"New" old 35 gal tank!

[Soul-Man22]

Hi Everyone I currently have a 10 gal tank that I have had set up for about 2 months and I am already craving for more! I used to have a 35 gal setup when I was younger but lost interest and time and the tank went down hill. I took it down about 6 years ago and it's in a pretty bad state right now, I know I will need a new hood and I want to replace the filter and heater to just start off fresh again, how would I go about making this tank as clean as possible before setting it up again? I am very weary about using any kind of cleaning agent due to harming the fish so I'm looking for some safe to use. Also could I just transfer the filter that have now on my 10 gal to the 35 to jump start the ecosystem? And is a new good and lighting system I can just pop over to the store and pick up or is it more of a specialty item? Thanks!

 

[teagybear]

What are you cleaning? Lime or algae?

 

[Alan79]

Hi Everyone I currently have a 10 gal tank that I have had set up for about 2 months and I am already craving for more! I used to have a 35 gal setup when I was younger but lost interest and time and the tank went down hill. I took it down about 6 years ago and it's in a pretty bad state right now, I know I will need a new hood and I want to replace the filter and heater to just start off fresh again, how would I go about making this tank as clean as possible before setting it up again? I am very weary about using any kind of cleaning agent due to harming the fish so I'm looking for some safe to use. Also could I just transfer the filter that have now on my 10 gal to the 35 to jump start the ecosystem? And is a new good and lighting system I can just pop over to the store and pick up or is it more of a specialty item? Thanks!

I find that built up calcium is best scraped a bit with a new razor blade. Then water with a little vinegar loosens the rest. Liberal quantities of elbow grease should do the rest.

Lighting depends on what you are aiming for. If you want to go planted then Leds or a T5 setup would be best to look at as they usually offer mid to high light. A used T8 setup would do well enough if you don't want to go planted. Your LFS should sell T5's to fit the tank but sometimes you can find good deals on used equipment.

 

[Soul-Man22]

Ok thanks for the help guys! I set up the tank it's going well even though I lost a fish in the transfer, he wasn't doing well before so I think the stress of changing tanks did him I'm. I checked all my parameters and everything looked good! I'm going to let everything settle down for about a week then look into getting some new fish! I already have 5 neons 3 zebra danios, an 2 leopard danios, so should I add to those schools first? Also what other fish would go good with these guys and do well in a 35 gal long tank?