Bought A Second Hand Tank, Got It Wrong

[Rob_77]

I have a 65L "superfish" tank which broke last week, the light unit's plastic housing decayed and the whole pod just fell off the lid into the water, in an irreparable fashion.
In the tank i have 17 neon tetras, 2 little bristlenose catfish, and some inverts (cherry shrimp, assasin snails and 1 rock shrimp) -also lots of plants.

So.. when the light broke i took that as a sign to go and get the big tank i'd always wanted but have held off on so far, i found a great bargain over the weekend and got a secondhand 200L tall "amazon" brand tank, plus external filter (aqua one aquis 1050) and loads of stuff for £110, with the plan to rehouse everything in it and hopefully add a few things.

Or so i thought, i put the substrate in and filled it up, connected the filter etc, and turned it on, only to find after 30 min or so that the filter taps had a bit of a slow dribble leak, no problem, new taps ordered online, only £10, thought i might as well get new hoses, also a tenner or so, still going good at this point.

The bad points are that the ballast appears to be dead, only one tube will come on (new bulbs) and it turns itself off after a few minutes, suggesting a heat issue, but it looks totally non repairable as far as i can see, new canopy is apparently £70 to £80.
at this point i'm thinking it's not such a bargain, especially as the filter is actually only rated to 200L, and the hood only takes 2 24w bulbs, which combined with the depth of the tank seems like it won't be enough light for plants to thrive.

Just to cap off my uncertainty, i took the light pod from my 65L back to maidenheads to show them, and they said they'd just order me a new one, under guarantee i think.


So i have a 200L tank with no working lights and barely adequate filtration which is rather hard to reach the bottom of due to it's height, i feel it's not suitable for much at all, but i can't really sell it in this condition unless i can bring myself to be a bit mercenary & find someone as stupid as myself who is willing to buy it i guess.

Appologies for the ramble, i'm feeling like i've got myself in a bit of a bind with this one, I'm thinking of getting the new hood in for the 200L and trying to sell the lot for £150 or so, cutting my losses now and taking it as a lesson learnt, but any thoughts you have on the subject would be welcome.

 

[Mowbz]

I had the same problem recently with a Tropiquarium tank. The original heater, filter and light unit is all housed in the hood unit. The heater and filter have since been removed as being unservicable, leaving just the lights. When i bought the tank, the lights had also packed up. (Funny that i wasnt told this, just that it need new starters).

Im a vehicle tech so have all the bits to test the electrics. Mine was all fine with the exception of the main ballast unit. The starters were also fine.

It seems the normal route these instances (assuming the tank is still perfectly servicable) is to replace the internal lights with an external unit. These can either be the "bar" type, a complete unit that replaces the hood with a single bar with a single or multiple tubes attached that straddles the top ofthe tank, or you can build this type of unti into the original hood.

Im going to be doing the latter next weekend, so if you are still around, ill post a thread with a "how to". (I believe there is already a thread somewhere on how to butcher your original hood to fit the type of lights you want. This was done on the same tank as mine (Tropquarium 68) however not sure where the thread is. You could search for the above tank. Im pretty sure it was a female that did it, if this helps.... lol

Best of luck

 

[STEWARDSONS]

i have just got a second hand amazon tank but the 300ltr. the bloke i got it from said it was an aqua one and i assumed it was a the heater and filter with it are aqua one, upon googling amazon tanks i can find nothing.

how tall is yours? mine is 64cm and only came with 2 34" 55's so i purchased an additional arcadia lightion unit and put 2 more t5's in it. so now running 4 34" t5's.

the aquis 1050 is actually rated at 200-250ltr and is the correct filter for your tank as aqua one supply it with their evo 190ltr that i previously had.

 

[colleen0309]

Hello and welcome! Good luck! I don't like to buy the hoods with all the equipment in it. I do alot of DIY. If it's not serviceable, then it doesn't do me much good.

 

[Rob_77]

Thanks for the replies all, i've really been kicking myself over this one, i hate being taken for a fool As stewardsons says, it's virtually impossible to find this tank on the internet, what with amazon.com shopping and amazon biotope tanks being pretty much all the results i can get.

the tank is 52.5cm high, that's measuring the exposed glass between the 2 bits of wood, it does look nice, but it's tricky to reach the bottom already being so deep, something i had also not thought of.

Matt has kindly posted the picture for me, below.

the aquis 1050 being listed at 200l/h seems like it would not be sufficient, from what i have learnt so far, you can never have too much filtration and ideally one would want to cycle the contents of the tank through the filter approx 10x per hour, so i'd want a 2000l/h filter, but would settle for 4x per hour.
on the other hand, that seems a bit silly, surely the filters are rated for their tank volume for a good reason? could be money rather than water quality i guess though..

but i digress, should i try and sell as is for what i got it, or buy the new lights and sell a proper tank taking a loss, or find a way to get enough lighting for plants and live with having to get into it up to my shoulder when i need to reach the bottom? questions questions

or forget plants altogether and get some angels or an oscar.. angels would love the height wouldn't they?

 

[matt_storey]

Here's the picture

 

[Rob_77]

Thanks Matt!

 

[colleen0309]

Really pretty tank, but it does look like it is tall. It looks taller than my 54g bowfront, and I need a step stool to reach the bottom of that one.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Rob.
It sounds like you are off to a poor start with that "new" tank. A light fixture can always be repaired but it can be difficult to do depending on your DIY skills. A new ballast is still far cheaper than a new fixture but I find that I like to mount a new ballast out in the open for good ventilation. I simply screw it to the back of the existing fixture where it will not be seen but will get good air flow.
If you are down to just a lighting issue, I would go for the repair. A whole new second hand tank could well present you with a complete new set of unknown problems to solve and truly new equipment can be very expensive.

 

[Rob_77]

Yes, it was a pretty poor start, but i am telling myself it's a good learning experience, it feels like quite the jump to go from a little kitchen counter top tank to this beast!

I think you are right, so long as i have it i might as well get it working properly and see what it really is like to live with..

So, i do like my plants, and having read around a little more it seems that 2x24w bulbs may be sufficient for plants, so long as i go for HO fluorescents.. i was thinking of getting this: http/www.amazon.co.uk/Hagen-Twin-Light-Electronic-Starter/dp/B0031J9G8Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1311329789&sr=1-1

then as OldMan47 said i could just use my existing lid material as a base and attach the ballast to it, with hopefully minimal diy involved, although as it's currently a sealed unit with the end caps providing the 'lip' that sits on the edge of the tank, it might prove tricky in the details. i was thinking some marine plywood & drainpipe or something might be a suitable replacement if needed.

What do you think? -would 2x 24w ho fluorescents and a 200l rated filter be enough to get me up and running with plants in this tank?

 

[STEWARDSONS]

the aquis 1050 being listed at 200l/h seems like it would not be sufficient,

the aquis 1050 is 750l/hour and maxes at 1050l/hour. they had to recall a lot of the packaging and change it as it stated up to 200l tanks but its actually up to 250ltrs.

here is the link