Aquarium advice

[invadertoast]

I'm having a fish tank emergency. I bought an antique 29 gallon tank several years ago and got ambitious about 4 months ago and decided to re-seal it. It was great, I bought an eclipse hood and a nice stand and it was all set up and just awesome until the other day when I added some plants and moved things around. As of a few days ago it developed some leaks around the frame, so I patched it with some marine epoxy and that seemed to work until I came home today to find water seeping out from underneath. I'm just a little bit frustrated... I have all my fish moved into a similar sized sterilie container with the plans of re-sealing again and doing epoxy all around the bottom edges, but I just don't know if this sounds like a good idea. Should I try it or give in and look for another 29 gallon? I don't know how long my fish can live in a plastic container with just an air stone (I don't have a filter to fit on there in any way) and I can't afford a brand new tank. I'm really into this antique thing, I hate to give up on it. Has anybody re-sealed a tank before?? Advice, please! I'm going crazy

[SatanicIntention]

I keep 6 goldfish(ranging from 2"-8", not Koi) outside in one of those Iris 4x2' Christmas Tree tubs. It works awesome and a Whisper 30-60g filter fits perfectly on one of the short sides. I used a used filter from my 5 year old established tank and it cycled in less than a week, with nice green algae growing on all of the sides/bottom(and we all know that algae doesn't grow just anywhere). Fish didn't even know they had been moved and it has been so easy to maintain. I do have a bungee cord in the middle of the tub to prevent it from bowing so much and warping the tub. It holds water very well though.


If you want to keep them in a tub, it's always very possible, it just needs to be treated like a tank in respects to cycling and all that mess. Adding Prime, Melafix, and Stress Coat helped mine get through their short cycle. Definitely get a filter on that tub though, the fish can't go too long sitting in their own waste unless you do water changes everyday.

With the old tank, strip the glass of all of the old silicone, clean it with alcohol, let it dry and them slowly reapply silicone in a thick bead. Then let it cure for a good week so you know that it is set. Then test.

I hope you can get it up and running. Try the tub though and see how you can get that running, then you won't have to worry how long it takes to either seal the old tank or get a new one set up and cycled.

[recycling goddess]

oh man that sucks. i have no advice. only well wishes for you.

[invadertoast]

Thanks, I siphoned about 25 gallons of water into the tub and just moved the fish (four small jewel cichlids, a pleco, and a rainbow shark) into that with most of their caves and plants and some gravel. I only have an airstone running, I have an old 20 gallon filter floating around somewhere that I'm going to dig up. I'm relieved that these guys should be ok in there for a while. They were kind of freaked out at first but they're acting more normal now.

I think what happened was the silicone on my re-seal wasn't thick enough, it held water fine until I started moving things around (near the back and both sides) and sure enough, it only leaked near the back and the two sides. I flipped the tank over (it's a slate bottom) and it looks like I need to seal all around where the metal frame meets the slate because the silicone on there is older than I am. My stand top is a little warped but I think it will be okay. I'm going to try the marine epoxy all around the bottom and take all the "new" silicone off the inside and replace with a MUCH thicker amount. I'm just worried that maybe it was leaking on the bottom for longer than I think it was.

Who knows, I might be looking for a used 29 gallon sometime in the not-so-distant future

[jknudson]

With the old tank, strip the glass of all of the old silicone, clean it with alcohol, let it dry and them slowly reapply silicone in a thick bead. Then let it cure for a good week so you know that it is set. Then test.

invadertoast, find a really sharp razor blade to scrape the silicone and follow what Becky said...sealing a tank is not the easiest thing to do, especially with a slate bottom tank...the silicon doesn't always want to make the most water tight bond with glass. If there is a bottom trim on the tank pop it trim off any excess silicone from around the bottom outside of the tank, and run a new bead of silicone all the way around and pop the trim back on...should make a new watertight seal...just feel free to over-do it a little bit with the silicone. It is in fact the bottom of the tank and you won't see it anyways.

If possible run the filter on your rubbermaid tub, using the filter cartridges from your tank to seed bacteria into the makeshift tank to avoid an nitrogen cycle. And if it were me I would be doing a few gallon water change on the tub every other day just to make sure.

Best of luck!

Jason

[invadertoast]

As you can see, the frame ain't comin' off that thing. I was using an eclipse hood with the filter built in, so I can't use that on the tub, or even use the old filter cartridge in a different filter. I don't know, I'll figure something out. I'm nervous about re-sealing it again and having it not work. I don't want to wreck my stand or stress my fish out again. I'll keep you guys updated.

[invadertoast]

Thanks to the wonders of Craigslist I've found a slightly used 29 gallon and the price is right so I'm picking it up tomorrow. Should I siphon the water back out of the tub (this is the water that was in the established tank) into the new tank, and just add the last several gallons with new water? I was due for a partial water change but I wasn't expecting something this complicated, lol. I'm used to maintaining tanks, all this moving around has me a little freaked out, lol. I still have no filter on the tub, all inhabitants are doing fine (colors are a little off because their territories have all moved around) and I assume they'll be okay until tomorrow afternoon. What a fiasco!

[jglass38]

Thanks to the wonders of Craigslist I've found a slightly used 29 gallon and the price is right so I'm picking it up tomorrow. Should I siphon the water back out of the tub (this is the water that was in the established tank) into the new tank, and just add the last several gallons with new water? I was due for a partial water change but I wasn't expecting something this complicated, lol. I'm used to maintaining tanks, all this moving around has me a little freaked out, lol. I still have no filter on the tub, all inhabitants are doing fine (colors are a little off because their territories have all moved around) and I assume they'll be okay until tomorrow afternoon. What a fiasco!

Good find! You should be fine to use mostly old water with about 20% fresh (treated with Novaqua/Amquel). What type of filter did you use? If biological, were you able to keep it running (keep the biowheel moving or if a canister, keep water circulating through the biological media). If so, this would be helpful in getting the new tank established. Jewel cichlids are hearty so I wouldn't worry too much.

[jglass38]

By the way, Becky is dead on with Melafix. I love it and when I had a 90 gallon and 37 gallon I used it as part of every water change. Plus it smells awesome!

[invadertoast]

By the way, Becky is dead on with Melafix. I love it and when I had a 90 gallon and 37 gallon I used it as part of every water change. Plus it smells awesome!

I LOVE the way that stuff smells too, lol. The hood I was using looks like this inside:



It has a filter cartridge filled with carbon and a biowheel, but I can't keep it running unless it's sitting on top of an aquarium (it has this pump assembly that hangs down inside the tank) so unfortunately it's been down since yesterday. The whole concept kind of weirded me out at first, but I'm now convinced that this hood/filter system is the best invention ever created! It keeps my water super clean and nothing evaporates because the entire top is covered. I can't wait to not have fish tanks and tubs of water all over my floor, lol