Tank Emergency

[kimaro21]

Hi, Ive been keeping fish for about a year, and have successfully been managing a 60 L tank with no major problem, until now. My mother was doing house work and to put a long story shortly ended up giving my tank a whack with the hoover handle, she gave it such a whack that one side of my tank as developed a crack (the woman's got some strength, that's all I can say, lol). There is currently no leak, but I am concerned that the tank will give in, therefore want to replace my tank asap, possibly even today. I need to advice on how to minimise my loses as I am aware that putting fish in an uncycled tank will cause them stress.

I cant afford to buy the exact tank I currently have so using the old filter system is not really an option. Can someone please give me advice and quick about how, if at all possible, I can move my fish to a new tank so they all don't end up on the floor.

Thanx

 

[the_lock_man]

Depends upon how urgent an emergency you perceive it to be - if the tank is going to crack in the next 5 minutes, then clearly it's better to put the fish in an uncycled tank. At the other extreme, if the tank is good for another 6 months, then you have time to cycle another tank.

I'd be surprised if you can't use your existing filter media in some way. Using some has got to be better than none at all.

 

[kimaro21]

i wouldnt want to risk the tank just giving way, thats my main concern, especially if someone accidentally knocks it again. It shouldnt get knocked again, but as it already happened once theres always a chance.

I currently have a Juwel rekord 60, but the older version of it (meaning i cant just replace with the exact same tank). The filter box is well and truly fixed to the side of the tank, and i dont think i can remove it. Would you suggest just placing the filter medias at the bottom of a new tank?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Are you sure that the filter cannot be removed? You might need a stanley knife or alike to cut through silicone glue, commonly used on Juwel tanks (including my Rio240)

 

[kimaro21]

I guess it can be removed if I use a knife, but that would involve removing most of the water first.
I'm going to get myself a new tank and will try getting the filter out of my old one. If I can do it would it be safe to put my fish straight into the tank? (Well safer than putting them in an uncycled tank anyway)

 

[waterdrop]

Ok, don't forget the fundamental principle here: its just the bioload (the fish) and the filter -media- that match each other and can travel together, right? The fish will be quite safe wherever they are as long as their media comes along with them, all of it if possible. The water can be fresh, conditioned, temp-matched water and can be a smaller volume, but its the media that's important.

That allows me to throw out a couple more ideas. Have you always wanted a quarantine tank perhaps? This is an opportunity to get a tank slightly smaller and set it up to handle your emergency and then later have it for Qtank use, perhaps stored away. If your stocking is by our usual one inch guideline or lighter, this can work out for a temporary period. Perhaps a 10G/(38L?) in your case - it really depends on where you could put a Qtank when you've got your main tank fixed and running. You could get a plain Aquaclear HOB filter, since it could accept about any shape your old media comes in, or some sort of boxy internal filter with a similar idea in mind (you want a filter box area and can accept your old shapes, perhaps cut up with scissors if they are sponges.)

OR, perhaps you already know the actual new glass tank you will get. Then the idea of slicing the old filter out of the old tank and just moving the whole filter might be best, it might be fastest and actually least complicated of course. Or you might study that filter and determine that some particular Fluval internal or something at the LFS was particularly similar and you could move media to it.

OR, you could just decide that you -want- a new filter of a particular type and that it will have media baskets that will accept most of the volume of old media from your current tank, in which case you just get the new tank and filter and get it filled and ready, then you do the media transfer and consider yourself to be in a Fish-In cycling situation, using your test kits to determine any needed water changes while the moved media trys to re-take in a new filter.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[VaegaVic]

Water drop hit it one there.

Just to sum up for her:

Whack all the old media from your current filter, into the new filter, keep an eye on water stats and you should be perfectly fine.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Ps what a nightmare

 

[Too Fast]

Personally I'd get a roll of duck tape and cover the side of the tank that is damaged. Get on Ebay and find a tank that finishes soon near you. Bid what you can afford and cross your fingers. Hopefully win and then do as stated above!