Resurection of a 75 Gallon Tank: Advice Needed

dbcb314

Hates the Overstocking Police
Apr 12, 2003
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So here is the deal...

I am gonna be moving in about 1.5 months to a new apartment. Great thing about this (other than rent being cheaper) is that I am living by myself, which is awesome lol. This place allows fish tanks (I called and asked) and there are no restrictions whatsoever.

So, obviously, I am gonna bring a tank with me. I figured I would just take my 50 gallon at my dad's house, break it down, and bring it with me. My dad was wanting to get rid of the tanks in the house (there are three right now) as they up the electric bill a ton and he is taking care of them and they aren't even his (one is mine, one is my brother). My brother is about to move out and he is taking his aquariums down and discontinuing them. I was planning on taking my aquarium... but my dad wants to keep it now lol. He says it looks good in the computer room.

Sooo, I had a few choices:

1. Take my brothers saltwater tank that he is taking down and take it with me. It is 50 gallons as well.

2. Take a 30 gallon tank with me. I have one in storage in the garage, and my brother is taking his down so I could take that with me if I wanted.

3. Take the 20 high tank I have in storage.

Well, those were all fine and dandy... but then I remembered something. We have a 75 gallon tank in our barn that used to house a pet iguana. It has been sitting in the barn for at least 6 years. So... a bright idea popped in my head and I went to check and see if it was broken or anything. I looked it over... no cracks at all that I could see... it is just really really really really dirty. So I ask my dad if I could take that... and he said yes!

But now I have a project ahead of me. And not a ton of time to do it. Sure I have 1.5 months... but I don't live at home... I live an hour away and driving back and forth is expensive. So I really have only 1 day a week or even 1 day every two weeks to do stuff. So this isn't a huge amount of time. Things that need to be done for sure:

- clean the tank
- re-silicone the tank
- figure out what to do about the hood/lights (build something or buy something)
- build a stand
- buy or take my brothers filters, heaters, sand, rocks, driftwood, ect

And this has to be done as cheaply as possible. In fact, I hope to build most of the **** and salvage stuff from my brothers taken down tanks.

So anyway... this is going to be a thread where I can hopefully get answers to some of my questions along the way, and get some pics up during the process. Gonna start this project this coming weekend or the weekend afterwards (whenever I get home again) so I started this now so I could get some answers to some basic questions because I don't have a ton of time during the week.


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Question number one: :help:


What is the best way to sanitize the tank? Gonna first just wipe it off and hose it down to get the dust and dirt off, but what should I use to kill all the germs in it? Bleach? Should I just get a rag with bleachy water and wipe it down, or should I fill the thing up and let the bleach sit it in for a while?
 
you said it housed an iguana.. are you absolutely sure that it was an aquarium and not a terrarium? terrariums have thinner glass and are not meant to hold water.. make sure you verify this before you put the effort into prepping it for aquatics. :)
 
you said it housed an iguana.. are you absolutely sure that it was an aquarium and not a terrarium? terrariums have thinner glass and are not meant to hold water.. make sure you verify this before you put the effort into prepping it for aquatics. :)


exactly what i was thinking there J Rsquaredd
 
you said it housed an iguana.. are you absolutely sure that it was an aquarium and not a terrarium? terrariums have thinner glass and are not meant to hold water.. make sure you verify this before you put the effort into prepping it for aquatics. :)
Anyway to check for sure? Its not like there are any stickers left on it lol


**** now you just put me into a bad mood :(
 
If it is safe to use as an aquarium and you want to sanitize it with bleach, I would recommend using 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. This will be just enough bleach to get it in good condition. Then of course, rinse, rinse, and rinse again till you no longer smell the bleach. Everything should be good to go from there.

Marinemom
 
hmmmmm talked to my dad... he is 90% sure it is a fish tank... he didn't even know reptile tanks existed lol

maybe those kittens will be saved....
 
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