40 G Breeder

[BBradbury]

Hello...

I was given an old 40 gallon breeder tank and I’ll set it up and keep feeder Goldfish in it. I won't buy anything, other than the fish for ten cents each, six or so. The stand will be a couple of old bed side tables pushed together with a piece of particle board on top. The Goldfish won’t need a heater, since they like cooler water. But, the tank will need some bottom material. I’ll use landscaping lava rock from my yard and some from another tank to instantly cycle the new one. The rock has holes and crevices for the good bacteria to populate and if I change half the water weekly, I won’t need a filter. Aeration is an issue, but I have a small air pump and some tubing, so I’ll run the tube down the side of the tank. The bubbles will agitate the surface water and mix in oxygen. I’ll transfer some Water lettuce from another tank and get that started on the surface. An old desk lamp with a couple of florescent tubes on a cardboard box, sitting behind the tank will provide enough light for the Lettuce. It should cover the surface of the tank in a couple of weeks, so the tank won’t need a canopy or cover to keep the fish inside. Cheap is sometimes a good thing.

B

 

[ZxC]

What if you run the airtube into a bubble wand underneath larger lava rocks on the bottom?

Provide some water movement across the lava rock for bacteria and keeping some of the mulm from settling into the lave rock where you can't get to it.

Obviously you'll vacuum the lava rock during the water changes?

 

[BBradbury]

What if you run the airtube into a bubble wand underneath larger lava rocks on the bottom?

Provide some water movement across the lava rock for bacteria and keeping some of the mulm from settling into the lave rock where you can't get to it.

Obviously you'll vacuum the lava rock during the water changes?

Z...

No, I hadn't planned on doing any vacuuming. The plan is to let the organic material dissolve. I'll just remove and replace most of the water weekly to remove most of the dissolved nitrogen. The pollutants left in the tank will be diluted in all the new treated tap water. The water change will replenish any minerals the fish use and keep the oxygen level up. Since the water temp will be around 68, the O2 level should be fine.

B