Hello, I am new here and have some questions

[arenaranger]

Hello,

I was able to score a very good deal on a stand, canopy, 2 year old 90 gallon tank and also an eheim 2217 canister filter and a couple of rena air pumps, model 400.

I am wondering what should be done to the 2217 before setting up in the new tank. I am planning to temporarily setup the new tank and eheim and run it in my basement for a week or two just to confirm that we have no leaks in the tank and eheim. I am pretty much positive I am fine as I personally know who I purchased the equipment from and he just had it filled and operating as a tropical tank two weeks ago.

At any rate, I am going to remove the media from the filter and boil all the ceramics and discard the carbon and white polish pads. What should be done with the blue coarse pad since I know it is reusable? How should it be cleaned prior to starting the transfer from my 65 gallon into the new 90 gallon? I am familiar with the eheim classics as I have a 2215 now but that was purchased new so it was clean from the start. I have had a representative from the LFS say to rinse everything out really well with clean tap water and then let completely dry in the warm sun in order to kill everything that may be there. I am not so sure this was the right advice.

Also, what should be done to sanitize the tank to ensure a successful transition for my cichlids into their new 90 gallon home. They are currently living in the 65gallon.

The rena air pumps are running perfectly fine but are not pumping much air. I am figuring that they both need tuneup kits but also wonder if it is just because they had been unplugged for a while.

Any advice you can offer regarding any of this and thoughts on how to transfer to a new tank from a fully cycled well functioning tank are VERY appreciated. I am 3 years into this hobby but have never transferred everything existing in my 65 gallon to a new tank before. Fish, Substrate, Existing filters, Water, decorations etc. You all get the idea I am sure, that's why I am posting this here.

Thank you very much ahead of time for your thoughts and help.

 

[arenaranger]

I should add that I am going to transfer EVERYTHING from my old tank into the 90 gallon. The tank should be cycled from the get go and will be adding the fish immediately after I get all the aqua scaping done. I will be removing the gravel, then the decorations. Then I will add half of the water from existing tank. I will be starting up the 2217 in the new tank at that point and then will transfer my over my 2215 and penguin 350 which have been running on the cycled tank for 2 years. I am going to sell the 65 gallon afterwards.

I made one mistake though. Since the 90 gallon is used I wanted to really get it down to as clean as possible. I was working with vinegar to remove any water stains but couldn't seem to get rid of the film on the glass. I decided to use windex in the tank to remove any residue. It worked Great but now I think I shouldn't have done that........

What should be done to ensure that all the windex residue will be gone? I plan on setting up the tank and running it for a week with an empty 2217 (I have already boiled and cleaned the internal eheim parts and will leave them out until actual startup time) just to make sure there are no leaks in the filter and tank. I plan to do this with just regular municipal tap water without dechlorinating it. Was it a big mistake to use windex?

Again thanks for the help.