richardh

I just picked up a 55 gallon SeaClear Acrylic Aquarium with stand and a ton of accessories. The best part is I got it for only $25! These people were planning on redoing the carpet in their home in the next day or two and posted an ad that it must be picked up today. It was about an hour a way but well worth the trip.

The tank was currently set up and running with 2 silver dollars in the tank but they pretty old and not in very good condition. I put the fish in a bucket and took out all the gravel while there was still some water left and put it in another bucket with some water so it would not dry out.

Right now I have all the gravel in a large container with water and a heater so it stays around 80 degrees. My question is

What is the best way to clean this gravel without killing the good bacteria?

The tank also came with an undergravel filter system which I took out and don't plan on using since I guess that is the old way of doing things and people on the board seem to discourage it. It did though come with a Power Filter 350 GPH - PF0350B. I took the bio-wheels and also put them under water along with the gravel to try and save the bacteria.

Is this filter powerful enough to run the entire tank or do I need to maybe get another one?

Any other suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated on how to get his tank set up with the current wet gravel so the cycle process is short will be appreciated.

Here is a photo of the tank along with all the stuff it came with. There is actually another box that is not in the photo.

Beth1965

Man, you lucked out. What condidtion is the gravel in, is it nasty? I'm pretty sure the gravel can be cleand (rinsed only) and save for several handfuls (to keep the bacteria) you should be alright, especially that you still have the filters.
Do you plan on doing this now?

Meenu

congrats on the find. I don't know about the filter, but I'd say put the gravel in a new panty hose and sit it in the tank - that way you can use the substrate you want but still seed with their gravel.

If you can get your hands on some TSS, that would be great. You're not using the same filter, so your cycle probably will be starting again, no?

TSS is Tetra safe start, in case you are unfamiliar

Hello. I merged your posts.
Thanks!
Ken

richardh

I am guessing that I can not clean it with normal tap water since the chlorine will kill the bacteria? I was thinking of filling up another bucket, add some prime and then use to rinse the gravel. Does this sound ok?

The gravel looks good so I will plan on using it. I think there is way to much though. It was like 3 inches deep across the entire bottom. Does having "to much" gravel make it hard to clean since the gunk goes deeper into it?

I want the benefit of bacterial on everything like the gravel, bio-wheels, rocks, plants, etc so I have them underwater and plan on setting up the tank ASAP but just want to make sure I don't mess anything up.

richardh

I can't find any place that has TSS and had to order some for my last tank. I plan on setting up this tank though and do a fishless cycle. I want to use the bacteria on the gravel to jump start it.

iloveengl

If you have more than one tank, you can seed the new tank with some extra filter media. Add new filter media to the old tank, let it build up bacteria for a couple weeks, add that to new tank, and you're cycled. Otherwise, I'm not sure about how rinsing it in clean water (even dechlorinated water) affects the bacteria.

callichma

What if you clean part of the gravel in treated water and put it in your tank. Since you are not planning on using all of it, put what you don't use uncleaned in a bag to hang in the tank. That way, if rinsing the gravel harms the bacteria, you'll have that additional source. Also, if you use the same biowheel, there will be bacteria on that as well. Then you can watch the water parameters closely and hopefully be quickly cycled. Congratulations on your bargain.

richardh

Great Idea! I think I will do that.

iloveengl

A new pantyhose works great for this.

flyin-lowe

If the gravel was only three inches with an under gravel filter it might not be enough once you take the filter out. Was it three inches on top of the filter or was it three inches from the bottom of the tank with the filter underneath? Do you know about how many pounds you have? Just my .02 I would go with 60-70 pounds of gravel with the 55 gallon tank. Also are you going to have and live plants in the tank. That might make a difference on how deep you need the gravel to be.

omnitheforsaken

You can never have too little gravel in my opinion. Unless you're going to have live plants I'd recommend no more than an inch of gravel. It does very little for the fish and is more for decorative purposes than anything.

richardh

No live plants.

Today I started my cycle. I took a bunch of the used gravel, did not wash it, and put quite a bit in some panty hose and put it in the tank. I then cleaned a bunch of gravel with water that I added stress coat and have about 1 inch of that along the bottom of the tank. After that I added enough ammonia to get a 5ppm reading. The gravel and filter media have been kept wet this entire time since I picked up the tank yesterday.

Now I will just test my levels daily and see when I am fully cycled and see if using the same gravel and filter did the trick and speed the cycle up.

callichma

Keep us posted and let us know how this worked.

richardh

I don't think I was able to keep my bacteria intact. It has been over 24 hours now and my Ammonia reading is the same and I have no Nitrites or Nitrates. According to this post

Ammonia instructions for a fishless cycle

My 5ppm ammonia should go to zero after 10-12 hours if it is cycled.

The 55gal tank only had 2 Silver dollars and I am wondering if they supplied enough ammonia for a good supply of bacteria to build up.

Right now I will just do daily test until the ammonia gets down to almost zero and bump it up 5ppm and keep doing that until it only takes 12 hours to get rid of all the ammonia and there are zero nitrites.

I wonder if I starved any bacteria that I might have had because even though I keep it wet, it was a good 36 hours or so before I had it back in the tank and put ammonia in the tank.

I don't know how long bacteria can live without a supply of Ammonia.

iloveengl

It may have starved. I can't recall the max time the bacteria can live without ammonia, though.

I agree that an inch is more than enough gravel. Gravel is a bad offender for trapping fish food and poo; anymore than an inch and your gravel vac will not effectively clean the substrate, which could cause higher than desirable amounts of nitrates down the road.

Btw, have you considered sand for a substrate? I made the switch a few months ago and it's awesome. SO much easier to clean and food/poo particles don't get trapped in it. Plus some types of fishies really enjoy digging in it. This is kinda dumb, but I also like the way sand holds down my fake plant bases, so you can't tell they're fake so easily. Live plants and I don't really get along. Except for moss balls, but I digress. Hmm, see what happens when you leave the door wide open for suggestions - we get chatty. lol

richardh

Thanks for the suggestion about the sand. I really like the look of sand and may go in that direction.