Buying a used aquarium with livestock. Need ideas

I am buying a bigger fish aquarium with its livestock. I didn't know that was a part of the deal. I asked her why she was selling it. She told me its too much maintenance. She doesn't do water changes. She just tops off the water. She doesn't test the water either. Its only a 29 gallon tank so that concerns me.

She has 20 fish (various sorts of Tetras, a Swordtail Tetra, some Plateys and some Cory Catfish) and two snails. All of these are tank mates for my Guppies.

I live in Idaho where it is cold and snowy. My plan is to drain as much water as possible and transport the tank with the fish in it. I'm only going a few miles.

Her substrate is black sand with no plants. This is not ideal for me. I have plants. I don't have enough tanks to temporarily move all her fish so that I can redo the substrate. Then I also run the risk of restarting the cycle. Any ideas?

My substrate is stratum with a gravel cap. A lot of my plants need to be planted in a rich substrate like stratum. Any ideas on how I should do this.

I have an established 10 gallon with four guppies and a 5 gallon quarantine tank. All running HOB filters, heaters and sponge filters with airstone but this is not going to stock everybody while I gut the 29 gallon tank. I could put them in a plastic tub with an airstone and even add a filter. I don't know. Throw me some ideas please.

 

Is there a running filter?

I don't think moving fish in a tank with substrate is a good idea if that substrate has probably never been cleaned, there might be ammonia released. It would be safer to siphon off a few buckets of water and transport the fish in those.

 

I would keep the guppies separate for now and treat the 29-gallon as a quarantine tank for the fish in it, since you don't know if they have any health issues because of how they were kept. Then, when you're sure they're okay and handling their space in the 29-gallon well, move your guppies into it.

As for gutting the 29-gallon you can do that a few ways, and it depends fully on whether you want to keep the gravel already in the tank or not:

1) You can remove the gravel and replace it in sections with very well-rinsed stratum. Replace some of it (1/3-1/2), monitor parameters for a while, then replace the rest of it.

2) Or see if you can get some all-plastic mesh bags, fill them with stratum, and slip them under the gravel already in the tank (if you're okay keeping that gravel). I would do a good gravel vacuum before this and monitor after a nice big water change because you'll probably kick up debris.

If the tank came with a filter, you shouldn't have too big of a cycle crash. If it didn't come with the filter, use your quarantine one, for now, I think. That way you're "seeding" the tank for cycling which tends to get the cycling process done faster. You can then buy a new filter and run that alongside the cycled one for a while before removing one. Either way though, have a test kit ready and monitor that water for a while since you are doing a full gutting of the tank.
~~
I took over my sister's tanks and basically moved the fish into a heated bucket, gutted and redid the tank, got a new filter because the old one quit working after I cleaned the algae from it, then put them back in. I used media from the old filter to get it going. I've also redone them with the fish in the tank (it was a tall tank and grabbing all of the fish wouldn't be easy) and they were fine as well. Had a small ammonia spike but it never got over 0.5 and quickly went down and back to fully cycled with a water change or two after a few days.

 

My suggestion is to use plastic bags to transport the fish .Just like the shops do. Use a plastic bag to transport the filter and all its media in some old or new conditioned water . Use a plastic bag to keep wet any ornaments you want to keep. The heater is also a hard surface so that goes in a plastic bag of water as well. You may not want the sponge bob square pants ornaments but as they are a home for bacteria they should go in the 29 gallon tank for a month or so. Hopefully there is a nice piece of wood hiding? Toss the gravel before filling the tank with new water . Don’t even clean the glass just yet. Set the tank up temporarily bare bottom and just get the fish in the tank.
Do not worry about how the tank looks.
Do not worry about brown water from the disruption.
Do not worry about anything.

The next day you can think about what you want to do with it.


New Fluval stratum will leach ammonia so you need to put that in a bucket for 5 weeks before you put it anywhere near fish.

Some time in the next few weeks you can add whatever decorations you want. Adding new sand to a tank with fish is no problem. Adding plants to a tank with fish is no problem but you might lower the water level to make the job easier.

Having moved a few small tanks across the room with 4 inches of water I warn you it’s not possible to stop the waves of water going back and forth getting bigger and bigger. Sounds like a joke but it’s not. It’s funny once you clean the carpet. Don’t even try it from house to house. You could have a fall . I don’t care about the fish .

I agree that setting up the tank and watching it for a month just in case . You could call it quarantine or isolation?

In short .
Do the job in stages.

 

I would keep the guppies separate for now and treat the 29-gallon as a quarantine tank for the fish in it, since you don't know if they have any health issues because of how they were kept. Then, when you're sure they're okay and handling their space in the 29-gallon well, move your guppies into it.

As for gutting the 29-gallon you can do that a few ways, and it depends fully on whether you want to keep the gravel already in the tank or not:

1) You can remove the gravel and replace it in sections with very well-rinsed stratum. Replace some of it (1/3-1/2), monitor parameters for a while, then replace the rest of it.

2) Or see if you can get some all-plastic mesh bags, fill them with stratum, and slip them under the gravel already in the tank (if you're okay keeping that gravel). I would do a good gravel vacuum before this and monitor after a nice big water change because you'll probably kick up debris.

If the tank came with a filter, you shouldn't have too big of a cycle crash. If it didn't come with the filter, use your quarantine one, for now, I think. That way you're "seeding" the tank for cycling which tends to get the cycling process done faster. You can then buy a new filter and run that alongside the cycled one for a while before removing one. Either way though, have a test kit ready and monitor that water for a while since you are doing a full gutting of the tank.
~~
I took over my sister's tanks and basically moved the fish into a heated bucket, gutted and redid the tank, got a new filter because the old one quit working after I cleaned the algae from it, then put them back in. I used media from the old filter to get it going. I've also redone them with the fish in the tank (it was a tall tank and grabbing all of the fish wouldn't be easy) and they were fine as well. Had a small ammonia spike but it never got over 0.5 and quickly went down and back to fully cycled with a water change or two after a few days.

Her tank only has black sand for substrate. I could probably move the sand around and put stratum in mess bags in the center. I'm not familiar with sand substrates. If I remember correctly they can only be gentle surface vacuumed and sand is not ideal for plants. She does have a filter plus I have tons of beneficial bacteria media running in my two tanks.

It's my 10 gallon tank that have stratum and gravel.

Is there a running filter?

I don't think moving fish in a tank with substrate is a good idea if that substrate has probably never been cleaned, there might be ammonia released. It would be safer to siphon off a few buckets of water and transport the fish in those.

Yes she has a filter.

This is her Facebook listing. It all I have of her tank picture.
Also in her picture of her tank, those are all artificial plants with beneficial bacteria on them.

My suggestion is to use plastic bags to transport the fish .Just like the shops do. Use a plastic bag to transport the filter and all its media in some old or new conditioned water . Use a plastic bag to keep wet any ornaments you want to keep. The heater is also a hard surface so that goes in a plastic bag of water as well. You may not want the sponge bob square pants ornaments but as they are a home for bacteria they should go in the 29 gallon tank for a month or so. Hopefully there is a nice piece of wood hiding? Toss the gravel before filling the tank with new water . Don’t even clean the glass just yet. Set the tank up temporarily bare bottom and just get the fish in the tank.
Do not worry about how the tank looks.
Do not worry about brown water from the disruption.
Do not worry about anything.

The next day you can think about what you want to do with it.


New Fluval stratum will leach ammonia so you need to put that in a bucket for 5 weeks before you put it anywhere near fish.

Some time in the next few weeks you can add whatever decorations you want. Adding new sand to a tank with fish is no problem. Adding plants to a tank with fish is no problem but you might lower the water level to make the job easier.

Having moved a few small tanks across the room with 4 inches of water I warn you it’s not possible to stop the waves of water going back and forth getting bigger and bigger. Sounds like a joke but it’s not. It’s funny once you clean the carpet. Don’t even try it from house to house. You could have a fall . I don’t care about the fish .

I agree that setting up the tank and watching it for a month just in case . You could call it quarantine or isolation?

In short .
Do the job in stages.

Your right, I do need to bag everything in tank water to preserve her beneficial bacteria. And to bag her fish will be some work all by itself. I'm not familiar with using sand as a substrate and if I recall it can only be gently surface vacuumed and it's not ideal for live plants to deep root.

 

Sand is fine for many plants. I would move the fish in a big bucket with a lid (that has not been used for house cleaning etc.), It would be easier than bags. The only reason to keep some of the tank water is to avoid a sudden change in parameters when you refill the tank . The bacteria are mainly in the substrate and in the filter, not in the water.

 

Sand can be deep vacuumed if you want to. Just like gravel there are situations and people that choose to never vacuum their tanks.

To vacuum sand learning the two handed technique is even more important. One hand holds a kink in the hose controlling the flow. An invaluable technique every fish keeper should know. Being able to stop the vacuum in case fry or fish start to be sucked up is pretty basic stuff. See video.

i have personally had juvenile electric blue acara jump 12 inches in a plastic bag that had only 3 inches of water. Meaning they repeated hit the soft plastic bag as they were exposed to sunlight. I should not have to say the plastic bag fills a five gallon bucket. A dark piece of cloth is used to stop the sunlight. Many aquarium fish have spent all their life never seeing the true sun and just go berserk as they are moved from house to car to shop. Smashing into a soft plastic bag is preferable to hard plastic.
Option education video.

By all means use a bucket with a hard plastic lid. I am sick of repeatedly trying to inform those who want to reinvent the wheel, plastic bags ARE how fish are moved around. Unless it’s a betta in a death cup from +++mart

 

Well it’s up to you but … you’re now taking on somebody else’s tank. And she’s charging you to do it? If free and this is what you want to do go for it. But again do you want to do this? There will be other tanks available. You may want to see what else comes up. Seems like you were looking to go bigger with your fish and now you’re going to add yours to an established tank where the fish in it have adapted to the conditions of the tank. Your fish may not. So you’re looking at cleaning that tank which is probably 80-160ppm nitrate because of the lack of water changes. Bringing this tank back to 20ppm may take more than a month of 50% daily water changes. Lot of work to pay for .
Also in her listing she claims it’s a 40g. But it’s only a 29?

 

I just did a similar thing on the weekend. Although the tank only had a couple of mature bristlenose. But I emptied the tank as much as i could making it much easier to move around.

Put the 2 fish in a bucket full of tank water. Also had a couple extra buckets full of tank water, just so any effect of the water change will be reduced.

This one had relatively fine river gravel and was clean so just kept it.

The one key thing is you don't have to have everything perfect the same day.

As the guys above mentioned, a bit at a time is fine, if it takes a week, a month, who cares.
That way you aren't stressing either and can get things exactly how you want them without rushing

 

. . . My substrate is stratum with a gravel cap. A lot of my plants need to be planted in a rich substrate like stratum. Any ideas on how I should do this.

May I ask what plants you have that require that substrate? I have a wide variety doing just fine in sand.

 

Well it’s up to you but … you’re now taking on somebody else’s tank. And she’s charging you to do it? If free and this is what you want to do go for it. But again do you want to do this? There will be other tanks available. You may want to see what else comes up. Seems like you were looking to go bigger with your fish and now you’re going to add yours to an established tank where the fish in it have adapted to the conditions of the tank. Your fish may not. So you’re looking at cleaning that tank which is probably 80-160ppm nitrate because of the lack of water changes. Bringing this tank back to 20ppm may take more than a month of 50% daily water changes. Lot of work to pay for .
Also in her listing she claims it’s a 40g. But it’s only a 29?

Yes, I had her give me the measurements and it is truly only a 29 gallon. I informed her of that and she said it was a typo. I would never move my guppies from their current habitat without ensuring that the water parameters of the 29-gallon tank are what my norms are. I do realize without her doing water changes, I could be in for a thing, lol.

May I ask what plants you have that require that substrate? I have a wide variety doing just fine in sand.

Pogostemon Stella Octopus, Vallisneria and Rosette Sword. The others I have are rhizome plants attached to Driftwood and others that can grow roots in the gravel.

 

Pogostemon Stella Octopus, Vallisneria and Rosette Sword. The others I have are rhizome plants attached to Driftwood and others that can grow roots in the gravel.

I haven't kept the Pogostemon or rosette sword, but I have several Ozelot swords and a bunch of vallisneria doing just fine in sand.

 

I haven't kept the Pogostemon or rosette sword, but I have several Ozelot swords and a bunch of vallisneria doing just fine in sand.

Pogostemon Stella Octopus is a beautiful plant. It's a stem plant that requires heavy fertilizing and preferablly in rich soil. I bought a few different types of plants from Aquarium Co-op. They are all heavy feeders. The Tiger Lotus is beautiful too and needs heavy nutrients but not to be planted in Stratum. I guess I should research sand as a substrate for a planted tank but co-op doesn't recommend it. I need to go back and find out why. I use liquid fertilizer and root tabs. Also ProudPapa, not only substrate is a thing for a planted tank. There is also lighting and your basic water parameters. I have hard water and a pH of 8.2 and that is what is. I have driftwood and almond leaves in the tank. Doesn't faze my pH. I recently bought new lighting for my tank so that I can give the plants better lighting. I like the look of sand, so I will do some research.

 

If that is a recent picture the tank does not look bad. You have hard water so PH should not be an issue.

 

. . . I have hard water and a pH of 8.2 and that is what is. I have driftwood and almond leaves in the tank. Doesn't faze my pH. I recently bought new lighting for my tank so that I can give the plants better lighting. I like the look of sand, so I will do some research.

Same here. Vallisneria, swords, guppy grass, pearl weed, moneywort, several varieties of crypt, and probably others that I can't think of right now do just fine in my sand substrate.

 

I have an update. I did not buy the tank I mentioned in this thread. I bought a used 29 gallon, empty tank. It's a glass tank with lighted hood. He gave me a heater but it's a preset heater of 76 to 80 something. I prefer an adjustable heater because there are instances that require a higher heat or lower heat. I'm going to order a Fluval Aqua Clear 50. I'm running one of these on another tank and I like to DYI my filter media and this one is inexpensive and easy to DYI.

Now, I need to sanitize this tank. It's pretty clean of hard water but there are a couple spots I want to clean with vinegar then I will sanitize with a bleach solution and several water rinses. So that's where I'm at. Cleaning, sanitizing and buying equipment. I still have not decided on a substrate yet. Am I forgetting anything?
Who are your trusted fish aquatics YouTubers?