Found 55 gallon tank on side of road!

today on my way home I saw a 55 gallon tank sitting by the side of the road naturally I stopped traffic and grabbed it lol its pretty dirty and smelled pretty bad but that's probally just bacteria decaying Ive washed it out and its sitting without water for a few days there was also a power filter inside it too! a whisper 60 I threw away the mechanical filter and ac but I kept the black bio filter but washed them out as I didnot know what kinda icky BAD bacteria was in them so oh well ill have to cycle it no big but I'm wondering what I can use to clean the white build up on the glass??

 

Wow, congrats on the great find.
Tom

 

LUCKY!
now i'm gonna have to drive all around town trying to find unwanted tanks...and furniture for stands
congrats on the free tank...does it hold water?

 

yea it holds water but it has a lot of white buildup that gets slimy when you put water on it. what can I use to remove that? just a scruby sponge? the tank is glass.

 

yea it holds water but it has a lot of white buildup that gets slimy when you put water on it. what can I use to remove that? just a scruby sponge? the tank is glass.

Buy one of those algae sponges and use a mix of vinegar and water to clean it. That should clean it up nicely.
Tom

 

sweet thanks tom

 

sweet thanks tom

Your welcome, I used that to clean out a tank that had been sitting for about 6-7 years with some water in it.
Tom

 

were the bacrteria still alive in the water?

 

were the bacrteria still alive in the water?

I don't know, the water was that milky color like it had been sitting there for ages. It was kind of discusting. And it wasn't like regular water, it was like a syrup. Just thinking about it makes me gag.
Tom

 

WHAT KIND OF VINAGRE? DISTILLED WHITE OR DOES IT MATTER?

 

WHAT KIND OF VINAGRE? DISTILLED WHITE OR DOES IT MATTER?

I don't it matters, but I used white, it was the only stuff in the house. But get a very clean bucket,fill it about 1/8 with vinegar and 1/2 with water, so there is a total of 5/8(oor closest to it) of the mix, and then go to town with it(not literally).
Tom

 

SWEET THANKS

 

I LOVE FREES SUFF BUT ITS GONNA COST ME ANOTHER 50 OR SO DOLLARS BEFORE ITS ACCEPTABLE FOR MY TASTE LOL STUFF IS EXPENSIVE HERE IN FLORIDA

 

I LOVE FREES SUFF BUT ITS GONNA COST ME ANOTHER 50 OR SO DOLLARS BEFORE ITS ACCEPTABLE FOR MY TASTE LOL STUFF IS EXPENSIVE HERE IN FLORIDA

It is really expensive here too. For a kg(2.2lbs) of gravel it costs something like $5-8, and a huge bag of gravel(about 20lbs) costs like $30-40. This isn't one of the cheapesst hobbies out there, but it is still great.
Tom

 

today on my way home I saw a 55 gallon tank sitting by the side of the road naturally I stopped traffic and grabbed it lol its pretty dirty and smelled pretty bad but that's probally just bacteria decaying Ive washed it out and its sitting without water for a few days there was also a power filter inside it too! a whisper 60 I threw away the mechanical filter and ac but I kept the black bio filter but washed them out as I didnot know what kinda icky BAD bacteria was in them so oh well ill have to cycle it no big but I'm wondering what I can use to clean the white build up on the glass??

Wow! Man you are lucky! I wonder who'd be so dumb to chuck a tank on the roadside! Goodluck!

I LOVE FREES SUFF BUT ITS GONNA COST ME ANOTHER 50 OR SO DOLLARS BEFORE ITS ACCEPTABLE FOR MY TASTE LOL STUFF IS EXPENSIVE HERE IN FLORIDA

It is really expensive here too. For a kg(2.2lbs) of gravel it costs something like $5-8, and a huge bag of gravel(about 20lbs) costs like $30-40. This isn't one of the cheapesst hobbies out there, but it is still great.
Tom

Yeah that's very true. The tank is one thing, all the equipment etc is another and pretty expensive too, sometimes costing as much as the tank itself!

 

congrats on the great find!

 

Hey that sounds fantastic!! what a great find! Now you can skip the expense of a new tank, and put that "extra" money you saved into equipment. NIIIIICE! ;D

 

YUPP ATLEAST IT HAD I FILTER IN IT LOL

 

YEP.. its always great if it has a filter with it too! ;D

 

Well that doesn't leave much to buy, gravel, heater,lights and a few others!

 

today on my way home I saw a 55 gallon tank sitting by the side of the road naturally I stopped traffic and grabbed it lol its pretty dirty and smelled pretty bad but that's probally just bacteria decaying Ive washed it out and its sitting without water for a few days there was also a power filter inside it too! a whisper 60 I threw away the mechanical filter and ac but I kept the black bio filter but washed them out as I didnot know what kinda icky BAD bacteria was in them so oh well ill have to cycle it no big but I'm wondering what I can use to clean the white build up on the glass??

Wow! Man you are lucky! I wonder who'd be so dumb to chuck a tank on the roadside! Goodluck!

I LOVE FREES SUFF BUT ITS GONNA COST ME ANOTHER 50 OR SO DOLLARS BEFORE ITS ACCEPTABLE FOR MY TASTE LOL STUFF IS EXPENSIVE HERE IN FLORIDA

It is really expensive here too. For a kg(2.2lbs) of gravel it costs something like $5-8, and a huge bag of gravel(about 20lbs) costs like $30-40. This isn't one of the cheapesst hobbies out there, but it is still great.
Tom

Yeah that's very true. The tank is one thing, all the equipment etc is another and pretty expensive too, sometimes costing as much as the tank itself!

Evere heard of the saying, "there's no such thing as a free puppy"? Well, I guess this applies to fish as well. Two of my tanks were "free" and it cost me a few hundred dollars getting them up, running, and stocked.

Congrats on the find though and good luck with it.

 

what are you going to stock it with?

 

I really have no idea. definaltely a lot of live plants because they look nice but as for fish I think I'm going to have a blue lobster because I love them lol but other than that I really am not quite sure yet any ideas?

 

maybe some jack dempseys and a fancy pleco, bala sharks, african cichlids...the possibilities are endless

 

Go with discus. It might cost a lot, and you would have to adbandon the lobster idea, but you will have many hours of beauty.
Tom

 

that's the rpoblem with discus all teh places by me treat them bad or they don't look great because of the treatment they really are beautiful fish but I just can't see myself spending 60 bucks on a fish when I'm so new to this scene

 

What you should do is see if there are any local breeders in your area and see if they have discus. Usually local breeders have the best fish around.
Tom

 

il check that out

 

il check that out

Because there is a great breeder that has discus near me and he sells them for about $10-20 each for the plain colored ones and about $50 for the really colorful ones, I guess I am really lucky in that sense.
Tom

 

indeed you are
there are very few fish shops in Florida where I am ironically

 

there are very few fish shops in Florida where I am ironically

If you are close to where FLBC lives, maybe they can help you out.
Tom

 

there are very few fish shops in Florida where I am ironically

If you are close to where FLBC lives, maybe they can help you out.
Tom

I wish I could, but we're in the same situation. even in FL, a small town kinda screws you on things like a good fish shop.

 

what does FLBC stand for?

 

there are very few fish shops in Florida where I am ironically

If you are close to where FLBC lives, maybe they can help you out.
Tom

I wish I could, but we're in the same situation. even in FL, a small town kinda screws you on things like a good fish shop.

Oh ya, that's right, I forgot you moved to Denver(unless you haven't yet).
Tom

 

what does FLBC stand for?

FLBettaCouple, it is so much faster to just type four letters than that huge name.
Tom

 

there pretty far from where I'm at I would spend 50 bucks in gas jsut to get there lol

 

there pretty far from where I'm at I would spend 50 bucks in gas jsut to get there lol

My mistake.
Tom

 

lol, well we're in st.augustine now, but we'll be in denver in 3 weeks, give or take a couple days.

 

the 55 gallon I found on the side of the road has a small chip in the corner of the glass it is being held in by the silicone is it safe or would this be desastaropus if I filled it up and it leaked everywhere? what can I do to make it more water worthy?

 

If it is only the silicone holding it in it is not safe. Best idea would be to fill it up outside in your yard and leave it for an hour or two, and even that would not guarantee that it would hold water in the longterm.