fish tank broke

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6 in a row makes it go

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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Oct 25, 2010
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14
ok ive had 3 oscars and 1 parrot cichlid in a 75 gallon tank for about a month and a half. they were all smallish. 1 oscar is 2.5" the other 2 and the parrot are 1.5". i also had 2 pleco in there about 3". anyway i recently moved the tank and my roomate was playing with the dog and threw a ball near it because he forgot and the dog crashed. the tank fell on its side and cracked. i gathered up the fish and put them in an empty 20 gallon tall tank i was starting that had no fish in it. my question is how long can i keep these guys in the little tank? oh and what's the best way to dispose of a dogs body? just kidding i love that dog.
 
Wow, what a tragedy!! That's my #1 fear is having a tank fall over or bust wide open. What a mess that must have been!!

As for the 20g, those fish are pretty messy, so 2.5 + (3 * 1.5) + (2 * 3) = 13" and double that (at least) for safety and you're over the tank capacity easily. However, they are smaller fish now, so they should be OK for at least a couple months, but you'd better have monster filtration and double-up on the frequency of water changes, at least 50% twice a week I would think, but it all depends on amount you feed and the Nitrate levels - watch those closely.

What kind of stand was it on? If you love the dog...might want to build a sturdier stand!!
 
Wow, what a tragedy!! That's my #1 fear is having a tank fall over or bust wide open. What a mess that must have been!!

As for the 20g, those fish are pretty messy, so 2.5 + (3 * 1.5) + (2 * 3) = 13" and double that (at least) for safety and you're over the tank capacity easily. However, they are smaller fish now, so they should be OK for at least a couple months, but you'd better have monster filtration and double-up on the frequency of water changes, at least 50% twice a week I would think, but it all depends on amount you feed and the Nitrate levels - watch those closely.

What kind of stand was it on? If you love the dog...might want to build a sturdier stand!!

it was on a metal stand that was made for fishtanks. it was just the legs and supports, no cabinet. i moved it from hardwood floor onto the carpet and i think that was why it was so easy to tip over. im either going to get a full cabinet stand for the next big one i get or leave the current stand on the wood.

so monster filtration? i have the filter from the big tank not being used, should i go with that one on the little tank? right now it has a 10-30 filter.
 
The stand needs to be evenly supported on the floor and in turn should evenly support the aquarium. Uneven support can create stress points, as I learned the hard way when a 55 gallon tank cracked with a loud bang and spilled all over a few years ago.

With common lumber and hand tools you can build a very strong, stable aquarium stand.
 
Sorry to hear about your situation. I'd say one of the most commonly overlooked things is anchoring your stand to a wall. I have my 30g long anchored to two studs in the wall. It seems like over kill but it would have saved you in this case.
 
What filter were you running on the 75? It would probably be a little overkill, but if it was a canister with a shut-off valve, you could probably throttle it back a bit.
 
What filter were you running on the 75? It would probably be a little overkill, but if it was a canister with a shut-off valve, you could probably throttle it back a bit.

i really dont know much about filters. its got a foam pad a bag of carbon and a bag of rocks. im a beginner. im going to walmart and getting a 55 gallon they have there. its not as big but i figure i can put the 3 oscars and one pleco in there and leave the cichlid with the other pleco for now. i will put the 75gallon filter on the 55. it seems like a good idea because the cichlid is mad. its being kind of a jerk. i guess its crowded and im worried about my smallest oscar getting picked on. its even picking on the bigger one now.
 
well the smallest oscar and the cichlid are dead. my guess is the cichlid killed the little oscar and the big oscar got fed up and killed the cichlid. this whole thing has got me in an extremely bad mood. the broke tank was one thing but the dead fish make me mad.
 
Common plecos and Chinese algae eaters have been known to come out at night and suck the protective slime coat off sleeping fish.:sleeping:
 
i got a new tank. i read some about oscars liking sand. i had small gravel before and never used sand. i added the sand and its taking forever to settle down. how long should this take? its been like 2.5 hours and the water is really murky. its probably fine but i guess it seems like and hour should have done it. does it help to turn off the filters during this?
 
Did you rinse the sand?

If not - it will take a really, really long time. You have to rinse the living crud out of sand. I did it in a 14g rubbermaid tote, put about 1/4 of 50 lb bag in at a time, and connected a hose to a utility sink with both hot & cold on full blast and used a spray nozzle on the narrow stream setting, and blasted it, poured out the excess water, blasted again, etc for about 5 minutes until the water was reasonably clear, then put that in the 'clean' container and repeat.

Even after doing this, the tank I put it in took about a day to clear up and was crystal clear in a few more days. I ended up taking out some and moving some around to do rock work and that made it murky for a good couple hours.
 
Did you rinse the sand?

If not - it will take a really, really long time. You have to rinse the living crud out of sand. I did it in a 14g rubbermaid tote, put about 1/4 of 50 lb bag in at a time, and connected a hose to a utility sink with both hot & cold on full blast and used a spray nozzle on the narrow stream setting, and blasted it, poured out the excess water, blasted again, etc for about 5 minutes until the water was reasonably clear, then put that in the 'clean' container and repeat.

Even after doing this, the tank I put it in took about a day to clear up and was crystal clear in a few more days. I ended up taking out some and moving some around to do rock work and that made it murky for a good couple hours.

yea i rinsed it. i always rinse everything i put in there before. if it took you a day then i guess im not that worried. its getting noticably better. i can see the back of the tank now. before it was just solid brown water.
 
i had it looking good. i did about 4 50% changes back to back. it was almost clear. about 2 hours later it was really cloudy again. all the sand is raised up under where the filter is. my intake on the filter is about 4 inches from the sand. i give up on the sand. they had rocks in their old tank and rocks in their temporary tank now so they will be used to it. should i get all the sand out or can i put the pebbles in on top?
 
Could be the start of an ammonia bloom. I would think that if the sand was well washed once it was clear it shouldn't cloud up again. You could put gravel on top, I've seen it done and sometimes it looks very nice.
 
Could be the start of an ammonia bloom. I would think that if the sand was well washed once it was clear it shouldn't cloud up again. You could put gravel on top, I've seen it done and sometimes it looks very nice.

its way to thick i put my hand behind and i cant even see it.
 
Usually sand makes the tank quite murky after filling the tank up i found this with mine, a sort of white cloud everywhere in the tank. Leave it a day or two and if not go the you LFS and buy some filter wool or fine filter pads it should help remoive alot of the cloudyness they usually dont cost much aswell.
 
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