so i found an old tank in the shed and i want to have it start running as soon as possible. Its kinda of dusty and theres like some spider webs in it.... how do i clean it and can i use water from my 90 gallon to start cycle?


also i dont know how many gallons it is... the dimensions are (LxWxH) 30x12.5x12.5

thanks

i live in B.C. Canada near vancouver

It is a 20 gallon tank.

To clean it, use water with some household bleach added. Use approx. 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. Rub this around in the tank and that will sterilize it. Do this in a well ventilated area and wear rubber gloves.

If there are crusty areas, you can scrape these off with a razor type paint scraper (be careful, though, they are sharp!). Also, you can put some salt on a sponge and scrub with that.

I have heard about Vancouver's water on the news. That is rough. You can use water from your big tank, though, to start your cycle, as long as all of your fish are healthy

Good luck and I hope your water woes are sorted out soon.

well today is suppose to be the day for my weekly water change...


how am i suppose to use tap water to do the water changes?

i tested the water for ammonia, after i use water conditioner and it read about between [.05-1.0] to [1.0-1.5]

What water conditioner are you using?

i'm using Tetra [Aqua]'s AquaSafe

Did you try testing the water before adding the conditioner?

yea it was 0... but thats only because the water conditon broke down Chlormides.... which is a compund made up of ammnoia and chlornie... i guess it does get rid of ammonia but the clhorine must be gone...


i dumped out one bucket of the of tap water and at the bottom of bucket it was really brown...


i think i'm just going to skip this weeks change and wait for the water to get better... its slowing improving

It might be a good idea. Do you have enough bottled water that you could rinse out your filter material?

the water is better now and not contaminated anymore... everything is fine now... thx for the advice