spoonman
Aquarium Advice Addict
A friend is giving me a 120g FW tank for free. They live across town and I need to get it to my house. I would like to do this the easiest way possible (cycling wise). The fish that are in it are going to friends or to the LFS. I dont want an aggresive tank. It has 2 hob filters and that is all at this point. I have purchased a new stand and cover for it. I have also purchased an undergravel with powerheads to assist with the filtering. The only fish that I am going to keep is the pleco. You can see that the tank has not been taken care of very well. I want to get it as clean as possible but still keep the valuable bacteria to speed the addition of new fish. Can I rinse the gravel, keep the hobs (and the bacteria that is in them), rinse the decorations, keep some of the old water and dechlor some additional water and be back up and running in minimal time? Or would it be best to put the fish I want to keep in my 84g and clean everything really good and start cycling from scratch? I had to get rid of my daughters 55g to get this one, so they will be anxious to get fish in this one.... Attached is a pic so you can see the state that it is in. She said she has never vacuumed it in 3 yrs.. but the fish she has in there now are healthy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know opinions vary so I am prepared to consider all that are put forth....