Leaking 29g...advise for new setup!!!!

J

jec0995

AC Members
Nov 10, 2005
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Ohio
Hey everyone,

I "had" a 29gallon planted tank and it sprung a leak today. Since I have clown loaches I went with a new 75 gallon. I used my old gravel to keep the bio filtration in tact somewhat and mixed the gravel with 2 bags of play sand. I though the loaches would like it better. Here's the problem...the tank is really cloudy as expected. The fish (8 of them) are in a plastic tub with the filter from the 29 running and the heater.

Two questions: How long can they stay in the tub?
And: When can I move them to the new tank? Does it have to be crystal clear. I don't want to leave them in the tub for a long time. Thanks in advance for any help.

JImmy
 
Well, the tank has cleared up considerably. It's still cloudy, but nothing like before. I can actually see through it. However, the pH is higher than the old tank water that they are currently in. I'm not sure I want to add them to the new tank just yet. I'm going to try to lower the pH some using Kent pH minus. Sound like a good idea??

I was also considering changing some of the water from the new tank to help with the cloudyness. I think it will help some.

I will definitely use the old filter for some time on the 75 gallon. I really hope this tank doesn't need to re-cycle completely. If it does...gotta do what ya gotta do!! Lots of water changes.

Thanks for the advise. I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly so any more advise would be great. The pH difference really worries me!! My old pH was 7.0 and the new one is roughly 7.6 or so. Big difference.

Jimmy
 
this is gonna sound .. um, off beat to say the least but if you haven't thrown out that 29 here's something you can try. leaks are often mere pinholes that look bigger than they actually are and will plug themselves up if the water leaking through the 'hole' contains enough 'flotsam and jetsam'. fill the tank with warm water in which is dissolved (though not too well) alot of calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate and some sieved dirt ... yes, i said dirt. clean dirt ... don't just go out in the yard and take a shovel full of dirt and toss it in the tank. rather, take that same shovel full and run it through some sieves or window screen or what-have-you and get it pretty fine. you want to get as much of it dissolved or if not dissolve, at least not floating on the surface.

after you've done the above ... just walk away from the tank and don't go back to it for at least a week. it's very likely that the leak will have stopped and based on my experience with three 75 gallon tanks i've done this on, won't leak again for a loooooong time if ever. the 3 tanks i've done this to are going on 5 years now and have never leaked again.

you're results may of course, differ. ;-)
 
All the fish are in the new tank now. I acclimated them for a while before putting them in and they seem to be doing great. I moved some rocks and plants around in the tank and it is quite cloudy again though. I hope it doesn't hurt them at all.

I hope sand was a good choice...right now I'm sort of regretting it but it's too late. If it all settles out I'll probably feel better about the choice. Thanks for the help.

Thats really interesting about using dirt to fill a leak. How did you ever find out about that? Maybe I will have to try that.

Jimmy
 
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