New Tank Help Needed

[arniearnie]

Hi
I am a complete newbie and need advice on how to set up a new 280 gl tank.

1. I already have corries, pleco's, white tips and neons, what type of gravel should i use?

2. Can someome tell me how to cycle the tank and what do i need?

3. How long does it take before i can put my fish in?

4. How should i aerate the tank? I have bought a external filter so far.

5. Should i get a UG filter also?

All replies appreciated.

Arnie

 

[Fawah40]

Links to read below:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=224306
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729

You say when/how do I add fish but say your already have fish? Where are they?

 

[arniearnie]

Links to read below:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=224306
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729

You say when/how do I add fish but say your already have fish? Where are they?

Hi, they are in a tank which is already established. We bought the lot from someone with fish already in it.

 

[arniearnie]

Links to read below:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=224306
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729

You say when/how do I add fish but say your already have fish? Where are they?

Already in a established tank which we bought lock stock and barrel.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Hi Arnie,

I'm still not totally clear on that (and welcome to the fishy forum!) - you got a used tank that is running okay with fish in it, and you also have a new 280 gallon tank that needs to be cycled?

What size is the tank that you purchased with the fish in it? And do you want to move all fish to the new tank when it is ready?

 

[arniearnie]

Hi Arnie,

I'm still not totally clear on that (and welcome to the fishy forum!) - you got a used tank that is running okay with fish in it, and you also have a new 280 gallon tank that needs to be cycled?

What size is the tank that you purchased with the fish in it? And do you want to move all fish to the new tank when it is ready?

Hi, thanks for helping me.

The fish and tank we have was bought second hand from a chap who no longer wanted it. It contains: 3 pleco, 4 white tips, 1 cory, 3 neons and 2 chilids. The tank has been established for some time now and is approx 120 litres in size. The current tank has gravel on the bottom with a UG filter which isnt working properly as no bubbles, we want to change it to sand as the gravel is very course and i am worried about little cory. The tank also has a internal filter.

The new tank is bigger at 270 litre (sorry not 280 gallons!). We just not sure how to do this.

Arnie

 

[waterdrop]

Wow, good job GVG for untangling this! Sounds like a rather complicated situation! I have some opinions on it if nobody minds hearing my 2 cents. Any situation where an aquarist gives up mature fish and the new owner finds the filter not working right should be suspected of possibly being an "old tank syndrome" situation. This is where not enough gravel-clean-water-changes have been done and the heavy metals, organics and trace elements have been allowed to build up too far when the pure water evaporated and was simply topped up. It can happen to the nicest of people.

That possibility leads me to recommend that Arnie should attempt (this will be difficult) to clean out the undergravel filter and to get it running again (right away) while simultaneously beginning a new fishless cycle (with our members help here in the beginners section.) Some of the gravel above the undergravel filter could even be put in a small mesh bag and added just before the biomedia in the water path inside the new filter to hopefully "seed" the fishless cycle.

Now! How to we clean out an UGF and get it working again? Well, the cleaning part is done by getting a big bucket and a siphon hose (a standard large aquarium hose but without the gravel cleaning cylinder on one end) and doing some short cleanings to try and get the muck out from under the UGF grid. What you do is move aside a whole bunch of gravel with your hand, clearing some exposed grid area, start your siphon and hold it right against the grid, trying to suck up muck (brown debris which is decomposing organic matter.) You have to move the siphon tube around looking for spots where the most comes out.

A major problem is that since the tank may have "OTS" you don't want to get too absorbed in what you're doing and take too much water out. You really only want maybe two pretty small water changes per day so that the mineral content doesn't change too fast on the fish. How you get the extractor stacks going on the UGF will just take some creativity and troubleshooting on your part. It's possible you may need a new pump if it uses little powerheads or it's possible an airway may need to be cleared or a new airstone inserted if it uses bubbles to lift the water from under the grid. (There's also a more remote possibility that it's a RUGF (reverse) and not a UGF, so that possibility would need to be eliminated.)

All of this assumes you have no other tanks with mature media that you could draw on or other sources for mature media donation. If you had mature media it would be better to hook up a cheap emergency filter on the old tank and seed the fishless cycle on the new tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[arniearnie]

Hi Arnie,

I'm still not totally clear on that (and welcome to the fishy forum!) - you got a used tank that is running okay with fish in it, and you also have a new 280 gallon tank that needs to be cycled?

What size is the tank that you purchased with the fish in it? And do you want to move all fish to the new tank when it is ready?

Hi, thanks for helping me.

The fish and tank we have was bought second hand from a chap who no longer wanted it. It contains: 3 pleco, 4 white tips, 1 cory, 3 neons and 2 chilids. The tank has been established for some time now and is approx 120 litres in size. The current tank has gravel on the bottom with a UG filter which isnt working properly as no bubbles, we want to change it to sand as the gravel is very course and i am worried about little cory. The tank also has a internal filter.

The new tank is bigger at 270 litre (sorry not 280 gallons!). We just not sure how to do this.

Arnie

Hi, the current tank with fish in it holds about 120 litres. Yes, we want to move all the fish into the new bigger tank and replace the gravel in current tank (where fish are currently in) with sand.