Advice On Building an Additional Tank for Fry

Hello,

I've started my first time aquarium a few months ago, and have received excellent help stabilizing and maintaining my aquarium. The tank is populated to the hilt with a variety of freshwater fish. I wasn't prepared, mentally, for new birth. I'm not crazy about nature's idea of fish eating their young, so I've got breeder boxes and the population is growing. I want to get another tank.
I have an old 29 or so gallon tank that's not been used in years. Should I clean this one or is it best to get a new one?
If I can use this one, I'd get a new filter, but I'd have to get instructions on how to clean it without leaving any residue that would hurt the fry. Can I use the water from water changes of the current tank to get the new tank started?
mattgirl

 

Nope, it's junk, too old, send it to me and I'll dispose of it securely.

No really, old tanks are pretty handy and clean up well, most of my takes are old used messes. I have had great luck with tanks up to 29 fitting in the bathtub. 40 breeder not so much. I put mine in there, soak it good for a day with a high concentration of Dawn and vinegar. Every now and then throughout the day hot it with some fresh hot water to keep the foam of the top from creating a line. Once you get any silt from old media out of it a green scotch pad won't usually scratch it so put your arm in there and scrub it good. If you have chunkies stuck on the glass a flat razor scraper can do it but be careful around the seals.

Drain it with a scrap hose right into the bathtub and dry it, look for sports you missed. Maybe use a tooth brush up under the lip at the top.

Fill and drain a few times, tip it every which way and spray it, and you shouldn't have to worry about much residue if all you used was vinegar and Dawn.

If it's still really bad, I had a used saltwater tank I couldn't get clean; try automotive rubbing compound. Follow that up with some Dawn and then rinse thuroughly.

Plain Dawn, without antI bacterial, scent or lotion additives is still used by the coast guard to clean endangered species in oil spill response cases. It leaves little residue and it's a superb surfactant, turning most stuck things into not stuck things.

Good luck with it, a 29 could be a great fry grow out, sounds awesome to me.

 

Great advice on cleaning it in the meantime I would get an air pump and a sponge filter and put it the tank that u have had running for 3 months to help seed the sponge filter then in about 3-5 weeks drop it into the newly cleaned 29 and it will essentially give you a cycled tank. Someone mentioned earlier today amazon has tetra air pumps for $8 I like the uniclife I think it’s called it’s a dual outlet with a knob to control air pressure and I usually run a sponge on one nipple and a marina breeder box on the other end then I add polyfill to the return so it’s acts as a sort of filter but u may need a bit bigger hob filter to run a 29 unless u get 2 larger sponge filters or what I like to use are the dual sponge filters so u can squeeze a sponge out every couple WC’s as to not disturb the cycle... good luck!!

 

Test it for leaks. If it doesn't leak it should be fine. The amount of cleaning necessary depends on how it was stored. If there was any chance any kind of chemicals could have gotten into it be sure to clean with a lot of soap and hot water and then rinse it really well.

Once cleaned and leak tested fill it up with fresh dechlorinated water. The water from your cycled tank won't help cycle this one. Run it for a couple of days to make sure everything is working as it should and the temp is up to the same temp as the tank your fry are in.

Hopefully you have run extra media in your cycled tank. If you have go ahead and move it and some of the fish over to this tank. If you don't have extra media move some of the gravel from your cycled tank. Move anything you can from the cycled tank over to this one. Bacteria is growing on everything in the established tank so the more you can move they more likely you will be able to instantly cycle this one.

ninja'd by kallililly1973 and John58ford I am a slow typist

 

Test it for leaks. If it doesn't leak it should be fine. The amount of cleaning necessary depends on how it was stored. If there was any chance any kind of chemicals could have gotten into it be sure to clean with a lot of soap and hot water and then rinse it really well.

Once cleaned and leak tested fill it up with fresh dechlorinated water. The water from your cycled tank won't help cycle this one. Run it for a couple of days to make sure everything is working as it should and the temp is up to the same temp as the tank your fry are in.

Hopefully you have run extra media in your cycled tank. If you have go ahead and move it and some of the fish over to this tank. If you don't have extra media move some of the gravel from your cycled tank. Move anything you can from the cycled tank over to this one. Bacteria is growing on everything in the established tank so the more you can move they more likely you will be able to instantly cycle this one.

ninja'd by kallililly1973 and John58ford I am a slow typist

No worries mattgirl. You already know that you're my favorite. Thanks for all of your help over the past few months!

 

Thanks to all. I plan to throw away the old gravel from the old tank. I hope that this is the right thing to do.

 

Thanks to all. I plan to throw away the old gravel from the old tank. I hope that this is the right thing to do.

I don't know if that is necessary. How long has it been since this tank has been up and running? Do you like the gravel? If so you could probably clean and use it. If it is in pretty bad shape like a lot of algae or something stuck to it you may want to just toss and replace it though.

 

No worries mattgirl. You already know that you're my favorite. Thanks for all of your help over the past few months!

Thank you. I am just one of the many folks here that get great pleasure from offering help.

 

Thanks to all. I plan to throw away the old gravel from the old tank. I hope that this is the right thing to do.

Yup it's trash, send that to me for disposal too.

Really though depending on what it is tossing it may be the right thing. The cheaper color coated gravel doesn't boil well and usually flakes off. Bleach would be a good bet to kill any bacteria (that bad kind) but may also destroy color coatings. Vinegar and Dawn may be hard to rinse off finer gravel unless you can get a garden hose on a hot water outlet and run it to a bucket outside like you would to rinse new sand. I only treat stuff with bleach when I have perfect weather and can spread it outside to off gas for a few days. Don't know where you live but that isn't an option for me this time of year. Can't really put plastic or paint coated gravel in the oven to speed things up for the same reasons as boiling. Wouldn't dare put pea gravel or river rock in the oven as the little explosions they can create would get my oven use card pulled by my wife in short order, works great for drying used sand for storage though.

 

Thank you. I am just one of the many folks here that get great pleasure from offering help.

That may be true, but it doesn't stop you from being my favorite! You've been very helpful.

 

I don't know if that is necessary. How long has it been since this tank has been up and running? Do you like the gravel? If so you could probably clean and use it. If it is in pretty bad shape like a lot of algae or something stuck to it you may want to just toss and replace it though.

The gravel looks OK, I'm not a fan of the colors, but that doesn't matter. I'm more concerned over it being harmful if I don't do a good enough job cleaning it. The tank has been unused with the old filter, gravel, and heater still installed. It's been dry in that condition for maybe 10 years?

 

The gravel looks OK, I'm not a fan of the colors, but that doesn't matter. I'm more concerned over it being harmful if I don't do a good enough job cleaning it. The tank has been unused with the old filter, gravel, and heater still installed. It's been dry in that condition for maybe 10 years?

Since you don't care for the color, tossing and replacing might be the best option. Hopefully the filter and heater are still usable. Of course you will want to put new (hopefully seeded) media in the filter.

 

Yup it's trash, send that to me for disposal too.

Really though depending on what it is tossing it may be the right thing. The cheaper color coated gravel doesn't boil well and usually flakes off. Bleach would be a good bet to kill any bacteria (that bad kind) but may also destroy color coatings. Vinegar and Dawn may be hard to rinse off finer gravel unless you can get a garden hose on a hot water outlet and run it to a bucket outside like you would to rinse new sand. I only treat stuff with bleach when I have perfect weather and can spread it outside to off gas for a few days. Don't know where you live but that isn't an option for me this time of year. Can't really put plastic or paint coated gravel in the oven to speed things up for the same reasons as boiling. Wouldn't dare put pea gravel or river rock in the oven as the little explosions they can create would get my oven use card pulled by my wife in short order, works great for drying used sand for storage though.

If the only damage that bleach would do is destroy the color, then I'd opt for bleach. I just want it to be safe. The weather is cold here, so putting it outside is not an option. Stove or oven, not viable options either. If I were to bleach it, how long would it take in the northeast to be ready for use?

 

If the only damage that bleach would do is destroy the color, then I'd opt for bleach. I just want it to be safe. The weather is cold here, so putting it outside is not an option. Stove or oven, not viable options either. If I were to bleach it, how long would it take in the northeast to be ready for use?

as long as the bleach you use is pure bleach, meaning nothing added to it to make it smell better, doing a final rinse in water dechlorinated with double the normal amount of your water conditioner should make it safe to use. I would have no problem doing this but seldom recommend it to others.

 

I'm guessing you are still above freezing outside right? I'm in the far Northwest and the constant rain has kicked in. I would guess as long as it's above freezing just a few days would do. Bleach it, rinse the best you can, set it out to dry and the left over stuff will form tiny little crystals, I think it's some chlorine/chlormine byproduct. Toss in all dry in a mesh bag or colunder etc and shake the crystal dust out. Then rinse it again. If it doesn't smell bad it's probably fine and if you dose with prime or other dechlorinator when you first fill it will be neutralized anyhow.

You can also make a mechanical dechlor with a little pond pump in a tub of water, surface area and water movement will off gas the chlorine via evaporation in a fairly short time, though I have never personally tried it that way.

mattgirl beat me to it this time

 

Since you don't care for the color, tossing and replacing might be the best option. Hopefully the filter and heater are still usable. Of course you will want to put new (hopefully seeded) media in the filter.

Again, the color doesn't mean anything to me, really. I could take it or leave it. I'll see what mood I'm in at the time. Maybe I'll clean it, maybe I'll trash it. I'm sure I'll trash the filter and heater. They really look nasty. They're probably really noisy too.

 

I'm guessing you are still above freezing outside right? I'm in the far Northwest and the constant rain has kicked in. I would guess as long as it's above freezing just a few days would do. Bleach it, rinse the best you can, set it out to dry and the left over stuff will form tiny little crystals, I think it's some chlorine/chlormine byproduct. Toss in all dry in a mesh bag or colunder etc and shake the crystal dust out. Then rinse it again. If it doesn't smell bad it's probably fine and if you dose with prime or other dechlorinator when you first fill it will be neutralized anyhow.

You can also make a mechanical dechlor with a little pond pump in a tub of water, surface area and water movement will off gas the chlorine via evaporation in a fairly short time, though I have never personally tried it that way.

mattgirl beat me to it this time

This time of year, it can be comfortable for a few days and then be subfreezing the next day. Depending on my mood at the time, I may try and bleach it. Thanks!

 

REPORT:
Cleaned the tank, cleaned the gravel, looks good, running good. Thanks for your help!