complete teardown and biowheel

smyke

smyke

newbie
Oct 9, 2007
509
0
16
Connecticut
Real Name
Mike
Hello,
I have a 45g tank with only few fish in there (most important one being a beautiful angel), but they may be carrying disseases. Most of the fish died over the course of few months even though I treated the tank and then I gave up. I have been very bad lately about my tank but decided to finally get up off my butt and take care of my little friends a little better.

I am contemplating a complete teardown and clean up with chlorine. I also am building a 3-d background and will be moving the tank to a different location within the house. I want to do all of it at once so I dont have to bother the inhabitants in the future.

Do you think that disinfecting the tank with chlorine is a good thing to do? Should I replace the gravel or just disinfect the old one?
Finally, if there are any diseases in the tank do you think they could be on the biowheel of my penguin as well?
I know that by tearing down the tank I will destroy the beneficial bacteria and would rather save my biowheel.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Mike
 
well, your biowheel will have anything your tank has in it. And I think using chlorine would be a bad bad idea.
 
so what do you suggest I do then?
I am confused because the angel I have in there lays eggs almost once a week so that makes me think that things are OK in there but then again I had fish dying off as well.
 
How often do you clean your gravel or do partial water changes. Have you tested the Chemicals in your water, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and also Ph? How have you had your tank set up, and how long was it set up before you added fish, and when did you start loosing fish.
 
I've had it for a few years now and I have dieoff issues on and off even though I probably did a 15% water change once a week or two. I would treat the tank according to my LFS advice but after a while they would start dropping again (usually some kind of rot).
Like I said before, I have neglected the tank lately and havent done a water change or tested water in probably 2 months. Also I need to move the tank and add the background. So all things considered the complete start-over seems easiest.
Wanted to know how to go about it all.
 
I would say that doing a 15% water change every 2 weeks for a month could lead to disease depending on how stocked your tank was. You will have to be faithful to keep your chemicals where they should be by doing water changes when necessary, if you want to have a healthy tank. If you are not having any sickness right now, then just move your tank and monitor your chemicals. If you have problems, ask here, not at your local fish store, and there will be people to help you figure out what the problem is.
 
thank you for your pointers livingword.
for the sake of discussion, if I decided to start over, what steps should I take? should I get new gravel and biowheel and disinfect the tank or not? I understand I would have to cycle the tank before adding any fish.
 
If you were going to tear it down and start over, with a new cycle, then you would definately have to change the biowheel. If you just have regular gravel, it is not to cheap to replace, that would probably be better than taking a chance in contaminating the old stuff when you clean it, and not getting it rinsed properly. But again. I don't think that a new cycle is worth it. You may loose the fish you have now with a new cycle.
 
thanks again livingword. I appreciate your help.
another question: what is the best way to test water? i used to bring it to LFS but definitely need a test kit at home. do you think that the aparatus like the one below will work?
pPETS-3764628dt.jpg
 
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