New Tank

[mike455555]

ok im getting a 2f tank of a friend.
1:its going in my room will the floor take the weight? i live in a fairly old house(its going by the chimney breast,will weigh about 57Kg im guessing (water only))
2: how should i go about moving it? at the moment it has about 40 guppies and 1 12" plec (he's going to my LFS)
3: once i get them all back to my house how long can they survive in a bucket? (a bigish one) while i set up the tank
4: i recently got a bag of argos play sand should i go down my local steam and dig up some mud to put under it (im planing on having the tank planted) low tech

 

[hinterglem]

1) If your floor can't take the weight of a 2ft tank the loss of the fish tank will be the least of your worries! I have an old house, and when I bought it the surveyor said that the floor of the main bedroom had been weakened a bit by having notches cut out of the joists for cables. He said we shouldn't hold any parties in that room, but heavy furniture (a big solid wood bed and some wardrobes) is not a problem, so although I'm not an expert on structural engineering or anything, I would think it should be fine.

2) 40 guppies in a 2ft tank?! That's way too many! I would bag them up to transport them (your lfs will probably give you some fish bags if you ask nicely). You could try transporting some of the water too to keep the cycle going, or use Tetra Safestart to get it kicked off again (marvelous stuff).

3) It depends on how big the bucket is and how warm the room is, but water holds its temperature fairly well, and they should be ok for several hours.

4) I would be wary about using dirt from a stream as you don't know what pathogens you might be introducing, but I'm no expert on that as I've only ever used shop-bought gravel (and my plants seem to do fine with that and fish poo!).

 

[mike455555]

thanks i know about the guppies some are going to the LFS
i figured the tank would weigh about 13 stone (about my weight) so the floor should hold it .
i was thinking of putting the filter and heater in the bucket as well (its cycled, also iv got 2 topicals on go if i need to seed it) but its a 68L tank i think and iv only got a 30L bucket? would that be a problem. or will they survive for 1-3 days? while i set the tank up
im thinking of useing cat litter mixed with top soil capped with sand for the substrate

thanks for the advice =D

 

[creeker]

I think the mud from the stream is a bad idea. Both from the side of potential pathogens/parasites to just the mess when it gets stirred up.

 

[hinterglem]

i was thinking of putting the filter and heater in the bucket as well (its cycled, also iv got 2 topicals on go if i need to seed it) but its a 68L tank i think and iv only got a 30L bucket? would that be a problem. or will they survive for 1-3 days?

That many fish in 30L is seriously overloaded, but I think you will be ok for a couple of days. I suggest you avoid feeding them altogether while they are in the bucket (they can fast for several days without a problem) and keep a close eye on temperature (in particular that it doesn't get too hot if you are using a heater built for a larger tank) and nitrites (nitrites show up before ammonia in case of a problem with the cycle). To be safe I would suggest giving them a 10% water change twice a day. If the cycle collapses completely you might have to do 90% water changes in the bucket. If you have some Prime or Amquel Plus handy that might help too.

 

[mike455555]

thanks for the info =] im hopeing they'll be ok ... i'll give afew away to the LFS and most i think are babys so they should be ok i'll keep an eye on it all thoguh (busy few days ahead of me)