Leak testing....

[Andrewz00]

filled the 90 gal in the garage last night..... plan on moving it inside on Saturday...

can i start soaking the DW during my leak testing?

is there anything else i should be doing? ive heard things about vinegar?

 

[BigJim]

Sure you can soak your driftwood while leak testing. If the tank starts leaking because you added some driftwood, you've got some weird issues going on.

Vinegar is for cleaning the aquarium glass. It's non-toxic to your fish in reasonable quantities and excels at dissolving mineral deposits.

 

[Andrewz00]

should i be dosing the tank with vinegar during the leak test?

 

[BigJim]

No. Not really sure what that would accomplish.

 

[Andrewz00]

you got me... figured i would ask...

anything else i should be doing to prep the "new" tank? (moving everything from a 45 gal to this 90 gal)

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

As long as the leak test worked out I would just be preparing the sand or gravel by washing, rocks by scrubbing and washing and wood by boiling and soaking. Other than that id say your on the right track. Are you planning to add established media to avoid a cycle and set up right away or are you going to start from scratch?

 

[Andrewz00]

As long as the leak test worked out I would just be preparing the sand or gravel by washing, rocks by scrubbing and washing and wood by boiling and soaking. Other than that id say your on the right track. Are you planning to add established media to avoid a cycle and set up right away or are you going to start from scratch?

i am moving all my gravel, plants (fake for now), rocks, DW, etc... from my established 45 gal.... i will also be placing the filter cartridges into a nylon bag and stash that inside the new tank for.... a week?? more?? until the new filtration media gets a good colony.

i will be adding 25-50 lbs of new gravel.... depends on how it looks... and some new DW (the piece currently soaking) along with the new Eheim classic

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I would leave it in for about a month just to be super safe but if you don't I think you'll be fine if your moving 45 gal worth of established stuff. So when do the pics come

 

[Andrewz00]

who really wants pics of a leak test?? !! LOL....

honestly never thought of putting pics up simply because everyone here has such beautiful tanks, i dont think mine is anything special.... but i will take a few of the 45 and the new gear when i get home tonight!

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Dude pics are always good because it allows for other people to check your set up and even allows for other people to get ideas and give feedback. It'll be nice to see the transition from your 45 now to the 90 when you get it set up. What's ur stock list looking like?

 

[Andrewz00]

well... the the 45 just lost about 80% of its stock due to bad feeder guppies... learned my lesson about live food!

pre-guppies... 3 arilus barbs, 1 filementosa, 1 tinfoil, 5 cherry barbs, 1 common pleco, 1 parrot, 1 columbian shark, 2 cory cats.... (yes overstocked but they were all young.... and i knew i was upgrading)

post-guppies.... 1 tinfoil, 1 columbian, 2 cory cats...... added 16 baby tiger barbs (all but 2 got eaten) and added another cory cat.....

im TRYING TRYING TRYING to give away the tinfoil and columbian..... no takers?

for the 90... im planning on either barbs/dianos/loaches.... or tetras...

the end goal is fully planted with small schooling fish..... maybe shirmp? very open to suggestions

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Wow, man that's a lot of fish lost!! I was very hurt when I lost my fav parrot but geez you lost a lot there. I do like your idea of a fully planted schooling tank. Look into gold barbs, they add color and a nice schooling personality.

 

[Andrewz00]

yeah i was devastated... it was hard watching them struggle... i pulled a few out and set up a makeshift QT.... but it was too late for most....

but i sucked it up... and decided to re-do my entire idea.
ive been thinking:
4 Bronze Cory cats
7 tiger barbs
7 black ruby barbs
7 albino tiger barbs
7 odessa barbs
7 Chinese barbs
7 rhomb barbs

but then someone suggested that i should drop a few barbs and include a few loaches and dianos.....

 

[supradupafast]

Hmm.. Something tells me you're into Small fish ?
If so, I guess I can't recommend Bolivian Rams, Dwarf Gouramis?

 

[supradupafast]

Danios are awesome to add action in any size tank.. Zooming around, playing in the filter Current.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

My danios are NUTS they just lose their minds when they all get into a zone. Its crazy its like going to the dog park with them just running everywhere! They get to a point in the tank where the gravel is built up against the glass and a rock and they literally run into the gravel all 4 will wrestle in the gravel and then take off again. Its pretty intense.

 

[brimac41]

My danios are NUTS they just lose their minds when they all get into a zone. Its crazy its like going to the dog park with them just running everywhere! They get to a point in the tank where the gravel is built up against the glass and a rock and they literally run into the gravel all 4 will wrestle in the gravel and then take off again. Its pretty intense.

So my Danios aren't the only ones that are out of their minds . About 10 to 20 minutes after lights On in the morning they absolutely go ape S#!T , the take to tearing A** around chasing each other . It's a blast to watch ,

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Yeah that's pretty much it, I mean my aussie dogs do the same thing first thing I the morning and so do they. Its crazy.