new to the marine thing

[MincePie]

Hi there im looking into going with a marine setup.
But after bieng at a fish shop they are telling me what i wanna do is not gonna work.
So i got a 25 year old tank from my father in law in the begining i didnt wanna use it cause it had rust marks and old mineral stains and its been standing for a very long time.
But never the less i thought lemme try and sort it out.

This was after a days work

I have been trying everything in the book White vinegar, thinners, spirits and acetone.
In the end i got out what i knew and i started polishing the glass with a polisher and polish from a car the outcome wasnt to bad

and then i washged it down with some water and soap

I heard that the silicone may be compromised so i took everything out and resealed again yesterday i hear some guys wait for 7 days before adding water to test if it holds

SO my idea is to add a side filter where the support is missing 150mm from the side and then add in 3 baffles that can house my filter medium, heaters and then the protein skimmer.
Will this work in the end? The guy i spoke to at the fish shop is talking big numbers just around the lights and the protein skimmers.
Can anyone maybe give me some sound advice ?
Thx for the help

 

[leslie hempel]

Nice start, my advice just enjoy the process, depending on what you eventually choose to do you may need to look at mid to higher end lighting but you can progress to test. As for a skimmer id recomend going with a better one from the start. It will help you with any oopsies that happen and probably save your bacon as it does with most learning aquarists.

 

[Kabeljou]

Welcome! Yeah it should work. In a marine tank the rock work and sand is a big part of the biological filtration. You can consider mechanical filtration instead of the filter media, like a filter sock. Also remember to leave space for the return pump. For protein skimmer look for second hand ones on this site, there's a lot available. I'm also impressed with the relatively cheap qq1 and qq3 from Bubble Magus that is a hang on back skimmer.

 

[Kabeljou]

Also, you don't need to go expensive with lights. You can get a second hand T5 that will make your corals look amazing. If you don't want corals you can go even cheaper.

Here's a unit listed second hand on the site https://www.marineaquariumsa.com/newclassifieds/oddysea-t5-quad-54-watt-with-new-globes.2155/