is what this guys trying to sell me any good???

im going to set up my sw 40 gallon tank in a few weeks.
now some guy has gave up on his tank and i may buy a few things from him.

well he said the live sand he had has been taken out of the tank and is in a bag.but he said hes not sure if its live anymore now its out of the tank?? he took it out of his tank yesterday and i maybe picking it up tommorow night.i will not be able to put it into my tank till another 3 weeks max.will it will it still be ok to use by then? where should i store it till then, just leave it in the bag it came in?how long will it take to become live again?will my live rock help it?

or shall i just go and buy some bags of live sand my self??

also hes got 2 external filters which one should i go for???

this one Charterhouse Aquatics: Eheim Ecco Pro 200 External Filter


or this one Aqua-Pro SP - Self-Priming External Aquarium Filters :: Aquatix-2u UK Pond Supplies


also this is the skimmer i will get,is it ok for a 40 gallon??

Aquarium Fish Tank Hang on Protein Skimmer with pump on eBay (end time 25-Mar-10 19:50:06 GMT)



also i want to keep just fish and inverts in my tank no coral.
is it ok to have a carbon filter in my external filter? does this take any signs of carbon out of the water?


thanks in advanced

 

the live sand is a waste of money. get dry sand and it will become live in short order once in the tank. Sand

edit: I'm not sure if Marco will ship to the UK so the link is just for reference I guess

 

I would pass on everything he is offering you. The live sand will be dead sand by the time you use it and the KR you plan on purchasing will seed the sand bed anyway. Making the use of his live sand unneeded. While the eheim canister filter would be good for a fresh water set-up, it will do an acceptable job cleaning the water, but you will find that it is a pain in the butt to clean the filter and replace media. Since you are not using a sump as your filtration you are stuck with hang on skimmers. As you are located in the UK, you may not be able to locate the same skimmers that we can find in the U.S. I use to be on a UK forum located at practicalfishkeeping.co.uk and all they talked about were deltecs. This skimmer you have in your link looks to be more of a piece of poop. Don't skimp on your skimmer.

 

I agree on the sand, The Eheim filter is the one I would get, the skimmer looks good.

Carbon is always good to use. It will cause no problems with what is in the water.

 

The skimmer looks to be a coralife skimmer, Many people around here use them. I have one on my 46g settup and one on my 120g settup. Both are able to be Hang on back and installed in the sump. Reason why I say that, is the skimmer has the red dial the same as al my coralife skimmers.

 

i wouldnt use it. after its out of water thins die and decay. get yourself some new, fresh sand. it will become live sand on its own.

 

I agree. I wouldn't buy anything at all in that list.

I'd advise to never ever reuse sand.

carbon removes chemicals - for example toxins a zoa colony might release. it is carbon, it does not remove it.