Help my tank has a crack!!!

[Saltguy768]

Hi All, have a question. My tank had a crack (luckily I was able to save maybe 40% of the water and save my floor in the process) and I quickly had to run to my fish store to get a new tank. I am in the process of transferring everything over. The new tank has a filter built in but I am taking the median from my ehim filter for now to help get things going. But curious if I should take my old sand into the new tank and any tips to not kill my fish transferring them to the new tank or if I should run my old filter at the same time as this new one? Also any tips for the water issue losing 60% of my old stuff? Thanks. New tank as an fyi is same size as old

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

I reason not to use your old sand. However it is possible that stirring it up could cause an ammonia spike so I would monitor and be ready with prime, stability and or micrbactor. I use prime and stability but others on here tout microbactor7. Replacing your lost water with new shouldn’t cause much if any problem. Won’t affect the biological filter. If you can run your old filter alongside the new internal might be the best as to not disturb the established bio filter.

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

Now as to how to save your fish. Take the 40% of the water that you have and put it in a trash can/ 5 gallon bucket with heater, powerhead and airstone. The fish should be fine for several hours if you aerate the water and keep it warm. Power head a little bonus to have flow.

 

[jabberwock]

Saving water only matters for some parameter stability. Media matters for bacteria retention. Keep as much as you can for the short term. Definitely keep running the old filter until it all stabilizes.

Sand can be salvaged depending on how old it is. It can be dangerous to "stir up" an old sand bed that has lots of stuff built up in it. Be cautious with reusing sand without a good rinse outside of the tank...

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

Sorry for the issues, but welcome to R2R.

 

[jabberwock]

Sorry for the issues, but welcome to R2R.

Yep, been there, mopped it up, hung it up, and started up again...

Keep your chin up!

 

[Saltguy768]

Thanks so much for your help! I have a bag of new sand is there any downside to using the new sand and throwing out the old?

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

How old is the tank? What size is the tank?

 

[jabberwock]

Thanks so much for your help! I have a bag of new sand is there any downside to using the new sand and throwing out the old?

Downside to throwing out old sand might be getting rid of useful critters and bacterial media. Downside of keeping old sand might be stirring up a lot of detritus and creating ammonia spike. I think you could rinse old sand in RODI and grab the clean looking stuff and supplement with new sand.

 

[Saltguy768]

How old is the tank? What size is the tank?

Tank was 10 years old 32.5 gallons replacing it with a fluval 32.5 kit

 

[jabberwock]

Tank was 10 years old 32.5 gallons replacing it with a fluval 32.5 kit

So, based on the age, be careful with the sand...

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

Your old sand will be colonized with beneficial bacteria. Also anaerobic bacteria, which are also beneficial, but may suffer from being moved and exposed to oxygen.

However if you are going to continue using your filter, and have established rock, new sand won’t hurt anything. And could possibly avoid any spikes from releasing built up detritus. I did this once when I over cleaned a tank. Should only vacuum a portion of your sand at a time.

So if you think you have enough surface area in rock and the Eheim go ahead.

 

[jabberwock]

Tank was 10 years old 32.5 gallons replacing it with a fluval 32.5 kit

Those fluvals are nice! I have a 15.5 as my QT.

 

[jabberwock]

Your old sand will be colonized with beneficial bacteria. Also anaerobic bacteria, which are also beneficial, but may suffer from being moved and exposed to oxygen.

However if you are going to continue using your filter, and have established rock, new sand won’t hurt anything. And could possibly avoid any spikes from releasing built up detritus. I did this once when I over cleaned a tank. Should only vacuum a portion of your sand at a time.

So if you think you have enough surface area in rock and the Eheim go ahead.

Solid knowledge here.

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

10 years of age I agree with @jabberwock that it could be scary. You would know best how often you clean it. If you never vacuum the sand I would definitely rinse. You could set it aside and use the new to get thing running, then give it a reasonable rinse and re use.

 

[Saltguy768]

Solid knowledge here.

Your old sand will be colonized with beneficial bacteria. Also anaerobic bacteria, which are also beneficial, but may suffer from being moved and exposed to oxygen.

However if you are going to continue using your filter, and have established rock, new sand won’t hurt anything. And could possibly avoid any spikes from releasing built up detritus. I did this once when I over cleaned a tank. Should only vacuum a portion of your sand at a time.

So if you think you have enough surface area in rock and the Eheim go ahead.

 

[Saltguy768]

?

 

[Saltguy768]

10 years of age I agree with @jabberwock that it could be scary. You would know best how often you clean it. If you never vacuum the sand I would definitely rinse. You could set it aside and use the new to get thing running, then give it a reasonable rinse and re use.

Appreciate the help. I think I will go new sand (rinsing it thoroughly of course) and mix some of the old with it. I wasn’t planning on using my ehim as the new tank has a built in system, but I guess it can’t hurt to run both filters at the same time. The guy at the store told me to not water change for a month or so thoughts on that and the double filter?

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

Running the double filter IMO is a smart move for your fish. Almost guarantee you will have a bio filter. As far as water changes, there is no benefit of not doing them. Not changing the water will not speed up any type of cycle you might be establishing. What establishes the cycle and grows the beneficial bacteria is ammonia. I would use a seachem ammonia badge, plus test for ammonia at least the first theee or four days. If spikes add bottled bacteria (seed, stability, or microbactor) also add prime as it is supposed to detoxify the ammonia. If you have ammonia spike, do water changes to keep it below toxic levels.

If you don’t have ammonia spikes, you are just allowing nitrates and phosphates to increase in your tank. Now this advice should be taken with some reservations as I don’t know your current nutrients. If you were running near zero nitrates and phosphates your 60 water change could drop them too low. Is you were running 10+ on nitrates and .05-.1 phosphates you should be ok.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Thanks so much for your help! I have a bag of new sand is there any downside to using the new sand and throwing out the old?

You can Wash the sand for reuse, But you don't have time for that right now. You're in crisis mode. Throw a bag of sand in there or not, That's not a requirement. You can do it later