New tank questions

[Donegal Paul]

Ok first off, just got a tank in the local friday ads for £20 and for that
ive got:

A 60cm cubed tank and stand
An under gravel filter
One sort of junction box which has on off swithces for one thermostat, one
light tube and what appears to be the powerhead for the undergravel filter.
Another 2 light controllers
Another thermostat
some background , you know the stuff you tape to the outside
lots of old fishfood and treatments
siphon tubing x 2
A bag of used gravel, already washed.
and other odds and sods.

Looking at it the tank needs a good clean which ill just clean out with warm
tapwater, it needs a little tlc and i need to make a new lid, which wont be
a huge problem to be honest.

So a few questions....

Im trying to figure out how many litres / gallons it holds. Its 53cm x 53cm
x 40cms. Now to find the volume thats equal to 112360 cubic cms and to get
this to litres i divide by 1000 so thats 112.36 litres or roughly 25
gallons, am i wrong?

Next, I think Im going to dump the undergravel filter in favour of an
internal filter. Any advice on that?

That'll do for now, when ive got it ready then ill be thinking about puffers
etc:-)
--
Donegal Paul
Lambretta Li186 - crashed and bashed
Vespa T5 Millenium - Wifey's (technically)
www.thepilgrimssc.co.uk
www.a4c.co.uk - What are YOU doing?
www.ailishandcharlie.co.uk

[Donegal Paul]

"Donegal Paul"
> Looking at it the tank needs a good clean which ill just clean out with
> warm tapwater, it needs a little tlc and i need to make a new lid, which
> wont be a huge problem to be honest.


OK, so, the cleanings not going as well as anticipated :-(

On the inside upper edges of the tank theres a shelf all the way round about
2 inches wide, where these overlap, theres quite a bit of green and some
white yuck that i just cant get at with the fine wirey bits of the
dishcleaner type brushes :-(

What can i use to dissolve or kill this and then rinse it out???
--
Donegal Paul
Lambretta Li186 - crashed and bashed
Vespa T5 Millenium - Wifey's (technically)
www.thepilgrimssc.co.uk
www.a4c.co.uk - What are YOU doing?
www.ailishandcharlie.co.uk

[Toni]

"Donegal Paul" > wrote in message
...
> OK, so, the cleanings not going as well as anticipated :-(
>
> On the inside upper edges of the tank theres a shelf all the way round
about
> 2 inches wide, where these overlap, theres quite a bit of green and some
> white yuck that i just cant get at with the fine wirey bits of the
> dishcleaner type brushes :-(
>
> What can i use to dissolve or kill this and then rinse it out???



Vinegar.



--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/discus.htm

[Peter Ashby]

Donegal Paul > wrote:

> Im trying to figure out how many litres / gallons it holds. Its 53cm x 53cm
> x 40cms. Now to find the volume thats equal to 112360 cubic cms and to get
> this to litres i divide by 1000 so thats 112.36 litres or roughly 25
> gallons, am i wrong?

Assuming you mean imperial gallons, yes.

> Next, I think Im going to dump the undergravel filter in favour of an
> internal filter. Any advice on that?

the internal vs external vs undergravel debate has a long history. I
have always used undergravels and get along fine with them. I tried two
internals in our 10G and the first was too noisy by far, the second
moved the water around far too much, our poor fighter lodged himself in
some floating plants and wouldn't come out. So it runs on an airstone
driven UGF and our gang of kuhlis like it so much they bred, in the
community tank. First we knew was when these skinny loaches turned up
with the adults.

However for the 4ft tank we are planning I fancy trying one of those
Eheim Professional thermal externals, with a spray bar.

So it depends on what you want to keep, intended stocking density, how
much more money you want to spend.

BTW for more uk specific advice hop on over to uk.rec.aquaria.misc

Peter
--
Add my middle initial to email me. It has become attached to a country

[Aquarijen]

"Toni" > wrote in message
t...
>
> "Donegal Paul" > wrote in message
> ...
>> OK, so, the cleanings not going as well as anticipated :-(
>>
>> On the inside upper edges of the tank theres a shelf all the way round
> about
>> 2 inches wide, where these overlap, theres quite a bit of green and some
>> white yuck that i just cant get at with the fine wirey bits of the
>> dishcleaner type brushes :-(
>>
>> What can i use to dissolve or kill this and then rinse it out???
>
>
>
> Vinegar.

Yup, Vinegar. It is slow - you may have to soak.

But, and some here will kringe at this, I have have very good success with a
product called "CLR" which stands for Calcium, Lime, Rust. I take care to
use it sparingly on the glass and rinse really, really well. I have not had
a problem with fish loss with this. I used it on a icky second hand 10
gallon aquarium, a not-so-nice 20 gallon high aquarium and a very nasty 135
gallon aquarium. It disolves the white stuff like you would not believe.
Just rince several times and when you are quite sure you have it all out,
rince several more times.
The 20 gallon has been running for 3 years at least without fish loss after
completely cleaning it with this stuff. YMMV (especially if you don't rinse
enough!)
-Jen

[Jim85CJ]

I used kosher salt to clean my used tanks. Abrasive enough and after a
good rinse all was well...

Aquarijen wrote:

> "Toni" > wrote in message
> t...
>
>>"Donegal Paul" > wrote in message
...
>>
>>>OK, so, the cleanings not going as well as anticipated :-(
>>>
>>>On the inside upper edges of the tank theres a shelf all the way round
>>
>>about
>>
>>>2 inches wide, where these overlap, theres quite a bit of green and some
>>>white yuck that i just cant get at with the fine wirey bits of the
>>>dishcleaner type brushes :-(
>>>
>>>What can i use to dissolve or kill this and then rinse it out???
>>
>>
>>
>>Vinegar.
>
>
> Yup, Vinegar. It is slow - you may have to soak.
>
> But, and some here will kringe at this, I have have very good success with a
> product called "CLR" which stands for Calcium, Lime, Rust. I take care to
> use it sparingly on the glass and rinse really, really well. I have not had
> a problem with fish loss with this. I used it on a icky second hand 10
> gallon aquarium, a not-so-nice 20 gallon high aquarium and a very nasty 135
> gallon aquarium. It disolves the white stuff like you would not believe.
> Just rince several times and when you are quite sure you have it all out,
> rince several more times.
> The 20 gallon has been running for 3 years at least without fish loss after
> completely cleaning it with this stuff. YMMV (especially if you don't rinse
> enough!)
> -Jen
>
>

--
------------------------------------------------------------

"There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to
say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities...
I took part in the burning of villages."
-- John Kerry