Free?! Yes Of Course I'll Take It!

[Channti]

So; Two days ago, one of my dads staff members called me at 8am. Normally my response at this ungodly hour is a grumble of curse words and insults, but I decided, on that fateful morning, to answer the phone with a grunt.

Me: *grunt*
Mike: "Hi...Chantel?"
Me: "Mmhmm?"
Mike: "Are you awake?"
Me: "Well, I am now, whats up?"
Mike: "Free fish tank at the thrift store three doors down the road if you're interested."
Me: *Now he's got my attention* "Whats wrong with it?"
Mike: "Nothing that I know of, it's just dirty"
Me: "DIBS!"

That was the extent of our phone call. Mike delivered it to my house last night. I just went down to check it out....

The tank is filthy. Lots of calcium buildup. I plan to SOAK it in vinegar this weekend and try to clean it up. Probably bleach it while I'm at it. Everything is COATED in 1/2" thick calcium buildup.

I received:

-A Marina Glass Hexagonal Tank -- Not sure of gallons, hopefully someone can tell me. Measures: 21" high, 16" diameter, 9" panels
-Glass Lid
-Flourescent "AquaGlo" 8 watt light
-1 AquaClear 200 Filter (Now known as the AquaClear 50) ----- This filter is so disgusting I'm tempted to trash it, but I don't have the money to buy a new filter, so I'll probably just suck it up and clean it up.
-1 Elite Heater that is going straight to the garbage bin. I can't STAND Elite Heaters. Too many malfunctions.
-Assorted tacky, and disgustingly dirty ornaments ornaments

SO;
What's the damage on how many gallons?
What do I do with the tank?

 

[Curiosity101]

I get just over 19gal when completely filled. So call it around 18gal maybe to be on the safe side.

Nice find! They can be a pain to stock, but you can't complain for free can you! lol.

I'd be tempted to stock it with mainly small shoalers like rasboras/tetras, and possibly a pair of small fish like honey gouramis or dwarf cichlids.

 

[Channti]

I'm debating on whether I'll keep it for myself...
or....
clean it up, Kit it out with some of my old silk plants and gravel, and sell it.

I've still gotta test the seals in it. It was left outside overnight for 2 nights before I got it, and we've had some negative temperatures. I dont know if the seals were affected. I'm really excited to get started on cleaning it.

 

[BethK]

If the tank works fine, you can make it into a micro set up, scarlet badis, badis badis, cherry shrimp................so many different options to play with. Good find!

 

[Channti]

Just started cleaning the filter/lid/wiping off outside of light.... the calcium is coming off easier than I expected.

The filter box is currently sitting in a pot of vinegar. Whoever had the tank before me obviously had cats as the filter intake was loaded with cat hair. I hope that the motor in the filter is okay. The filter had obviously never been cleaned, but thankfully, all of the crud was kept damp so its wiping out easily (although I did destroy my best filter-cleaning toothbrush on this filter).

The light unit doesn't seem to be working... Going to take it up to Mark (LFS manager) and see if he can help me out with getting it working again.

The heater, ornaments and other crap that came with it are all headed for the garbage bin.

As of right now, all I need to buy is a heater, new tube for the light, and possibly another starter thinger for the light.

I've got gravel sitting around from when I converted to sand, plenty of silk plants, and a coffee table that I expect will hold the weight of the tank (though, that coffee table is currently home to my cockatiel (bird)'s playgym, and I expect he'll be quite upset that I'm taking the table from him for more fish (He's terrified of them!)

I plan to clean the tank either tomorrow or later tonight, depending on whether or not I choose to go out tonight and have a social life, or clean the tank.

I terrified my mother by walking around with a tape measure. Last time I cracked out the tape measure, I moved 2 Curio Cabinets, two 4' tall speakers, and 3 coffee tables to fit in my 46 gallon bow front tank. I'm attempting to convince Mom and Dad to let me keep this tank and set it up... I expect I'll win eventually; They owe me after killing all my plants and 2 of my yoyo loaches.

For anyone keeping track; this is tank number 5. And when it gets set up, it'll be Tank 4 set up. (I have a 46 gallon bowfront semi-aggressive community, 15 gallon betta sorority community, 5 gallon divided betta boy tank, and an empty 10 gallon in the basement as my Quarantine tank.)