Treating A Recycled Tank

pthechemist

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Ok, I have just bought a 130l tank which came with some fish. When transporting, I left some of the water in the bottom to cover the stones and hopefully protect any bacteria. The tank was FILTHY so I carefully cleaned it and then added about 1/5 of the orig water back to the tank. I filled the tank up with. Lean treated water, got it up to temp and then returned the fish. The filter HS cleared most of the dirt but the water is green. Any hints as to how I should continue?
Cheers.
Phil
 
just do a water change each day and clean the filter every few days depending how filthy it gets.
be gentle with the filter, use tank water to clean the sponges/bio filter parts. you'll have to judge if you need new sponges etc.

i'd probably start with the filter actually. Maybe add some filter floss or other fine media to try to get the green particles out!
 
If the water is green, you have too much light hitting the tank. Green water is a single celled algae that just floats around in the water. It is the result of intense lighting and a source of nitrogen. I can never seem to grow the stuff when I am raising daphnia unless I literally move the algae container outdoors where it will get direct sunlight for part of the day.
 
thanks guys, just a little more info...
the tank is well away from direct sunlight so I think it is algae which was in amongst the gravel from the previous owner? any recommendations for a replacement light source as the 2 fluoro's are broken (think it is moisture that has previously got into the setup).

Cheers guys

Phil
 
You want to replace the light tubes with a color that appeals to you. The bulbs at the blue end of the spectrum, such as the 10000K ones, will tend to grow more algae than ones closer to a sunlight spectrum like a 6000K tube. If you are going to grow plants, look for a spectrum between 5500K and 6700K as one that will limit algae growth while maintaining good plant growth.
 
Thanks OM47, I'll look into the diff bulbs available but for now, my lighting doesn't work (fried electrics I believe) so my question is...

Should i try and replace the existing twin fluoro setup with the same or is there a better alternative?


Thanks,

Phil

ps, could/should i add some algaecide to remove the algae or just let the filters do it over time?

PPS. Ok I've had a look at the existing lights and. They are beyond stuffed! Unfortunately in getting the light casing off (lots of silicon had been used) I buckled the. Lid and it is a little the worse for wear. So can anyone reckomend a new lid design. I think the tank is made by sunsun and it is 130 l. Any ideas of the model etc...
Thanks
 
Hi there Phil,

I wouldn't add algaecide. You don't want those chemicals in your tank. The excess dead algae may work its way out of your tank via your upcoming gravel cleans and water changes or you may decide to replace your substrate after some discussion, but for now I'd hold steady and certainly not put any chemicals in.

While its true that all interior surfaces and objects will harbor some of our beneficial bacteria, its also true that the vast majority, and a sufficient amount, reside in the biomedia of the filter. That is because the filter provides a much better flow of ammonia and oxygen, the primary things the bacteria need. The problem in cases like yours is that since the tank has been let slide into a very dirty state, the gravel will kick loose a lot of debris each time its disturbed and since its a new tank you're not familiar with and has just been moved, its probably a good time initially to just give yourself a little time to get familiar with the tank and soon it will become obvious aesthetically whether you want to replace the substrate. Each gravel-clean-water-change you do will clear more and more debris and churn the gravel around, allowing you to better see what it will look like. Note that really dirty gravel will of course risk kicking up a mini-cycle, so you'll want to test to see whether a followup water change is in order (if it kicked ammonia or nitrite(NO2) to 0.25ppm or above.)

The very first thing to think about in the light changing plan is what approach to plant growing you want to take. Without going into too much detail, you have two broad options: low-light or high-light approaches. The dividing line is about 2 watts per US gallow if you are using T8 or T12 tubes. More wattage/light pushes plant growth, increasing their demand for all the nutrients they need. Carbon is one of their main needs and they get it primarily from CO2 which can be quite difficult to deliver to them underwater. Very roughly, this 2watt thing is an attempt at a warning that at some point the only way to keep up with this CO2 demand caused by all the light is to run an expensive setup delivering CO2 from a pressurized cylinder that looks like those that scuba divers use.

So all that long paragraph was a way to say that perhaps you'll be interested in the -other- choice of direction, for now, of choosing lighting -below- 2 watts, down in the 0.8 to 1.8 watt per gallon range. That way you can either not add extra carbon at all or can use a "liquid carbon" substitute product like EasyCarbo or Flourish Excel. And, by the way, all this is just to talk about carbon, which is only 1 out of the 17 main things these plants want, lol. But hopefully, this will have you aware of the key parameter as you struggle with actual hoods and hardware to fit your tank. Don't neglect the area of water condensation and having it drip back into the tank effectively.

Have you got a good gravel-cleaning siphon so you can be working on that gravel? You'll want to work the cylinder deep into the gravel, all the way to the tank bottom and let the debris flow out with the water that's begin removed. You can overdose your conditioner to the tune of 1.5x or 2x (not more I'd say) when treating the return water. Dose per bucket if that's how you return water. Dose per aquarium size if you are directly refilling via siphon or hose to the aquarium. If the change is above about 25% then it may be best to temperature match. Your hand is good enough to judge this.

~~waterdrop~~
 
thanks for taking the time waterdrop. I did a few tests earlier and ammonia nad nitrite levels are at 0!! Yay. I'll keep an eyy in the aesthetics as I continue but for now alk is well it seems. I have as a result transferred my 3 fish from my 25 l tank into that as the other has consistant high ammonia levels. I Thought better. To so that and do a fishless cycle in the other.

Gonna go and investigate hoods tomorrow!

Cheers mate.
Phil
 
Fishless cycling is basically recommended for times (such as when you are a brand new beginner) when the aquarists is starting "from scratch" with no access to "mature media" (the filter media inside a filter that has had time (several months at least) for mature colonies of the two important species of bacteria to grow in it. Any time you have even one other filter, there's the possibility of using that material (up to 1/3 the volume of the mature media can be withdrawn usualy without any adverse effect on the existing tank, so the existing fish in this older tank won't be disturbed by poor filtration) to greatly speed up the fishless cycling process in the new filter/tank.

~~waterdrop~~
 
Hey guys,
Reused the hood by removing the centre section and installing 2 support brackets. I then have a sheet of acrylic across these with a hole in the middle, over which sits a new aquarium lamp. Looks pretty good actually (rather pleased with my little self).

In response to the fishless cycling waterdrop, the other tank is new and was my only tank. as a result, I was attempting fish in cycling but want to protect the fish as much as I can. A couple of questions...
1. should I leave the filter running and the heater on in the fishless tank?

2. I have 2 tetra's a striped and a blue. The striped keeps nibbling at the blue's lower fins. Is there anything I can do about this?



Cheers
Phil
 
OK, Phil, you've managed to keep me confused about which tank is which. Is it that the first tank was a smaller new one you were planning to fishless cycle and the second tank is the used one that has the fish that came with it? The used one is 130L, right?

1) If question 1 regards still trying to fishless cycle the first tank then yes, you'll need to have the filter and heater running to do that. The filter is actually the thing that's "being cycled" not the tank. Cycling is a term referring to the creation of the "biofilter" portion of the filter in an aquarium. The heater is necessary to speed up the fishless cycling process (29C/84F is the optimal bacterial growing temp in my opinion.) You'll need to have a good liquid-reagent based test kit, such as the API Freshwater Master Test Kit and you'll need to have found pure household ammonia that meets the requirements as a "food" source for the bacteria.

2) re the single tetra nibbling at the other single tetra: This is probably a case of your needed each of these species to be kept in a minimal shoal. Usually we recommend a minimum of 6 individuals of a given tetra species as being as low as you can go without behavioral problems. In general, tetras are shoaling fish and in their natural state are used to being in groups of hundreds or thousands of fish. The very fundamentals of their nervous system are tied into having these other fish around to "react with." Without the others of their species nearby, they become highly stressed and will often exhibit much more aggressive survival behavior. Not sure from your description exactly which tetra species you have (or even if they've been correctly identified as tetras) but the tetra basics I've described are pretty universal.

~~waterdrop~~
 

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