When is a free tank not a free tank...?

bmxer4ever

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 25, 2006
1,036
7
68
Glasgow, Scotland
My downstairs neighbour has been asking me for a while if I wanted to take a tank off his hands...all equipment, filter, heater, hood and light, gravel, stand and a bunch of Convicts that had been breeding in it.
Tank turned out to be 30x12x18 (approx 20UKgallons) - just what I was looking for to rehouse some of my bigger fish later this year.
Went to see it last Friday. It's been in a flat he's been renting out, but now he's renovating to sell, he wants rid of the tank.
Tank was filthy. The guy that was living there had kinda neglected it. Ammonia was at 8ppm, PH down at 6.4 and Nitrites at 1.6mg/litre...! If it hadn't been Cons in there, I think anythin else would have died! Took immediate action - cleaned the tank glass of algae, gravel vacuumed like hell - must have been half a tub of uneaten food in there! Think I must have done a 2/3 water change and cleaned the filter (which didn't seem to be flowing properly either..). Pooped a nice clean flowerpot in there too as the tank was virtually bare with no cover.
Went back on Monday to start the move. Tank was clearer and fish looked much happier. Started bagging up as much tank water as I could - must have got about 6-8gallons worth. Shifted fish and more water into a 6 gallon holding tub and stuck the heater and filter in there with them.
Got the tank emptied and washed the gravel. Shifted the tank and stand into my car plus any other fish stuff lying about. Back up to the flat and started bagging fish. 2 breeding adult Cons and 22 juveniles (all between 3/4 and 1 1/2")!
Popped them all into a big polystyrene box and got the hell outta there and headed home.
On arriving at my house and unloading, I noticed a little piece of glass in the car.... one of the bottom corners had crumbled!!! NIGHTMARE!!!
Inspected the tank and it didn't look good - would it hold water? Can I repair it??
WHAT THE HELL AM I GONNA DO WITH 24 FISH AND A POTENTIALLY LEAKING TANK??
Put them back into my holding tub along with the heater and filter and an airstone and pump I'd bought that day - £8.99 & £0.95 (and a bunch of Amazon swords I'd bought for the "new" tank...4 @ £1.25 and 1@ £2.50).
Stuck the tank out the back door and filled it with water to leak test it.
Next morning, it's still holding water, but could I take the risk? 20 gallons flooding my kitchen and MY NEIGHBOURS kitchen..??!! Phoned lfs...they had a tank the same size for £26. So guess what happened next..? Yup - a trip to the lfs, bought the new all glass tank as well as a new heater as I didn't like the look of the old one that came with the "free" tank. Electrocution is never fun. So another £14.80. Plus a new thermometer to stick on the new tank....£1.80...
So the "free tank" has turned out to cost me around £60...!
On the up side, my new set up looks fantastic and the fish are lovin it.....probably going to do a repair on the "free" tank and build it into a new garden design out the back and use it for coldwaters. Not so disastrous if it leaks then...
But still...free tank...? I don't think so!
 

big E

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 21, 2005
1,176
0
0
the French Part of Compton
This is what always seems to happen!!! Seems to happen the most with "free" ten gallon tanks, I call it "The curse of the Ten gallon". It always sounds like a good deal but then you end up buying all kinds of stuff for it anyway! On the bright side you have an excuse for a nice new set-up!! Thats always good!!!!
 

bmxer4ever

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 25, 2006
1,036
7
68
Glasgow, Scotland
Wow - old thread rejuvenated! Since my first post, the cons have bred about ten times in their new home, although I sold 15 of the original "adults" to lfs at £2 a pop, so that helped offset the cost of the new stuff I had to buy.
I've since repaired the original tank and used it to replace the top tank in my growout "stack" (see pics for old version). Now I've got two 20 gallon talls in my kitchen and it looks great.
The rest of the Cons will be going to lfs within the next few weeks to make room for some of the bigger fish from my main tank (bottom pic) and I'm going to grow out the fry I've currently got from them and sell them on later.
It's all been an interesting learning experience, so worthwhile doing in the end!

June0636 (2).jpg
 

bmxer4ever

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 25, 2006
1,036
7
68
Glasgow, Scotland
Valyrian;595827; said:
That stand looks scary
Its simple and effective - made out of two steel speaker stands (had them spare cluttering up the house) which have 6"x7" plates on top of them, screwed on to a solid wood plinth to support the whole tank. It's also got a little bracket screwed into the stone wall behind it to eliminate any movement. It's worked a treat for over 6 months now, and I really like the way it looks. There's a 20 gallon tall on top of it now, still holding fine, but I wouldn't want to go any bigger than that. Whole things only 30" wide, so the weight isn't too bad. Cost - Zero bucks and a little time. It's been well worth it.

June0634 (2).jpg
 

cor

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 2, 2005
173
0
0
40
North Dakota
I usually have the same problem with all the tanks I get, bet it free of just cheap.

It seems I always feel the need to get new lights, heater, filter. By the time the tank has quadrupiled in price.....next comes the substrate.

I did once have a 20H with every that I got for $20 spring a leak. It was before I knew what a good reseal job looked like.
 

bmxer4ever

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 25, 2006
1,036
7
68
Glasgow, Scotland
cor;595915; said:
I usually have the same problem with all the tanks I get, bet it free of just cheap.

It seems I always feel the need to get new lights, heater, filter. By the time the tank has quadrupiled in price.....next comes the substrate.

I did once have a 20H with every that I got for $20 spring a leak. It was before I knew what a good reseal job looked like.
Yeah, I think the next time something like this comes up, I'll double check all the equipment, lighting, seals on the tank etc.! Even had to buy a new tube for the lighting once I realised that the one in it was a standard domestic flourescent! And the starter unit turned out to be faulty.... So the only thing that I havn't replaced is the hood and the internal filter....which doesn't seem to be working as well as it should most of the time...!!!
Some free tank,eh?!
 
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