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Rehab project

3K views 14 replies 3 participants last post by  Angel079 
#1 · (Edited)
Some relatives were looking to unload a 40g aquarium. The kids were supposed to be taking care of it, but I think 'benign neglect' probably best describes the maintenance. They admitted that the fish maybe got fed once per day, and sometimes not even that. Unsure of their WC schedule (if any). I have always had a soft spot for fish...

The sides were covered in deposits of green dot algae, and the canopy and filter had huge amounts of scale built up on them. We drained the water about halfway down, and transferred the 3 fish into a plastic beef jerky jar with a small hole in the lid for gas exchange. The kids did some scrubbing while we drained the rest of the water.

We made the 100 mile drive back home with the fish in the jerky jar. It was about midnight Sunday when we got back. Discarded the ghastly blue gravel and the neglected UGF system and brought it inside. Added play sand for substrate. Didn't have a bucket, so put the sand in the aquarium, and added about 10 gal of water. Put an airstone in the jerky jar w/ the fish. Scrubbed the algae deposits for about 3 hours with a plastic potscrubber. Made a pretty good dent, but didn't get it all. Close to 4am at this point. Drained the tank, refilled with about 10 gal and drained again. Filled the tank 3/4, added Prime and Stability and set the jerky jar in the tank to let the temp equalize to the aquarium. Added some neutral buffer and pH down as our tap runs about 7.8 pH.

Over the next 2 hours, I slowly poured aquarium water into the jerky jar as it was floating. It eventually sank, and the fish swam out after being tempted with some food. Decided to check the chem today. Apparently the heater is malfunctioning - temp was 82 (heater set to 75)

Current parameters:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm
Temp - 80

Filter: Penguin 150 + 1 catridge sponge/carbon filter

Stock:
Silver Dollar - 1
White Skirt Tetra - 1
Cory (unsure of sp.) - 1
No live plants. Only deco is a couple plastic plants and one large pumice stone with a couple cool little caves.

I know the Silver Dollar is going to have to be re-housed. A few questions:

What should the max depth of the play sand be to keep from having anaerobic problems?

I'm trying to let all the nitrites cycle out before I do my first PWC. At what level of nitrates do I absolutely need to scrap that idea and just change some water regardless?

Are corys compatible with growing a nice hair grass lawn?

The light fixture (3 foot Perfect-a-lite) is buzzing terribly. Would a bulb change make a diff or is there some other component I can change out to stop the buzzing?

We've only had the tank a couple days, and it's way understocked. Can't believe how hight the nitrites/nitrates are. Is it possible the pumice stone is leaching nitrite or nitrate?

Also need some help ID'ing the cory so we can get him some company. Don't have a camera unfortunately. Very splotchy/mottled coloration (a little like a sculpin). 7 fin rays. Color scheme is light gray overlaid with large dark gray splotches.

Think that's it for now. Phew. As always, any help is greatly appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
You asked a lot of questions best left for the experts on the forum, but I just wanted to respond to your nitrite issue (did you say there are still fish in the tank?) If so then I'd do a pwc now. The bacteria are living on the gravel and decor and filter, etc. so they will multiply accordingly regardless of water change. If you don't have inhabitants in there now, then I'd just leave it and I bet it disappears on its own in a day (considering how high your nitrates are you have lots of bb built up). Plus, you don't want your nitrates so high so if there are fish, yes, do a pwc.

And can I add my own humble suggestion while you are re-designing...plants are always a nice way to establish a healthy tank. Okay, off my soap box now : )
 
#5 ·
You asked a lot of questions best left for the experts on the forum, but I just wanted to respond to your nitrite issue (did you say there are still fish in the tank?) If so then I'd do a pwc now. The bacteria are living on the gravel and decor and filter, etc. so they will multiply accordingly regardless of water change. If you don't have inhabitants in there now, then I'd just leave it and I bet it disappears on its own in a day (considering how high your nitrates are you have lots of bb built up). Plus, you don't want your nitrates so high so if there are fish, yes, do a pwc.

And can I add my own humble suggestion while you are re-designing...plants are always a nice way to establish a healthy tank. Okay, off my soap box now : )
Yes fish are still in the tank. They came with it, and there's really no other place for them to be at the moment. Did a 25% wc, and retested.

pH: 7.2-7.4
ammonia: 0
nitrite: <0.25 ppm
nitrate: 10 ppm

Can't wait to get some plants in there (hopefully this weekend). Really want a nice lush hair grass lawn on the bottom, and maybe some plants with a pinkish tint to set the color off. A little worried if I moved plants over from our other tanks right now they would just end up food for the silver dollar.

Oh, if anyone in colorado has a good home for a 5" silver dollar we could meet you somewhere.
 
#3 ·
First off Hello, I don't think we met before.

For starters with the fish you have and the posted pH don't add these ph up/down chems. Your pH is SLIGHLY high yes buy its tolerable and with these chems you expose the fish to a permant swing and THAT is much worst then your source water by all means.
Sand: I'd suggest a depth of ~2"
Parameters Nitrite (NO2) don't let it rise past 0.25mg/l Nitrate (NO3) not past 40 mg/l

Hairgrass vs Cory - Absolutely no problem I done it in several of my tanks with even lager sizes Bronze Cory groups (10-12 Cory) in it, no issue.

Buzzing sound to me like the fixture itself is going out - But you may wanna ask that question to someone more techy then me :)

The stone is not a source of NO's. But I'd be concerned its releasing calcium and in doing so up your KH and with that it'll up your PH which you'd not wanna do. Easy test to find out if its releasing or not, take it out; set it on a plate, drip vinegar on it see if it fuzzes, if it does, don't put it back in the tank.

The Cory you describe pop's various different one's in my min, please review "cats" here at these online fish stores to help ID yours
Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums
Catfish, Freshwater Fish | Pet Solutions

Now a few suggestions to help this tank "heal" add live plants and a bunch of them, the more plants the better with your NOs and the fish's life; if you have troubles finding them locally, here's a good website to buy from Sweet Aquatics I'd suggest any fast growing plant along with your desired Hairgrass, such as Rotala Indica, Ludwiga Nantas, Narrow leaf chain sowrd, Java Fern, Camboma...something or all along these lines
Now to the fish themselves: Once your tank is cycled (meaning NO's and Ammonia at 0) and the tank is planted, I'd suggest to purchase more Cories, ideally of the same kind so they can follow their natural instinct and school, that'll make for healthier & happier fish. In your tank I'd suggest a group of 8-10 Cory cats. The same for the Skirt Tetra. The Silver Dollar grow to about 6-8"; personally I'd try trade it in for other fish at the store, if you dearly wanna keep it, don't add any more of its kind in this size tank.

Hope I covered it all for now - Otherwise shoot me with questions, I'll be back tomorrow :)
 
#9 ·
I also never used the Seachem stuff.
The problem is, and you may wanna test this in your tank.
Using powders or liquid to set a certain pH often (like 99.999% often) results in the fish being exposed to a pH curve like 7.8 from tap-down to 7 on w/c up to 7.5 between w/c and so on. These permanent fluctuations are not healthy, stress the fish out, stressed fish are prone to get sicknesses, sick fish/ unhealthy fish doesn't live long...You get the chain reaction here.
Reading up on this very product thou, what I do like, it also acts like a water conditioner to detoxify chlorine, metals etc; so that's def a plus (ALWAYS use a water conditioner never use plain tap water).

I pers never heard nor experienced anything like rock's "storing" nutrients. So since its not giving off anything like calcium, I'd not be worried. but if you don't like it just toss it, won't hurt your tank at all.


Too much sand isn't a problem, specially not since you wanna consider planting (unless of cause you filled half your tank with sand, that would be lil too much then :lol:) too little sand however results in plants drifting back up, not able to properly root down etc. Considering the mess involved, just leave it as it is and you'll do just fine :-D
Think I overshot a little on the sand. Will pull about 1" back out.

Image results on a paleatus here Corydoras paleatus - Google Search
They look almost like gray spotted/ dotted; is that what yours looks like? (don't mind the incorrect pictures on this list with Albion's).
 
#11 ·
I'm not in CO any more, but I PM'ed another member who is, maybe his tank is ready and he likes these kinda fish ~fingers crossed~

Really ANY plants is better then non; and you can pack it full whenever you find / order more plants; I had some tanks I had to plant step by step simply due to the lack of resources here now (TN).

If you wanna see the Rotala in action, click here under my name Angel on the tap that say's "Aquariums" under my pictures of the "New 45g" that whole back is FULL by now with it. I love it cause of the fine leaf's and its red-green coloration. Such a shame I'm not in CO any more, I'd give you a bunch of mine, its growing like weed, I'll soon need to start giving it away on here :lol:
Hairgrass I just planted (again) in my new 10g set up for shrimp and its KICKING in the sand, there's already several new sprouts coming up and its only been in 2 weeks now; this def does do a LOT better in sand then in fine gravel.
I'd pers get the dwarf Hairgrass, it stay's to about 1.5" and works well in sand.


From experience I doubt the Bronze and Pepper Cory's will school together, but you can try. What I highly recommend if you wanna get Serpae Tetras get at least 8! They're fin nippers, but this behavior sorta subsides when kept in larger groups. I had some but it totally didn't work at all with the Rummy Nose so I had to return them. So really either get a bigger group or something else.
 
#12 ·
I'm not in CO any more, but I PM'ed another member who is, maybe his tank is ready and he likes these kinda fish ~fingers crossed~

Really ANY plants is better then non; and you can pack it full whenever you find / order more plants; I had some tanks I had to plant step by step simply due to the lack of resources here now (TN).

If you wanna see the Rotala in action, click here under my name Angel on the tap that say's "Aquariums" under my pictures of the "New 45g" that whole back is FULL by now with it. I love it cause of the fine leaf's and its red-green coloration. Such a shame I'm not in CO any more, I'd give you a bunch of mine, its growing like weed, I'll soon need to start giving it away on here :lol:
Hairgrass I just planted (again) in my new 10g set up for shrimp and its KICKING in the sand, there's already several new sprouts coming up and its only been in 2 weeks now; this def does do a LOT better in sand then in fine gravel.
I'd pers get the dwarf Hairgrass, it stay's to about 1.5" and works well in sand.


From experience I doubt the Bronze and Pepper Cory's will school together, but you can try. What I highly recommend if you wanna get Serpae Tetras get at least 8! They're fin nippers, but this behavior sorta subsides when kept in larger groups. I had some but it totally didn't work at all with the Rummy Nose so I had to return them. So really either get a bigger group or something else.
Very nice tanks! :-D Def like the rotala indica. The "Shrimp Farm" is a gas. Looks just like little rows of crops waiting to be harvested. And your 55g is just breathtaking. I'll be very happy if/when any of my aquaria fill in like that.

That would be wonderful if your friend has room for the SD. There are a couple LFS around here that I'd semi-trust to find him a good home, but I think we'd feel better knowing that the fish were going to an experienced keeper with the proper set-up.

Also thanks for the pointers about not using chems to adjust the pH. Good explanation about pH swings when doing WC, and why it is not a good idea.

Saw a really good thread with a DIY for retrofitting CFL's into a Perfecto fixture. Probably give that a go and plant some grass this weekend.
 
#13 ·
I'm glad you like my tank :)
I really think a set up with Rotala & Hairgrass will look very nice.

Yea LOL we all love our DIY lights around here, CFLs, florescent tubes, plenty of good ideas....What I just really pers dislike you go to the fish store and get bulb/tube XYZ for your hood that's good for the plant and pay $20-25; you get the exact same size, wattage, kelvin, the same thing at the home store for $3-5....That's why I converted many yrs ago :)
 
#14 ·
A little update

The Silver Dollar has pretty well chomped its way through the hornwort I stuck in with it. Didn't go after the swords quite as hard, but there are bite marks in most of the leaves and a couple that have been nibbled down to the stalk. Pretty much what I guessed would happen as the fish was probably underfed by previous keepers. Definitely something to keep in mind aif your friend has a planted aquarium.

We're obviously going to have to find another home for the fish before we can plant. The fish seems very excited to finally have some greens to nibble but that was an expensive little salad. :p
 
#15 ·
Only thing I could think of, is call around various stores locally, see if you can trade him in, or post on craigslist or aqaubid.
 
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