[ado124]

Just got a new 125g and wanted some (a lot) advice on setting it up.

The previous owner had this tank set up for saltwater so there's a lot of cleaning to be done (coraline algae and salt spray). Here are my questions:

1) What's the best way to clean this tank? Scrape the algae while the tank is dry with one of those scrapper thingiemajiggers? Or is it better to have water in there to act as a "lubricant"? Note: tank is glass

2) Should I use ammonia or bleach (diluted of course) to clean the tank out? If so, what's the proper mixing proportion?

Filtration Questions:
3) The tank came with these (two of the smaller ones):

Should I use these two small sumps (about 20g size) as my only filtration? Setting one up for mechanical and the other for bio?

4) Alternatively, I was thinking of setting just one of these up as a either a bio or mechanical filter and running an xp3 or fx5 with it. Would this be better idea?

5) Or, would it be better for me to look for a larger sump and just using that as a my filter? If so, what size tank do you recommend?

The tank will have a pretty large bio-load and I love crystal clear water.

Thanks for reading and answers to ANY of the points above is greatly appreciated! I hope to have this tank up and running soon!

Andrew

 

[ado124]

please?

 

[xiaan]

I'm in the same boat, just got me a 135 gallon acrylic tank that was saltwater for 7 years. This weekend I rested the tank on its back, and let about 6 cups of full-strength vinegar soak for about 6 hours. Most of the coraline came off with a plastic scraper. I had to do a few repeat soaks for the rest.

I also removed every inch of pvc plumbing, and am throwing away all but the bulkheads - it's just too hard to clean the insides of those pipes, especially the spraybar.

As far as the sump goes, can you plumb the two sumps inline?

Christiaan

 

[ado124]

Thanks for the help! I actually did some google'ing and found the vinegar method as well. Last night I picked up a bottle of distilled white vinegar but then got a paper cut so I didn't feel like workin on the tank yet. The guy that did the plumbing on this tanke did a very good job so I'm going to try and soak those in the vinegar solution as well and then run some hot water over them.

The tank came with two new pumps for each of the sumps but I've decided not to use these sumps. It'd just be a hassle to create new baffles so that it's the way I want it, so I'm going to pick up a decent sized pre-made acrylic sump for $50.

I'm going to fill the tank and pour in the vinegar to let it sit over night.