Starting over a 30 gallon tank

20 years ago

Hi folks, this is my first post on this forum.

A little background...I inherited a 30 gallon tank built in to the family room wall(working part of tank sits in laundry/utility room---pretty cool setup with some limitations) when I bought my house in 1999. At that time I stocked the tank with African Cichlids my brother was getting rid of because he wanted to start over his tank. Due to the size of the fish i received at the time I was unable to introduce new fish from the pet store. The tank was scarred with hardwater etching. Eventually I replaced the tank with all new tank, components, and fish. Due to the tank being in the furnace room, I constantly have to add water to keep the level up. Well, let's just say I quit taking care of the tank and let the water level dip too low crashing the tank and killing all 8 of my really pretty fish. I felt AWFUL!!!! Lesson learned. Since then(for about 6 months), I have been running the filter and adding water as needed but have done nothing else.

My question is "What do I have to do to restore my tank for restocking?" I have some hard water issues again, but it hasn't etched the glass yet.

My original thought is to save about a gallon of the water and scrub/spray out the tank, filter, plastic plants, swim throughs, and gravel.

I know I must seem like an idiot, but I give my word that I won't let this happen again.

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Comments (4)

raul_in_mexico
20 years ago
The nitrifying bacteria are still there but in dormant stage, as soon as you start adding fish the bacteria will "wake up" and do their business, just donÂ´t add too many fish too soon, saving water is a waste of time, saving the gravel and filter media is another thing, thatÂ´s where the bacteria are. You can rinse the gravel to eliminate the debris that has built over the months, re arrange the decoration, etc and fill up again the tank with new fresh water turn on everything again and wait a coupple of days in order for the tank to settle down, then you can start stocking fish again.
uninformed_kitty
20 years ago
Does your tank not have a lid? If you put something over the top of it, the evaporated water should condense and fall back into the tank.
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yanggers
20 years ago
When you say the glass get "etched," you mean white powdery stuff get dried up on the glass? That is mineral deposit (calcium carbonate, etc.) that can be washed away using vinegar and some scrubbing with plastic pads.

Six months of fish absence should be long enough for any disease-causing organisms to die out, if there were any before.

Like Raul in mexico said, the good bacteria mainly grow in filter media and surfaces of tank gravel. I would lightly wash the filter media and the gravel with tank water or rain water, NOT straight tap water.

It's important to add fishes slowly, over weeks, for the bacteria population to grow with the fish population.

What species of fish are you getting? Many cichlids and livebearers love hard water!
woeisme
20 years ago
A good glass canopy/lid by Perfecto or All Glass Aquarium will keep evaporation and heat loss to a minimum. The plastic ones that are a hood light combo are not the best for your problem. IMO a fishless cycle is best. This is done by adding ammonia to the water and testing to make sure that you are turning the ammonia into the end product nitrate. Durring this no ammonia or nitrite should be detectable within 24hrs after adding a dose of ammonia. This way your tank is fully cycled before subjecting fish to toxic water. Some people do this to be "humane". I do it because it is quicker and a less PITA in the long run. I wouldn't count on the bacteria being there at all after 6 months without ammonia supplement. If no fish where inthere or no fish food was added periodically to let rot and produce ammonia, I would bet the farm that the beneficial bacteria is gone. Read the first 5 articles in the link below. At least the first and 3rd. If you want to have a clean start and do it right don't count on "maybes". Just my opinion, good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lyretails aquarium bio-chemistry 101