New Fish Tank

[leroyfong]

On Sunday during my reservist, my 5ft tank started to leak at the bottom back side. It dripped onto my electrical points behind. It was at 4am. Luckily, my maid had a dream about dripping water at my house and she woke up to find this incident and a living room full of water and smoke. The multi-plug had not caught fire yet.

All the plants and fishes have been removed immediately. Yesterday I managed to take out all the top gravel and bottom fertilizer during my reservist off day. I also ordered my new 5ft tank coming in on Saturday afternoon.

Now I have to plan how to position the multiplug away from possible dripping water to avoid this mishap again. If not found by my maid, it could have been a big fire.

I would like to get advise if I get my new tank, adding back the same old gravel and fertilizer, do I still need to cycle my tank? There are lots of mulm attached to those gravel still when scooped out. The canister filters still have water inside of them.

Best regards,
Leroy

[hirowen]

Hi,

I think you still have to cycle your tank again. Eventhough that your canister still got water inside, but i don't think there is enough oxygen for the bacteria. As for your gravel, once it is out of water for more than 20 minutes, bacteria will be dead. Otherwise you have transfer those gravel and canister filter to the other tank and keep them running, or else i think you gotta start all over again.

[juggler]

Wow - what a disaster. How thick was your 5ft tank that it can crack?
This time should keep the power points higher so it won't get wet accidentally.

Anyway, keep your filter cycling by running it in a pail of water. This should keep most of the bacteria alive. If you have some old tank water can save it too for use in the new tank. This should start the bacteria colony quickly in new tank.

New tank should be heavily planted. Then transfer the fish to new tank a few at a time over a few days. Keep observing for any kind of stress.

Good luck.

[leroyfong]

thanks for advise. The tank did not crack. It is 12mm thick. Instead the silicon inside gave way and started leaking from the glass at the back. It is the deterioration of the silicon. The tank was given to me by ex-colleague who got it 2nd hand from someone else. Adding up, the tank should be about 6-7 years old already.

It has been a few days that the filter has not been running because I was on reservist. However some of the gravel taken out has water inside the pail and might still have surviving bacteria inside.

my understanding is heavy planting + addition of beneficial bacteria prevents low spike in ammonia and nitrite. I will set up on Saturday with some remaining tank water inside my 2 ft tank. I will probably introduce fishes on Wednesday or Thursday. Is it advisable to introduce at this rate or should I wait longer? If not, how long should I wait?

[hirowen]

leroyfong: It has been a few days that the filter has not been running because I was on reservist.
I think you may need to wash the filter media again. I once has a experience that I forgot to wash the filter and i leave it there for 2-3days. When I open up, the smell I tell you, you can go heaven after smelling it Haha. Moreover those dead bacteria will cause ammonia spike, so I think those ceramic rings and cotton sponge you gotta clean thoroughly.

leroyfong: However some of the gravel taken out has water inside the pail and might still have surviving bacteria inside.
Maybe there is still some bacteria in it, but i remember i reading 1 article, it says that due to critical environment, bacteria may mutate themselves to adapt to the new environment, and this may cause the bacteria to perform inefficiently.

leroyfong: my understanding is heavy planting + addition of beneficial bacteria prevents low spike in ammonia and nitrite.
Plants take in ammonia and nitrate as their nutrients. But do they take in nitrite as their nutrients??

leroyfong: I will set up on Saturday with some remaining tank water inside my 2 ft tank. I will probably introduce fishes on Wednesday or Thursday.
Maybe you can put in a few hardier fish, slowly upload your tank as what juggler said. If too many fishes are introduced in the same time, and due to inefficient of bacteria colony, may result ammonia spike.

[bclee]

IMO, plants are more effective in removing ammonia than bacteria. So if you are able to heavily plant from the begining, you might not even get a ammonia spike at all.

You can add more fast growing plants in the beginning like H. deformis, to uptake the ammonia.

BC

[juggler]

Just like what Chuck Gadd said in his article Setting up a New Planted Tank - A detailed description of my method for setting up a new planted tank. It eliminates the need for cycling.

[elmike]

[quote:55fd9dd9aa="leroyfong"]... my 5ft tank started to leak at the bottom back side. It dripped onto my electrical points behind. It was at 4am. Luckily, my maid had a dream about dripping water at my house and she woke up to find this incident and a living room full of water and smoke. The multi-plug had not caught fire yet.Leroy[/quote:55fd9dd9aa]

Geez... how old is the leaked tank? Is it a locally-made or imported-branded tank?

It is crucial to ensure thorough decontamination (of body oil, of grease, dirt, etc) of the cut glass surfaces to be silicone-sealed to ensure good bonding. Sometimes, you find yourself at the mercy of human factor when you custom-order a tank.

[hirowen]

[quote:f099e6e0f5="elmike"]Geez... how old is the leaked tank? Is it a locally-made or imported-branded tank?
[/quote:f099e6e0f5]
The tank is 6-7yrs old. He friend gave him. 3rd hand tank.

[hoonming]

[quote:bc565b1f7f="bclee"]IMO, plants are more effective in removing ammonia than bacteria. So if you are able to heavily plant from the begining, you might not even get a ammonia spike at all.

You can add more fast growing plants in the beginning like H. deformis, to uptake the ammonia.

BC[/quote:bc565b1f7f]

Hi BC,

How does a H.deformis look like? Is it commonly available in LFS?

[bclee]

[quote:7239a7a38c="hoonming"]

Hi BC,

How does a H.deformis look like? Is it commonly available in LFS?[/quote:7239a7a38c]
Check out the gallery, you will find it there. It should not be too difficult to find at LFS.

BC

[lorba]

you can search on Hygrophilia difformis

[bclee]

[quote:8b6e55ddd3="lorba"]you can search on Hygrophilia difformis[/quote:8b6e55ddd3]
Oops... sorry for the spelling mistake :P ...

BC

[leroyfong]

just got back from my reservist again.

thanks for your advices. Will definitely wash my canister filters.

I understand that heavy planting will uptake ammonia fast enough and avoid possible spike in nitrite as well.

now waiting for the tank to be ready on either tuesday or wednesday. will only officially off from reservist on tuesday afternoon.

another thing to add when scooping up my gravel. my foreground are hairgrass. I have planted for about 4-5 mths already. about 2 mths ago got some more from Heuer to cover my foreground fully. On the top, the hairgrass growth is very slow and hardly see new shoots.

But the moment i scoop up the gravel beneath. I have tons of hairgrass new growths all buried under the gravel. it set me thinking if i have buried too deeply or the foreground is too thick (about 10 cm).

for my new set up, i intend to make the foreground less thick so that the hairgrass can grow out of the gravel. Is this idea correct?

1 last question:
should I start dosing my tank immediately for my new set up?

thanks
leroy