Kids messed up the new/second hand tank...any advice anyone ??

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
O

Ophelia

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 17, 2011
33
0
0
Australia
Well after bringing home 3 goldfish and 6 cloud fish last week, I've learned that I needed a bigger tank. This week was spent looking around for something bigger until I found a reasonable second hand 3ft tank, holds 70 liters. I think this will hold 3 gold fish comfortably.

Anyway today was spent purchasing a new filter set up, live plants and sand for the aquarium. When we got home my two boys 9 and 10 thought they would set the tank up for me, while I was mowing the lawn, (god bless em).

Anyway when I got back inside the boys had put the sand straight in the tank with the plants and water, needless to say it's a big mess, the water is extremely cloudy.....short of emptying everything out and starting again, I really don't know what to do. The sand is quartz sand.

Will the cloudiness eventually clear up ?
Should I run the new filter while it is this cloudy ?
Should I just empty the lot out, get some gravel and start over ?
How long should I let the filter run on clean water before adding the 3 goldies ?
Finally can I trade my boys in for some nice goldies ? (just joking, I love em dearly, they meant well !!)

Any advice will be much appreciated.
 
Hello,

I've used sand in many tanks and I didn't rinse them for the fact it is messy so adding it to the tank should be fine. Run your filter and it should catch alot of the tiny sand particles. I have used a product called bio magnet I believe its called, it came with a bag of sand once and it worked great. If you have never used sand before don't give up on it once its all settled in you will be very impressed!

Let it clear before adding your fish. Im not sure what 70 L is in gallons but add small amounts of fish at a time.
 
Just drain the tank, take the sand out and rinse it in buckets. It's better to do it the right way now, than to deal with all the BS later when your tank gets cloudy every time you do a water change.
 
Thanks Shellie, so I only need to rinse the sand once ?? Poor kids are emptying out the tank now and 6pm here in Australia lol
 
Just let your filter run with the mechanical filtration.
It will clear up in 1-2 weeks. Then water changes as normal will be fine.

Atleast thats how my 8 foot tank worked...
 
I wouldnt use my filter to clean sand. Put it in buckets and run water in it while you stir it, tilt the bucket to let the water run out, keep stirring and pouring until the water runs out clear. This is THE RIGHT WAY to do it, everyone else is being lazy.
 
The best and easiest thing to do, if you have the means, is to simultaneously have a hose running clean water in to the tank, and a siphon hose taking water out of the tank. I fill directly from the sink with a Python style system, and use a gravity fed siphon hose to put the water out a nearby window. You want to do it at an equal rate, so the water level doesn't get too high or low.
If you do this, your water should be completely clear in under an hour, and will probably clean your sand even better than buckets, especially if you stir it up during the process.
 
That's awesome advice aclockworkorange, If I could do it that way I would. Right at this very minute my young fellow is busy with syphon and emptying the cloudy water into a bucket then dumping it on my garden, all the while telling me "see I told you to get gravel mum"!

Looks like a long night ahead, after we have this sorted we have to refill the tank with buckets again and start over...not to worry, a great learning curve for the newbies !!
 
My filter is a sump, so was super easy to just run it with mechanical filtration.
Just a case of more then one way to skin a cat. There is no definite absolutes here
My 2cents
 
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