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To deal, or not to deal?

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Twisted_Angel 
#1 ·
Sooo.... as many know I was planning to get a brand new 55 gal tank. One more paycheck and its mine. Thing is, a friend of mine has an uncle who had a 100 gallon tank with a wrought iron stand that he would either sell or just give me. Now I am more for wooden stands, but I am not one to complain. I could build a wood frame around the iron and 100 gallons would hold almost twice as many fish... I could do more with it and I have always heard you should get the biggest tank you can afford.
Should I:

Get the 55 gal. Its new so there is no risk of it being contaminated.

OR

Get the 100 gal. even though I have no idea what kind of fish it was previously used for.

And if option 2, how would I go about cleaning the tank? I know to throw out the filter media, gravel, and all decorations. Someone suggested to me that I clean everything with bleach, but I would be too worried that I wouldn't rinse all the bleach off and that would be disasterous for the fish.

Thanks in advance :)
 
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#2 ·
Hello Twisted_Angel (love the tag by the way).
Is the tank your being given empty? If so give it a good rinse with fresh boiled water you should be fine. Just fill it as well to check for leaks. 55gs is tiny you could soon fill that. :D
 
#3 ·
Hi Angel,

Yea, that would be my first concern, leakage. If its all good you could always make a stand (there are lots of plans on the web) or just buy one (depending on the dimensions of the aquarium, big al's online [ www.bigalsonline.com ] has the for $90)

As for you cleaning question, I would keep the gravel and decorations if you like them, it all depends what shape the tank is in. If it looks like he kept good care of the tank, then you are good to go. My Cichlids are really happy in their 2nd hand tank right now, and believe me, I had to do plenty of scrubbing to get that bad boy up and rolling.

So, if I where you... I would get the big tank, and first worry about the filtration system, a good heater(s), and some decent lighting and you are good to go! You can always upgrade your stand later (My personal opinion is that the fish do not care much about the stand, however, several hundred dollars gets dedicated to the stand in my house because my wife is not a big fan of ugly furniture :)


-Todd :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
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