I just bought a 75 Gallon tank from someone on craigslist that doesn't want to take care of it anymore. It's over run with algae and all his plants are dieing. He has only two corys left in it. He's giving me all his equipment and anything fish related he has. Tank, stand, lights, tester, chemicals, decor, plant substrate, gravel hose, nets, buckets, 2 filters and power head. I'm getting it delivered for 250.00. Good price?
My plan is to keep his old filter media and I asked him not to try to "clean" the algae before he delivers the setup.
He's going to keep only 5 gallons of his water with some gravel and the 2 corys inside a bucket. I will wipe down the glass and try to get some of the algae off the gravel and fill the tank with new water using his filter media and substrate to speed up the cycle process. I figure 2 weeks. Hopefully the corys can deal with a bucket and air stone that long. I'll test the water once the filters have run a few hours and if it looks good I'll try a fish in cycle so they don't have to live in a bucket.
He said he does 10 gallon water changes every two weeks and could never control the algae in the tank. He has well water but runs reverse osmosis for his house? I couldn't tell him what would cause the problem since he didn't admit to overstocking the tank. All in all he's done with the tank and just looking to get some money back on it.
What advise do you have for me in dealing with what maybe an already sick tank. I don't plan to add any more fish until October since I'm going out of town the last week of September. I know a pleco would help the algae issue so I'll get one of those first. A few more corys after since they like to school.
Mostly I want a planted tank and he says he bought substrate that would build roots for plants so I might just add some sand for depth he's only got an 1 1/2 in it now. I'll treat with algone and maybe spring for co2 if I find an awesome deal otherwise I'll just get the co2 tablets. He says he has plant lights on the hood now so I'll check those out. He doesn't have a bubble wall so I need one of those cause they are cool.
Last time I did this I was in NY I know live in FL. Do I still need a heater? He didn't have one so I'm thinking no...?
My plan is to keep his old filter media and I asked him not to try to "clean" the algae before he delivers the setup.
He's going to keep only 5 gallons of his water with some gravel and the 2 corys inside a bucket. I will wipe down the glass and try to get some of the algae off the gravel and fill the tank with new water using his filter media and substrate to speed up the cycle process. I figure 2 weeks. Hopefully the corys can deal with a bucket and air stone that long. I'll test the water once the filters have run a few hours and if it looks good I'll try a fish in cycle so they don't have to live in a bucket.
He said he does 10 gallon water changes every two weeks and could never control the algae in the tank. He has well water but runs reverse osmosis for his house? I couldn't tell him what would cause the problem since he didn't admit to overstocking the tank. All in all he's done with the tank and just looking to get some money back on it.
What advise do you have for me in dealing with what maybe an already sick tank. I don't plan to add any more fish until October since I'm going out of town the last week of September. I know a pleco would help the algae issue so I'll get one of those first. A few more corys after since they like to school.
Mostly I want a planted tank and he says he bought substrate that would build roots for plants so I might just add some sand for depth he's only got an 1 1/2 in it now. I'll treat with algone and maybe spring for co2 if I find an awesome deal otherwise I'll just get the co2 tablets. He says he has plant lights on the hood now so I'll check those out. He doesn't have a bubble wall so I need one of those cause they are cool.
Last time I did this I was in NY I know live in FL. Do I still need a heater? He didn't have one so I'm thinking no...?
