Horribly Neglected Tank Needing Help

[Tarmac_Chris]

So I have been away from the family home for several years and had left my aquarium to my family to run, shouldn’t have been a problem since they have had aquariums for decades.


However ... the aquarium has been left in a state of neglect for years it seems and there are several large issues I am having problems getting around.


For your info, the aquarium is 48”x24”x15” and is serviced by a fluval 304 (or an older model). It used to have undersoil heating which now doesn’t work. It houses a large pleco, several angelfish and 3 large clown loaches.


When I first started trying to fix the tank, it was more superficial fixes, like removing the (literal) inches of mould and weeds growing out of the water right onto the tank glass and lighting.


I installed a further external filter, an Eheim classic to help with the filtration because I didn’t think the current one was doing its job. This has definitely helped water quality, but its an ugly sticking plaster on a large problem.


There is a huge amount of waste in the tank, eg, in the short time span since I installed the second filter, there is actually a buildup of green waste lying on the spray bar coming from it!


There are lots of java fern which are ‘somewhat’ attached to the bog wood, but I’m honestly not sure if half of them are java fern roots or long hair algae.


The undersoil heating is (if I remember, its been over a decade since I installed it) basically a wire, lying underneath a thin white mat. There are no plants in the tank for this to benefit anymore, due to the pleco, and removing it may prove challenging due to the amount of bog wood and sand on top.


Which brings me onto the next point, there is a good 2 inches of pure black waste inside the soil layer, which I’m terrified will kill everything in the tank if its disturbed too badly.


There are a few issues stopping me from changing too many things too fast though,


#1. A common pleco has been added and is now about 14 inches, I’m not sure what to do about this since although the tank is decently sized, the waste this fish produces is too high and it literally knocks about wood every time it moves and has exposed the rather unsightly undersoil heater. I’m not opposed to getting rid of it, but as I understand it these are difficult to re-home.


#2. The clown loaches are about 10” in length and are rather prized by the family, even if I’m not fond of them myself, so any changes made must be low-impact enough not to stress these old loaches to death. Which is why I haven’t yet removed the bog wood they hide in, to try and slide out the undersoil heater.


#3. Adding more equipment is proving to be difficult due to the tank’s location and lack of care, there’s no real access to the back of the aquarium anymore, so adding filtration etc is an ugly/difficult job to try and work around a large aquarium with no space to work with.


Any help you can provide would be much appreciated!

I’ve added some pictures showing some of the issues, sorry if you’ve seen this post in other websites, looking to cast a wide net of help here!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

I would start by doing a 10% water change and gravel clean each day for a week. Then I would do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then increase it to 30% each day for a week.

Use a basic model gravel cleaner (like the one in the following link) to gravel clean a small section of the tank while you drain water out. The gravel cleaner will confine any noxious gasses and let them come out with the old tank water.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

If you don't have a gravel cleaner, you can make one from a garden hose and a 1, 1.5 or 2 litre plastic drink bottle. Cut the bottom off the bottle and remove the cap, throw these bits in the bin. Put the hose in the top of the bottle and run the hose out the door onto the lawn.

To use the gravel cleaner, put it in the tank and start syphoning water. Push the gravel cleaner tube into the gravel and hold it there for a few seconds or until most of the gunk has been drawn out. Slowly lift the gravel cleaner up and let the gravel settle. Move the gravel cleaner across a few inches and push it back into the gravel and repeat.

Don't take too much water out otherwise you can cause the fish to go into shock. This is especially important if the pH is very low or there is a high nitrate reading.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to help drive out any sulphur dioxide that might be in the substrate. This is rotten egg smelling gas and you will see bubbles coming up when you gravel clean the substrate.

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I would clean the old filter. Wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water and when they are clean, wash them in another bucket of tank water. Then put the filter materials in the aquarium while you clean the canister and impellor assembly.

When the filter is clean, put it back together and get it running. It should work a lot better when it has been cleaned.