So I Go To The Fish Store.......

[chophousemusic]

And sitting outside is a huge fish tank, sign says Free but Leaks. Long story short, I ask my boy in the fish store and supp. it was someone elses tank they decided to throw out, So I take it. Figuring I can just reseal the tank and possibly set it up to breed electric blue jack dempseys lol. I wish haha or can I ? ?

its 72x24x29 ....210 gallon tank. Has these 2 canister like things inside of it...looks like it holds the fillter or something. Also has two holes in bottom of tank on each side I think? ANway its sitting in my backyard now. What type of filter do i have to buy for this tank ? And how do i go about resealing it and setting it up ? say i decide to make it a breeding tank? Is this ideal for that? What type of project am i looking at? Approx Cost? It also has no stand, or anything for that matter.

So what would you do ??

 

[onebto]

A picture would be helpful

 

[shroob]

I'd find out how bad the leaks are, it might not be economical or practical to fix them. I think the holes in the bottom of the tank are for water to go into a sump, do the two 'canister like things' go over the holes? Makes them sound like weirs.

I would go for a sump filter (the tank sounds like its already being drilled for it). Thre are guides for repairing a tank seam HERE, and guides on how to build a tank HERE which should give you a general idea of whats in store if you do decide to get the tank.

The tank itself is ample room for a breeding pair of electric blue jack dempseys, the problem will be raising the fry (if you intend to do that), as this will need an additional growing on tank.

It might be cheaper and less stressful to buy a smaller second hand tank, a 75 gallon would suit a pair of JD's very well.

In summary I'd have a long think about this and don't go rushing in because the tanks free and a large size. It will most likely be a time consuming job repairing the tank and is something you don't want to get wrong. 210 gallons of water on your floor will be no fun. You asked what I would do, if all I wanted was to breed EBJD then I'd leave the tank, get a 75 gallon for the pair and a 55 gallon to raise the fry in.

 

[waterdrop]

That's probably wise advice from shroob. I have no experience with it but I can imagine that you might be getting into a real mess trying to fix leaks on a really large tank like that.

On the other hand I was noticing that in your other thread you seem to have perhaps done a project to place a tank in an understairs closet and have it show through the wall (your 75g.) That seems to say that you like large projects and maybe you'd consider the fixing of a 200 in the backyard to be just the kind of fun you want for the coming year or months or whatever.

If you -do- end up completely rebuilding it, you could consider putting "durso" drains (to keep the waterfall noise down) over those drilled holes and then have a whole part of the project be learning about sump filters and building one for yourself.

Of course though, not knowing about it, I'd still assume there must be some inspections/tests that must be done that would lead to "make or break" decisions about whether the remaining glass and frame are worth the savings of sinking more money and effort into fixing the leak. Its kind of a weird thing but tanks themselves sometimes work out to be more minor parts of the overall investment, we just psychologically elevate them in our minds I think because we refer to the entire system as "the tank!"

~~waterdrop~~