leeves Posted January 7, 2003 Report Share Posted January 7, 2003 Hi all I have a question regarding 25L plastic jerry cans. I intend to use a few of these for water transport of a new tank that I am about to obtain. The problem is they used to contain chemicals of some description I am guessing that it was gasoline. I am in the process of emptying them numerous times to remove the residues. Is there a solution/chemical that I can use to eradicate this? or is the continual process of filling and emptying enough I need to transport as much of the existing water as possible to seed the tank when it reaches my house then fill with new water as well as water from my own existing tank... hmmm complicated... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted January 7, 2003 Report Share Posted January 7, 2003 Hi leeves Fill it 3/4 with water and a hanful of ordinary washing powder. Swoosh it around a few times, let it stand for an hour or so, then wash with the same water and a scouring pad. Rinse it once more thoroughly then let dry. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted January 7, 2003 Report Share Posted January 7, 2003 leeves said... > ... . The problem is they used to contain chemicals of some > description I am guessing that it was gasoline. I'd avoid using them. To me, it's not worth the risk. Not much point going to all the effort (not to mention the waste of the rinsing water, be careful where you dispose of it if it's got hydrocarbon/chemical residues) if you end up poisoning your fish. You wont know until it's too late... You could try and borrow some fishboxes from your LFS and line them a plastic rubbish bag. Or borrow clean containers off a friend. > I need to transport as much of the existing water as possible > to seed the tank when it reaches my house then fill with new > water as well as water from my own existing tank... I'd be more concerned with shifting the biological filter alive than moving the water. In most circumstances even a big change with clean water will do no harm if relevant parameters are matched. If you need to, you can half fill the new tank, it doesn't need to go right to the top on day one... Just some ideas. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted January 7, 2003 Report Share Posted January 7, 2003 Be very suspect of plastics since they can be tainted by chemicals for a long time. I once brought a 20ltr cont for a camping water supply from a liqour outlet. Washed it out with detergents numerous times, soaked it for a couple of weeks and after a year latter and 3 weeks of use it still tasted of Port. I hate Port! Next time I'll choose the Whiskey container. If stuck Payless Plastics etc have cheap containers and will save the hassle of all the washing out, but as Andrew said it wouldn't take much old water to seed your new tank. I just set up a new tank with 25% old water 75% new. The tank clouded slightly overnight but there was no change in the water chemistry. I wouldn't hesitate in using only 10% or less next time. Admittedly I used the same gravel and plants. Cheers Shilo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted January 7, 2003 Report Share Posted January 7, 2003 Hi there Leeves, Welcome to the forum. Not worth the risk. You might eliminate the smell but the toxins will remain forever. A friend of mine is a stainless steel welder. A job came up to repair a crack in the tank of a petrol tanker. The tank had been filled to the brim with water for over a month, and was constantly topped up as it leaked. They drained the tank and wiped it out. No sign of any smell was apparent, but on striking the arc my mate was blown to the other end of the tank, and still bears the scars after 15years. It may smell ok, but you can never be sure. What sort of fish do you have ? Regards, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted January 7, 2003 Report Share Posted January 7, 2003 I will add my tupence worth here and totally agree that the danger of contamination is too great. For me I would get some cheap containers from a place such as Pay Less Plastics or the Warehouse. They have huge rubbish bins for a few dollars. Much easier and cheaper than replacing your fish and spending all that time n effort of trying to clean out the "free" containers. Good luck with the move., Please post how you did it and how you got on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeves Posted January 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2003 thanks for your help every one. I did go and buy a 50L square container (with lid, wheels too) for about twenty bucks form Payless Plastics it can always be used for storage of misc items in the end. I will take that and fill it twice, keep the water in a similar container I have (but no lid) at home I should be doing at least two trips there and back, 100 litres in total ? the tank is 1750x600x600 so what would be a safe amount of water to transport? yes i do intend to keep the fluval external canister filter "live" what would be the best way to do that ? oh and the gravel bed too though he was using an under gravel filter. Will this get completly disrupted in the move if the gravel is totally taken out of the tank ? I hope that was not too many questions at once. :-? At the moment the fish I keep are angels, a pleco, neons, two (not so) golden guramis and a rainbow shark pretty boring ... the fish in the tank that Im about to purchase are - hmmm now let me see, I only saw it for about 20 mins so off the top of my head goes a large pleco, a bristle nose, assorted mollies and tetras, a horse face loach, a golden algae eater,a beta and two cichlids that resemble Jurupari Earth Eater/Geophagus but it had no spot (Im really not sure :oops:) I dont think he knew the name of it either ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 How sealed is the lid? You might find quite a bit of sloshing going on if you fill it too far. If you have at least half the original tank water that will be fine. Take the canister filter home with you on the first trip and hang it off your tank at home until you get the new one home too. I would be inclined to suck as much muck out from the gravel as possible as it may cause problems with bacteria dying off in the move. Someone else may know more about it than me though, I have not moved an UGF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 Leeves said... > the tank is 1750x600x600 so what would be a safe amount of > water to transport? That's, what? 600L? And you'll be transporting 2 x 50L (probably significantly less, more like 2 x 40L)? That's not a huge fraction but as I said before, you don't need to fill the tank all the way on day one - as long as filters and heaters are working. And you'll be adding the filter and water from your old tank? That should help.. > ... i do intend to keep the fluval external canister filter "live" > what would be the best way to do that ? You could just set it going on a bucket of tank water once you get it home. It should be OK as long as there is oxygenated water flow over the media. > oh and the gravel bed too though he was using an under > gravel filter. Will this get completly disrupted in the move > if the gravel is totally taken out of the tank ? You're going to continue with the UGF? I would. It should be OK as long as you get it going again as soon as you can (ie within a few hours) and don't let it dry out. Bear in mind that this shift is going to put a strain on the biological filtration of the tank and therefore the fish it contains. Don't add any new fish for a few weeks and keep a close eye on the behaviour and condition of the ones there. Do as many small water changes as you can from a couple of days after the tank is set up. If you have test kits, use them and be prepared to do bigger water changes if things start getting really out of hand. It should all be do-able, as long as you're careful. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 *Runs off to the tank* Geo. Jurupari don't have a spot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 Hi leeves I was wrong with "just swooshing it around". I did not know what was in it and for what purpose. Now someone mentioned your tank is a 600 litre one. In that case, 40 to 80 liters of aquariumwater makes no difference at all. You might as well start with freshwater. You also didn't mention the distance. A Flugal's biological system could be kept alive for a few hours in the open and with established water for much longer. But the removal and subsequent re-installation of an u/g filter is another story. Caryl says you should pick up as much "muck" as possible. Right. But have you ever moved an u/g filter? It is murder. Then reinstalling it again, more murder. It would take a long time to clear the tank. You would almost have to use a DIATOM filter to clear it. But that negates the purpose of bacteria keeping, muck keeping. If you want to be serious, ask the LFS if you could hire one of his tanks for a while,to keep the fish for a while, paying a fee of course, then re-setup you tank. When everything is OK, then get your fish and put them in a clean AND established tank. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeves Posted January 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 well I just been up to to check the tank out again and to see what fish I want to keep... It turns out Im going to take them all. neons, x-rays, glowlights and black neons various mollys and platies that I did not intend to take but felt I should when I heard they would end up as bird/fish food, besides I could always trade them at latter date though saying that there were some nice variations that he had bred... two rainbow fish the cichlids I saw actually do have a spot on them and a nice rainbow sheen to them so I definatley want them. a female bristle nose a large banded pleco which I was told is over ten years old and the most valueable fish in the tank apparently... and the other fish I mentioned earlier so I intend to transport the fish,at least 75 litres of water, the canister filter the heaters and other equipment tomorrow evening and set the fish up with a few of the plants in a small tank with the canister filter and heater and keep them somewhere darkish to keep them docile...? then do the big move of the tank and stand on saturday afternoon clean it and the gravel and hopefully have it all set back up on Sunday. I also intend to reinforce my lounge room floor with some nogs/nougs too. There used to be a fireplace where the tank is intended to be so Im sure it should be ok if I dont put any there but I will for my peace of mind. cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 We were lucky as when we built our house we were unsure where the fireplace would eventually go so the builder put in extra piles along a couple of the walls. One of them is just where we decided to put the big tank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeves Posted January 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 Hi all, just thought I might give you a few updates on the move... Im sorry that this thread has mutated into something else but OHHHWELL... so so far no fish deaths which is good! I now have every thing from the moving and am now giving the tank a good clean out! :-? hard work in deed... I will go into more detail as to how I did it later, but I did end up using some of the plastic jerry cans I mentioned ages ago any way got to go clean the tank now but I have yet to put it all together in my lounge, set it up, fill with water and all the rest so I aint in the clear yet ... but I will keep u posted! (excuse the pun) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeves Posted January 31, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2003 thought i might put some closure on this thread as i have had the tank set up and running for over two weeks now... well I moved everything to my house without a hitch and no fish deaths so that was a good start... I then put all the fish in a small 50 litre tank (was a bit cramped) with some gravel, a small power head, heater, some plants that came with the tank, most of the water I transported with me and the external canister filter (I wanted to keep this live so got this back in operation as soon as possible) from the original tank. They stayed like this for two nights no deaths but a few stressed and nipped fins that have healed fine. After the second night I went about cleaning the tank out and scraping most of the algae off the glass (I have not had an algae bloom yet either!) I then moved the stand into position and then the polysheets and tank. Scaping it was quite fun (ie the rocks part but not the plants as it ita deep tank) I put the poly sheets that were in the tank originaly back in to place, as the rocks I am using are rather heavy and the largest of which is pointing directly up to the ceiling. Gravel next then water, the gravel is now a pain in the neck as Im now replacing it with a dark grey 2-6mm gravel and the largish white still shows through but it looks ok. For the water I ended up using all the stuff I brought with me about 75 litres plus another 75 litres from my own hundred litre tank plus dechlorinated tap water (well no I lie I filled it up to 3 quarters full with the garden hose then added the dechlorinator). I then installed the filter in a tempoary spot and got that going with the heaters I also scavenged my small internal power filter for water surface difussion. With everything up and running I then proceded to catch all the fish in their temp home and put them in buckets (plus my other fish form my 100 litre) This took a rather long time though saying that it, it was easier with the holding tank being so small. Harold my large banded pleco and a horse face loach were the last to be caught, with Harold getting caught in a net- I had to rip the the net right off as the damn fish kept thrashing about getting more tangled as it did so. The loach was another matter... about half to three quarters of an hour to catch that little slippery devil as the holding tank had substrate which it proceded to lose it self into, I had to remove all the gravel to get at it. so I eventually acclimatised the new inhabitants to their old/new tank and watched for any signs of stress and the like but all went well and no mishaps to report (yet) so cheers and thanks for all the help and advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted January 31, 2003 Report Share Posted January 31, 2003 Hey there Leeves, Was wondering how you were going with the move. Real pleased to hear you had no fatalities. The Plecos can be a bit of a handful to move, especially the big fellas, but they are such a great fish.... who would be without one :) Great to see you back on the forum, and hope you keep us posted. Regards, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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