# New tank is a mess...



## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Eewww... yesterday I picked up a 10g tank from a guy for $30, complete with filter, heater, hood, lights and gravel. Seemed like a reasonable deal. However, despite making the agreement to sell me the tank a week ago, dude neglected to even clean it, in fact, the ugly blue & green gravel was still wet.. is that common?? Anyway, needless to say, I'm more than a little disappointed in the purchase, but hopeful that I can turn it around. The plan is to use it for female guppy fry culls, and since my current female isn't even bred yet, I've got a few weeks.

So... how should I go about cleaning this thing? It's really gross, algae and crap all over the glass. Should I even keep the gravel? And will incandescent lights (2 bulbs, haven't checked the wattage yet) be able to support any live plants? The guy also suggested a piece of simple dollar store sponge as filter media, thoughts on that?

I was hoping to do driftwood in this tank with some anubias attached, but nothing planted in the substrate, and just keep it quite simple, but at this point I just kind of want to cry, lol.


----------



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

You can take the gravle out and replace it something else, or rinse it and then reuse them.
With algae and such just use Mr. Clean magic eraser and they should all come off.
You can fill the tank up with bleach solution, let it run for a couple days, then put some prime and clean water in and run it again. Then just let it dry. That should kill all sorts of nasty stuff if there were any.
I have never tried but in theory a piece of sponge should provide you with mechanical filtration, and may be biological as well, provided that it has no chemical added, it should be fine. Not sure if it is your best option but that is for you to decide. 
For a breeding tank or grow out tank, you can keep a barebottom tank with a sponge filter. It is easy to clean. easy to catch your fish, and helps to spot any problem easily.
You can still put driftwood inside.
You can buy two CFL light buld. They are very good for a 10 gallon planted tank. I have some from dollarama, 13W each, 6500 K and they are energy saving bulbs that do not get too hot. Best thing is they are only $2 each. 
Coralife and Glo also make some bulbs that would fit but they are more pricey.
The hood if you go buy alone from a store will run you more than $30, so in that sense, it is not a bad deal at all imo.
If you did not ask to have the tank cleaned in most cases the tank may come dirty or wet or both. But if you want the seller to clean it up for you it would likely cost you extra and then you need to clean it anyway.


----------



## Transposon (Sep 19, 2012)

Ewww... I would bleach everything overnight! For hood and lights if there's metal/stainless steel parts, I wouldn't use bleach but use H2O2 or ethanol to disinfect them. For the gravel I would boil it if I want to keep it...
After everything is dead from the bleach/ H2O2/ ethanol/ boiling, I would start scrubbing 
Incandescent lights... maybe moss? Not sure if anubias would grow with incandescent lights though.
What kind of filter is it? Hang on back? Depending on what you want to achieve, filter media can be replaced accordingly. But the cleaning I imagine would be a pain...
Good luck.


----------



## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

A lot of times elbow grease is required to get a used tank going properly. I've had to run to the store for more on a couple occasions. 

Roll up your sleeves and good luck!


----------



## sunshine_1965 (Aug 16, 2011)

I have done this in the past. I would not use dollar store sponge for filter media. Use a cfl bulb if you want to have some plants. As for cleaning the tank. I always use vinegar and water to clean my empty tanks before use. I will fill the tank up with about 1/2 cup of vinegar and the rest warm water. Let it sit for about 30-45 minutes and give it a good scrubbing. This should remove most if not all the gunk. Rinse the tank very well and let dry. The gravel can be rinsed in a bucket using a hose. Make sure to stir gravel to get all the gunk out of it. If possible get a new lid and light for it using a fluorescent light or led if affordable. Good luck with this tank. Like you said you have a few weeks to get it ready. When you do fill it up for actual use I would use 50% old tank water and 50% fresh water this will help start the cycle going faster. Keep us posted. Just how I would do it. Others have there way of doing things.


----------



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

yes, i use vinger with water to clean my glass, too.


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

covertune said:


> Eewww... yesterday I picked up a 10g tank from a guy for $30, complete with filter, heater, hood, lights and gravel. Seemed like a reasonable deal.


That is a good deal.



covertune said:


> However, despite making the agreement to sell me the tank a week ago, dude neglected to even clean it, in fact, the ugly blue & green gravel was still wet.. is that common??


I wouldn't say he neglected to clean it; I would say he recently shut down the tank and wanted to ensure you get your tank quickly; rather than wait another week for it to dry. If the blue and green gravel is ugly, then chuck it away. If it's wet, dry it out. It's somewhat common and uncommon for sellers to sell a tank and it's wet. I bought my tank from a BCA member and it was wet and had some sand grain in it, I didn't care because I wasn't fussy about it.

Seems to me, should have just communicated better with the seller to have it cleaned out and dried to your requirements. No big deal to just throw all the unwanted gravel out and start completely fresh. Not his fault for selling the setup as is. Did he deliver it to you?



covertune said:


> Anyway, needless to say, I'm more than a little disappointed in the purchase, but hopeful that I can turn it around. The plan is to use it for female guppy fry culls, and since my current female isn't even bred yet, I've got a few weeks.


You shouldn't be disappointed at all, you got a new tank at a very good price for which you will soon be breeding beautiful guppies.



covertune said:


> So... how should I go about cleaning this thing? It's really gross, algae and crap all over the glass. Should I even keep the gravel? And will incandescent lights (2 bulbs, haven't checked the wattage yet) be able to support any live plants? The guy also suggested a piece of simple dollar store sponge as filter media, thoughts on that?


To clean the tank, scrub off the algae by using your hand, holding a scrubber or some sort and start given her. If you said the blue and green gravel is UGLY, then why would you want to keep it. Chuck it away and start fresh.

For a 10 gallon tank, 2 incandescent bulbs is enough to grow anubia and low light requirement plants including amazon swords and java moss.

yes, the guy is right. a dollar store sponge or nylon pot scrubbers are suffice as bio-media. That's what we all do, so you should do the same.



covertune said:


> I was hoping to do driftwood in this tank with some anubias attached, but nothing planted in the substrate, and just keep it quite simple, but at this point I just kind of want to cry, lol.


sounds like a good plant to tie anubias onto a piece of driftwood. You can even do a barebottom tank with the piece of driftwood w/anubias.
At this point, don't know why you would want to cry....you just got a new fish tank to breed guppies and at a great price.

Good luck with your venture and welcome to BCA.

I suggest taking a look at the following link which will help ease your mind in the future:
http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/prob...rs-please-read-forum-rules-quick-links-24774/


----------



## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

good old fashioned elbow grease, yeah buying used is cheaper but you also end up buying someone elses mess.

take the gravel out throw it in a bucket , walk outside , put your hose in the bucket let her fly,and just stir up the old gravel and when she is running clear its clean problem solved, while the hose is doing te work of cleaning the old gravel .... take your tank outside , blast it with WINDEX yep i said it , windex, scrub the crap out of it and then rinse it off ... windex doesnt leave any residue you need to be conserned about if your gonna rinse it all out , then dry it all off with a cloth clean your whole lid and everything while your waiting... rinse everything all off 

im assuming you got a good deal on this tank , and the person selling it was getting out of the hobby so to them they dont care what it looks like , and if you paid very little for it that is what you should expect, $30 for a complete 10 gallon isnt that bad, even if it is gross, just clean it up, there isnt a mess outt here that cant be cleaned it just takes time... if you wanted a pristine tank then buying new is the way to go , this whole thing sounds like a 30 min job to me 

you should see some of the nasty crunge and muck that i have had to clean out of some used tanks i have bought .... but typically the cheaper the deal the more elbow grease required

but i gotta ask the 100000000 dollar question , when you went to go pick it up and you werent happy with the way it looked.. then why did you buy it?, i think a simple .. dude this thing is gross sorry could have saved you all of this lol


good luck


----------



## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Here's what I posted a while back on cleaning/disinfecting a tank. (now stickied in the Hospital section)

When I disinfect a tank, this is the process I follow. I usually do it outside with a hose, as it's messy and takes a while.

You will need:

* unscented pure bleach (no added scents or soaps as this will kill your fish)
* pure white vinegar, large bottle (5L)
* 3 buckets (for decorations, plants and substrate)
* clean rags and scrubbies (don't use the ones with soap embedded! Plastic dollar store scrubbies are good for this)
* spare tanks or rubbermaids for the fish to live in temporarily

*Disinfection Instructions: Tank*


Remove all fish from tank and place in another tank or clean, unused Rubbermaid with a filter and air stone running. Make sure that there's a lid to keep any jumpers in!

Remove ALL decorations, plants, and substrate from the tank. Place in separate buckets.

Scrub empty tank thoroughly with a clean scrubby or rag using a solution of 1 part pure, unscented bleach to 10 parts hot water. DO NOT EVER USE SOAP OR DETERGENT OF ANY KIND!!!!!!

Rinse and refill tank with clean water, add 1 cup bleach for each 20 gallons. Let tank stand, filled with bleach-y water, for at least an hour.

Rinse tank thoroughly, at least 4-5 times, wipe it out with a clean rag soaked in pure white vinegar (use lots) and rinse again with clean water.

Refill with water and add a big (triple) dose of a strong dechlorinator like Prime. Let stand for 1+ hours.

Empty tank and rinse with clean water, allow to air dry.

Rinse your filter media, and remove any carbon if you haven't done so. It's a good idea to have a cycled backup filter if possible, as doing this can cause you to have a cycle bump and ammonia spike.

*Disinfection Instructions: Decorations*


Scrub all surface crud off decorations with a clean scrubby (NO SOAP!) and plain water.

Fill decorations bucket with 1 part pure unscented bleach to 20 parts water; allow to soak at least 1 hour.

Rinse decorations VERY thoroughly with clean water and white vinegar, at least 4-5 times. There should be no bleach smell.

Refill bucket with water and add a big (triple) dose of a strong dechlorinator like Prime. Let stand for 1+ hours.

Remove decorations and and rinse with clean water, allow to air dry.

*Disinfection Instructions: Substrate*


Place substrate in its own bucket outside. Stick a running hose into the bucket, dump in a cup of bleach and stir. Let the hose run and overflow the bucket to remove dirt, stirring occasionally. Rinse for at least 15-30 minutes, more is better. The water should be running clear and there should be no smell of bleach at all.

Rinse one final time with dechlorinator added to rinse water before replacing in tank.

*Disinfection Instructions: Plants*


 Place plants in their own bucket. Plants can be very sensitive to bleach, so what I would do is rinse ONLY the leaves quickly with the 1 part bleach to 20 parts water solution, and then rinse again several times in clean, dechlorinated water.


----------



## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Hose? Outside?? Are you people nuts, it's winter here in Canada you know! lol I've got a laundry tub I can use though, so I think that will have to be the site for my tank resurrection.

No, he didn't deliver it to me, I drove about 45min to get it.

I had a bit better look at the tank today and it's actually not as bad as I first thought. It is still a mess, but I don't think it will be as horrible as I imagined. I think I was just really shocked by the fact that it hadn't been cleaned.. I can't imagine selling any of my horse stuff, or dog stuff, all dirty like that.. it's just gross.

Thanks for the advice, I'll tackle it as soon as I have a bit of free time.


----------



## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

In my opinion if he didn't say it was cleaned he has no obligation to actually clean it, sure it'd be a nice and friendly thing to do though. A lot of people sell mess of tanks cheaper because they are just too lazy to clean it and that is quite a good deal :bigsmile:

Elle's suggestions is more thorough than any you'll probably get, just freeze your hands outside with a hose, a tad easier


----------



## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

So I spent the last hour or so working on the tank, but had to put it on hold as the grime was just shredding my sponge.. I'll have to get a scrubber or something. I've left it sitting with bleach water for now.

The filter doesn't seem to be working though.. it's humming away quietly, but there's no water movement. Any ideas? It's the kind that hangs on the back of the tank.


----------



## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

covertune said:


> The filter doesn't seem to be working though.. it's humming away quietly, but there's no water movement. Any ideas? It's the kind that hangs on the back of the tank.


The impeller might be clogged. Try using some q-tips to gently wipe it off and get any goop out of it.


----------



## kacairns (Apr 10, 2012)

You probably need to prime the filter. With my fluval I have to keep pouring water into it until it makes the siphon

Also what Pamela said as well


----------



## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

I have some aqua clear filters and they sometimes just hum. As said just clean with q-tip if it's a aqua clear, not sure of other types. I just dump water out, unscrew the impeler assembly, pull out impeller, clean impeller then clean inside the impeller housing, put back together and give it a try. Sometimes the pipeing needs to be jiggled to get it seated properly to work.

Are the photos in the album your guppies? I don't know anything about guppies but those fish and pictures are beautiful.


----------



## Transposon (Sep 19, 2012)

covertune said:


> The filter doesn't seem to be working though.. it's humming away quietly, but there's no water movement.


Is impeller clogged? If it's not and still not moving water , check if the metal cylinder/magnet part has become detached from the plastic/blade part. Superglue can be used as a temporary fix for this.


----------



## Smallermouse (Jan 28, 2012)

Bring it to a self car wash and blast it with the foam gun and power wash the crap out. Then thurolly rinse all the soap off.


----------

