Mandy's 130g Community Tank

**MandyK** · 02-04-2013, 03:56 PM

A DUST PAN! Sandz you are a GENIUS! Thank you!

Jimminy Cricket, why didn't I think of that???

**Lady10Godiva** · 02-04-2013, 04:02 PM

Also if you have an empty milk gallon you can cut it open so you have a flat sided scoop with a handle.

**MandyK** · 02-04-2013, 04:32 PM

Okay, I got most of it out.

There is still some water in the bottom, abd because of the soil consistancy of the substrate I can't get it all out either. It goes POOF, as soon as I move the water.

I'm thinking of using a bunch of my husband's shirts to do the rest....

**fishmommie** · 02-04-2013, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by MandyK

Okay, I got most of it out.

There is still some water in the bottom, abd because of the soil consistancy of the substrate I can't get it all out either. It goes POOF, as soon as I move the water.

I'm thinking of using a bunch of my husband's shirts to do the rest....

I hope they're his OLD shirts LOL

What if you added about 3 inches of water with a little vinegar and swished it all around in there and wiped it down good then siphoned that out? would that help clean the grunge out?

**Sandz** · 02-04-2013, 06:13 PM

+1! Im glad the dustpan worked out for you. Now go get a gallon jug or just your syphon and get the rest out! Once you have it mostly empty, dry paper towels work great. THE QUILTED QUICKER PICKER UPPPER!

**MandyK** · 02-04-2013, 06:19 PM

FM: Yes they were old! Lol! We went through his drawers yesterday, and he set them aside to use as rags at work.
As for the swishing, that's what I've been doing. For some reason it is extremely hard to get the water to siphon out when it gets down to about 1 inch.

At any rate I've got it all out now. The next step is to locate some black paint, and take care of the background and hopefully the bottom.

I have managed to get all of the equipment that came with the tank clean. At least this tub is good for something.....

The heaters are 200w, not 300 like the guy said. I trashed the other one, because it had algae growing inside it some how. The above picture is how I'm running a short test. This way I make sure I'm not going to electrocute my fish.... Lol. When it heats that water up I'm going to stick it down in my 55g and see if the two together make it any warmer.

I have to wonder how this guy raised Angelfish with two 200w heaters, and 2 Aqua-Tech 60's on this thing.... I'm going to run all four filters on it until I come up with the money to get a nice canister. That'll be 3 60's, and one 70.

This is the light set that came with it. Obviously it's a home job. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do away with the guts of it, and slide my lights in it. That way I don't have to worry about my lights falling in, and I hope it will cut down on evaporation since it doesn't have a lid.

**talldutchie** · 02-04-2013, 06:33 PM

Couple of things that occur to me randomly

Be careful with scratches, it's very easy to scratch a tank something terrible if you're getting substrate out.

Think if you want to plant it or not.Discus don't need plants per se, they frequent flooded river areas and can be found in the sticks and tree roots. Some amazon frogbit would be appreciated.

Not to sound snobby or anything but take filtration seriously. I'm not at all familiar with this brand of filter and hardly familiar with HOB filters at all. I have seen some succesful discus keepers and breeders over here. They either go for massive sumps or some serious external filtration. If I was to go for something like this I'd start hunting for a pair of gently used Eheim 2215 or even 2217 filters, Fill with about 3 inches of those black plastic balls, a hefty load of a good ceramic media and top it off with a pair of sponges and some filter floss. Even though these fish can do with good filtration they tend to dislike flow so you may need to drill the spraybars.

I don't know if they are exported to your country but see if you can find Stendker dicus. Not only good looking fish but they've been raised for generations on (german) tap water and are far less finicky than most other discus.

Your neons would make good dither fish for any group of discus. Not too sure about the serpae.

**MandyK** · 02-04-2013, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by talldutchie

Be careful with scratches, it's very easy to scratch a tank something terrible if you're getting substrate out.
.

Ahh sadly, I've already scratched the bottom some. :( I'm hoping it won't be so noticable if I do end up painting the bottom.

As for filtration, I'm thinking that the filters being rated for 250g when added together will be good for now. Taking into consideration the media that will be inside, it should come to about 125g, which is what I need.

These of course will be temporary. I just can't have this HUGE tank sitting in my living room empty, beside a full 55g. There just isn't enough room, and looks awful.

The Aqua-Tech HOB's are not something that I would recommend, but it's what I have so I have to make it work for now. My other one is an AC, so I know it's good.

We're def keeping our eyes peeled for better equipment, but it isn't in the budget for a little while.

I think it's safe to say that even though I have the correct tank, I'm pretty much really far from actually getting the fish in it. One step at a time. :)

**talldutchie** · 02-04-2013, 07:38 PM

Over here there's an ample supply of used 2213 and 2215 filters. Some in sorry state but occasionally there's a bargain. Perhaps you'll get lucky as well. Good luck with it!

**KevinVA** · 02-04-2013, 07:58 PM

I just saw a used 2213/15 (can't remember which) get sold for $20. Seemed in pretty good condition. A great bargain if it works. Keep your eyes peeled. =]