My 100 Litre Tank

[raburgess]

I am new to the forums and am thinking of breathing life into an old tank with an existing set up and require some help.

The Background

I have always had fish in some shape of from from a young age, goldfish when I was very young and then eventually tropical freshwater fish. The current set up my family have is about 8-10 years old, it was maintained by my father but having lost fish through various causes and lack of restocking we are now left with one, which I believe is a species of Corydora. The tank has not been maintained for a while, the fish is still fed and he seems happy but I would like to clean the tank up and put my own mark on it.

The dimensions of the tank are:

Length 36"
Height 15"
Depth 12"
Volume (litres) 105
Volume (gallons) 23
Volume (US gallons) 28

I haven't found anything in the way of boxes to accurately describe the filtration and heating set up but i'll have a go.

The heater is an Askoll Thermal Compact heater A-707 240V, presently sits upright in the right hand back corner of the tank.

The filtration system is an undergravel filtration system (I am unsure as the whether it is reverse flow or not).

There are various rocks in the tank (collected on the beach, one cave ornament and various fake plants).

Cleaning

In terms of cleaning and resurrecting the tank i am going to do as follows:

1. Purchase testing kits (we have ran out) to test conditions in my tank (3N's and pH, hardness and Alkalinity)

2. Remove the majority of the rocks and fake plants, leaving the corner in which my fish lives untouched.

3. Clean algae from tank, thermometer, filtration system, light hub and remaining rocks and plants with sponge.

4. Vacuum gravel bed

5. Do about a 50% water change, I can't remember the last time a water change was done (bad I know).

6. Test water going in and add dechlorinator.

The undergravel filtration system will need some cleaning but I don't know how to tackle this, the flow isn't what it used to be. Could anyone provide links or any useful information on how to clean them

My Ideas

I am currently reading this and am finding it useful to get to grips with starting up the aquarium and what i will be able to stock.

Firstly I would like to change the filter to a canister or hanging filter. Specifically because I would preferably want a shallow substrate bed for my tank and from what I have read about undergravel filtration systems they are not a very good set up for beginners such as myself. Problems such as inbalanced flow streams caused by rock placements and unoxyenated zones within the gravel bed are also a concern. With this proposed change of filtration systems in mind I was wondering whether it would be ok to run both until the cycling of the new filter was complete.

Stocking and planting I am still yet to make any final decisions on.

If anyone could hand any advice to me on cleaning, my current equipment or improvements in equipment then please do so, I will be very grateful.

NB. I have attached photos of the tank in its current state and the fish (if anyone can identify him that would be great) currently living in it, I will update this post as I progress.



The Tank







The Fish

 

[fluttermoth]

to the forum.

Firstly, I wouldn't do a 50% water change straight off. There is a thing called 'old tank syndrome' that affects tanks that have been neglected, where organic compounds, like nitrates, have built up over time; the old water will probably be much softer and more acidic than your tap water; a 50% change could shock your fish, as he'll be used to conditions as they are now.

I'd be inclined to do 10 or 20% changes every day for a week or so, so the tank water is nearer what's coming out of the tap. Then you can think about doing your big clean up. Do your best to get most of the gunk out of the gravel, but your best option is to totally strip down the tank and start again, especially if you want to change the filtration.

With only one corydoras in the tank (I can't tell the species from your pics, I'm afraid) there will be very little of the beneficial nitrifying bacteria present, but there will be some; I wouldn't try running the two filters in tandem; I'd put a handful of the gravel into the new filter to 'seed' it when you're ready to swap over.

If you want to keep cories, I'd highly recommend you go for a sand substrate, as they love to snuffle and dig in sand, and it's much kinder on their barbels. Obviously, you can't use sand with a UG, so you'd have to take that out before you changed.

Hope that helps; do post back if it doesn't, or you have more questions

 

[raburgess]

Ok is there anyway I can remove the fish to a bucket with some of the tank gravel in and fill it up with the tank water.

I think my tank needs a complete overhaul in terms of cleaning, I have just emptied some of the rocks and started vacuuming the gravel bed slightly and its already think with algae

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, the fish would be quite alright in a bucket for a few hours;

Then you can give the gravel a clean. This is how I'd do it;

syphon as much 'clean' water from the upper levels of the tank as you have storage for; you want to keep as much of the old water as you can, as that is what your fish is used to and you don't want to kill the poor little chap with shock!

When the tank is nearly empty, catch your fish and put it in one of the buckets; wrap it with a blanket to keep it warm and dark (that helps reduce the stress on the fish). Yon't need to put gravel in there; a couple of the plants, just to give it some cover, would do.

Take all the rocks and decor out, and put aside. Take all the gravel out and put in buckets, washing as much of the mulm out as you go so the dirt is left in the tank. You must not wash the gravel out in tap water, as you'd kill off all your good bacteria with the chlorine if you did, so you'll just have to do the best you can with the old tank water. Try not to let the gravel dry out too. Then take the UG plates out; you can give them a wipe with a clean cloth or sponge but make sure there's no trace of any soap or detergent on it.

By now you should have only a couple of inches of foul looking water left; bail that out, wipe the inside of the tank, and then put everything back in the reverse order; UG plates, your clean(ish) gravel, rocks and plants, all the old water and lastly the fish. Top up with new, warmed, dechlorinated water.

But I'd still advise you to prepare by doing small, daily vacs and water changes for a week to get the very worst of the muck out, and slowly acclimatise your fish to having new water, before you do a major overhaul.

 

[raburgess]

Day 1

I have bought a new gravel vacuum as my old one was not sucking correctly (bent hose pipe,loose seal - not too sure) and have also purchased a Fluval 205 from my LFS.

I explained my situation to the man at the desk and he instantly took me to the external filters...to which I was rather happy as I had already thought about getting one to replace the Under Gravel system in my tank. I have emptied the majority of the tank of its contents apart from the gravel and a few rocks and a plant where the Cory hides. I have also done my first water change, about 15 Litres and replaced it with (hopefully similar temperature) tap water with dechlorinator in.

Advice Given

He told me that what I should do is set up the external filter as soon as I had done the first water change, and carry out small water changes till next weekend at which time he said to bring in a sample of the tank water for testing.

I explained I would be getting rid of the existing filter and replacing much of the tanks contents but would like to keep the fish. He explained that this would be quite alright as long as I retained as much of the tank water as possible to go in the tank once I had cleaned it out.

What to do?

I am unsure whether to install the new filter as per the instruction of the LFS or as per fluttermoth suggestions in the previous posts. Can anyone shed some light and give me there opinions.

I presumed that if I set the filter up now then the medium in the external filter will be able to take on some of the good bacteria in the gravel bed.

Photos

 

[colleen0309]

If it was me, I'd listen to Fluttermoth. She always gives good advice, from what I have seen. The key to doing this right, in my opinion, is to do it slowly. If you do it too quick, you are going to shock that poor cory. Start off with small water changes to get the tap and aquarium water as close as you can. Remember to dechlor and temp match. Get a liquid test kit. After a week or two of daily water changes, I would strip the tank down like Fluttermoth says, except I wouldn't put the undergravel filter back in. I would take as much of the rinsed gravel as I could fit in the new canister filter. Then I would clean the tank up real good. Put sand and plants in, refill and put the little cory in his new clean home.