Help With New Tank Pls

[charlieb]

Hope this is in the correct forum area, apologies if not.

I recently acquired a new tank off a friend. Its a 130 litre (approx 28 Gal) TropiQuarium 88.

It has been sitting unused in a garage for the past 8 years and is now in my living room, where i set about cleaning it up last night. I have discoved the pump sounds unhappy, its noisy and the impeller doesnt seem to be spinning freely so am thinking about replacing the pump unit. Also presumably it would be a good idea to replace all the filter media. Oh and also the light timer unit doesnt seem to be working, evan after i put fresh batteries in it. With no separate switches this means i either have pump and lights, or neither!

I agreed to part with £50 once i had got it up and runnning and confirmed that it was working, but after looking at the cost of replacing all those parts i'm wondering if i would be better to just buy a 2nd hand tank that has been in regular use.

any advice please? dont want this to put a strain on relations with my buddy.

ps - might put some water in it tonight just to check its not leaking too

 

[R0ADK1ll88]

I believe that changeing the filter media is a must after being in storage for eight years. For the timer I would put a poer strip at the outlet and run the pump from the strip and leave the light on the switch. Depending on the pump I would try and open it up and clean off the impeller before I give up on it, but somebody with more experiance then me might disagree. Worst case scenario you open it up and it can't be cleaned/fixed and your in the same place you started.

 

[stang1]

It might be worth giving the impeller a clean as they can sometimes become clogged. There is also a chance that it may have rusted, so you'd be better off replacing the impeller shaft which shouldn't cost you too much.
As for the media, it depends how it was stored and if it has been used or not. If it was stored in a box unused, then just give it a good clean. If it has been left sitting in the filter, again you can replace it at a minimal cost.
I'm not sure on the lighting unit, so hope someone else can help you out.