Hi- A friend of a friend is wanting me to take down & redo her 100 gal tank. The water is bad & there are only 3 fish left. It needs a new hood/light & the filter hasn't been cleaned in almost a year! The gravel is yuck & the rocks aren't safe either. Where do I begin & what would I charge to drain & reset up this tank? All the supplies will be at her cost. Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated. I just don't want to be in over my head.Thanks much!
Freshwater aquarium tank help please
- Thread starter playmate2
- Start date
You charge the cost of suplies only. If they want to do something nice for you because you did something nice for them, then graeat. you can take out decor (plants larger rocks etc) and rise them well. turn off the filter and the heater and do a gravel vac. This will also serve to take out a lot of the water, mabey 40-60%. I usually just rinse the filter lightly to get rid of large debris. After you re-fill the tank get a test kit and help them, or teach them how, to monitor the water. If the fish in there are going to stay, you dont want to do a complete restart. It will be better to do a frequent water changes over the next few weeks. The best thing to do when your done is get them to maintain the tank, so this won't be a yearly PITA.
Do you also mean taking the current fish out or are they going to stay in the tank? If so it willbe a mch longer process. Either way the fish will need to be acclimated to cleaner water whereever they are going.
I used to run my own aquarium maintenance service and I charged $1/gallon or a minimum of $10 for smaller tanks plus a trip fee to drive to the location. I wouldn't charge a trip fee for larger tanks unless they were a pretty good distance away.
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If you're gonna redo the tank, you should definitely save the filter media for a little longer, so that the bacteria on it will be ok, and the tank won't have to be cycled again. If the fish are being kept, be sure to do small water changes over a longer period of time, so there won't be a sudden change in parameters. If you are getting rid of the fish, just gravel vac, change about 60-70% of the water, and definitely keep the filter media in oxygenated water, no matter how icky. She may change it after a week or so after the new setup is complete.