New tank setup question

Yes sir they are. Sorry my answers are all over the place but I have since replaced the sponges with 4 new pieces of filter media I've cut. I'm cycling the tank from scratch so I don't mind waiting, but that red colour bothers me.... Perhaps I need to change the water so that it helps to dilute it a bit?

 

No it had his substrate in it and maybe two inches of the previous water. All I did was rinse out his filter media (in some of the water I gathered from the tank) and then started adding dechorinated water and switched on the pumps when the intake nozzle were under the water level. I didn't really pay attention the the water as I was filling up because it was obviously quite murky. After a few hours I returned home after filling the tank and noticed the redness in the water. I then replaced the sponges in the canister filter with new media but the water has remained red.

The thing is his water wasn't red when I viewed the tank at his place and had fish in it. The water wasn't the best quality, but it certainly wasn't red.

 

Perhaps the bacteria in the substrate died off due to lack of water movement and aeration.. I would remove the lot and boil it too..

Hope that helps..
Kali

 

That's very interesting. Well for what it's worth, the tank was transported with about two inches of water in it and I added prepared water pretty much as soon as I could. It wasn't standing for a day or days.

 

As far as I know it could only take about 3 to 5 hours for the bacteria to die off (not sure how long yours was without aeration, water flow, etc during transport)..
You could add carbon, which would remove the "visual effects", but not the cause (I wouldn't, simply because it wouldn't fix the underlying problem)..

All the best..
Kali

 

Ok so this reply is very late but I'm posting to perhaps new members who also need advice and is visiting this thread.

I bought a 4 ft 220 liter tank from someone else this past weekend for R1200.00. He told me that he had no time for maintanace, that the tank was fully set up and came with catfish and a dinosaur pleco (which when I got there was actually a Albino bristle nose as I suspected when he described it.)
When I got there the tank was only filled 1/3 with water, absolutely filthy (never cleaned probably,) had no filter, only a tiny airstone and a 50 watt heater which is way to small for a 220l tank. The "cat fish" were actually 4 parrot fish. I was horrified to find them in such putrid water.
The fish were placed in a black crate for transport and I put in an air stone as soon as we got home. I scrubbed (with a cloth) the tank down with vinegar as it removes stains from the glass as well as dirt and grime and is easily removed with water. Washing it with water only wasn't an option and it would have been hard to get all of the bleach out of such a large tank as you can't just tip it over and rinse it numerous times. After washing with vinegar I washed out the gravel with water in a plastic bucket (the water came out dark dark brown, yuck!) and put it back in the tank. I filled it up with water and added Tetra Aquasafe (Large bottle cost me at R280.00) to condition the water and remove harmful substances from the tap water. I then added a 300watt dophin heater which I already had lying around and got the water the right temperature for the parrots and added a small heater to the crate so that the water would match. I didn't want to stress them out more by putting them in bags as they were very scared and shy. After the heater, I added a sponge filter from another tank to help with the beneficial bacteria and added Dophin 15 PSB (beneficial bacteria at around (R85.00 per bottle which lasts about 3 months) to the tank as well. *tip* it's always good to have a sponge filter in your tank with your other filters as it is a great biological filter and it's really handy if you have one that's been in another tank for a while to add to any new tank as it will help with the nitrogen cycle. I used the Large DARO corner filter (costs around R70) with an air pump as my sponge filte, just remeber that any filter/pump must be able to pump at least 3 times your water volume per hour. I added some charcoal with the old filter wool that was already in the filter in the other tank. Then when the water temps were the same, I added the fish. I didn't have the option of keeping some of the old water as it was filthy and I couldn't leave the tank to cycle as I already had the fish.
The next day I bought a Dophin F2000 mechanical/biological filter which pumps at 750l/h(cost me R395.00) and put it in with the sponge filter. I also added plastic plants from my other tanks. The fish have been in the tank for 3 days and are becoming more active and less shy. They really enjoy their new home. I plan to do a 10% water change every 3 days until it is properly cycled. I did all the above mentioned on experience with my 3ft tank.