Cracked tank had to be replaced in a hurry !!

[Rich T]

Im just looking for some advice after suffering a crack to the front of my old tank two days ago.

I had to dash out to a local pet store and buy a replacement tank whilst water seeped out of my old tank everywhere

Got a nice new tank which is much better than my old one but Ive had to put fresh gravel in the tank and it uses a different filter system so ive pretty much got a tank with no bacterial colonies to speak of.


At the moment I am doing :

* 20% water changes daily
* Adding Concentrated bacterial formula to the filter sponges each morning until readings settle
* Pump is running at nearly maximum to keep the water clean
* Keeping feeding to a minimum

Is there anything else I can do to help the tank develop quickly


I was thinking of putting my old filter back in the tank temporarily (air pump driven filter) but it has been out of the tank now for two days. Would it be any use putting it back in now ?


Tank is 15" wide x 8" depth x 10" High and I think its about 14 litres capacity (UK)

It contains 3x Bronze Corydora Catfish and 2x White Clouds 1x Pearl Danio


The white clouds really didnt like the experience and lost all colour for an hour or two but seem to be fine now especially since the new tank has some turbulant water for them to mess about in which the old one didnt.

The catfish are spending a lot of time hiding in their cave but I think thats due to their not being the full array of plant cover in the tank at this time due to me rushing to get the new tank set up.

And as usual nothing phases the Pearl Danio darting around as usual still obsessed with swimming up and down the sides of the tank

Any help greatly appreciated.

Rich T

 

[Angry_Platy]

Did you old filter have a sponge of some description? If so, put it in the new tank and squeeze it into the water then leave it there....this will transfer some of the bacteria from the old filter into the tank...

Did the filter media dry out? If so it may be no good to you.....if it is stillw et...even if only slightly, it should be OK

Daily water changes......check your ammonia and nitrite levels, more frequent changes may be required....

 

[Rich T]

It does have a sponge in it yes along with some other things, all enclosed in a plastick removable holder.

I think its pretty likely that it has dried out now but I will see.

It has suction cups on the back of it so I can just stick it to the side of the tank for a while.


The only reason I didnt put it straight back in was because the normally white filter material inside turned a dirty brown due to all the havoc that was caused by the cracked tank

 

[finnster]

Rich - it's the white filter material that turned dirty brown that you should have kept - it was probably loaded with nitrifying bacteria.
You seem to be doing the right things and keeping feeding to a minimum is the key.
What kind of filtration do you have? I presume from what you say that it's a small power filter of some kind.
Do you know anyone who has a mature tank who you could 'borrow' some water or gravel from?

 

[Rich T]

The filter setup in the new tank starts off with an under water pump which brings water up to the top of the tank through a channel where the filter material is located and then this water overflows out of the other end of the channel over a small water wheel which contains further filter material and then the water drops back into the tank.

Its actually a very efficient filter compared to my previous setup of a Rena air pump and underwater filter.

I will post a picture later of the tank after ive put a few more bits and bobs back in it

 

[Rich T]

Heres the piccies of the new tank. Its still very bare at the moment but that will be rectified shortly

The new pump is the black box on the left next to the heater and the old filter is the green box stuck on the right by the flow of the water.

 

[njtransit21]

You should have siphoned all the water in the old tank into the new tank and dumped the gravel and fish in when there was no more water. Maybe by any chance you didn't throw out the water of the old tank?

 

[Rich T]

The old water was on the floor due to the crack

The water level dropped to about 2.5 inches from the gravel due to the crack which developed down one of the seems of the old tank

The water that was left was very dirty due to all of the bits in the tank being stirred up. To re-use the old gravel it would have needed a serious cleaning and time was of the essence so I just used the new gravel which was easily cleaned.