Planted tank leaking

[Alex1]

20 long. How do I remove everything in that tank easy as possible and
Very careful without upsetting the plants and bacteria that is in there.
What is the best way?



~ I love my fish

[troy tucker]

There is no easy way. But it must get done. I would remove half the water to tote and move all the plants in the tote. Carefully! The bacteria is in your filter so you don't need to worry about the substrate.

[Alex1]

I thought there is a lot of bacteria in the substrate as well. So do I just get another tank with new substrate and put the plants in there? I thought it was the bed substrate that had all the bacteria? The leak is at the top of the tank, so it buys me some time , But I'm not going to push it. I have another 20 long that I was using as a hospital tank. It's new. When u say tote u mean the big plastic boxes they sale at Walmart? I was hoping for some big secret way to do this, but there is not one?


~ I love my fish

[Crush]

That's my worst nightmare to have to do something like that. Like Troy suggested get a big plastic tote and stick your leaky tank in there while you get the other ready. I'd buy new substrat and fill the new tank, transplant carefully from old to new.

[troy tucker]

I thought there is a lot of bacteria in the substrate as well. So do I just get another tank with new substrate and put the plants in there? I thought it was the bed substrate that had all the bacteria? The leak is at the top of the tank, so it buys me some time , But I'm not going to push it. I have another 20 long that I was using as a hospital tank. It's new. When u say tote u mean the big plastic boxes they sale at Walmart? I was hoping for some big secret way to do this, but there is not one?


~ I love my fish

As there is bacteria in the substrate. The bacteria that truly matters is in the filter. That alone is enough to have no cycle time on a new tank. If you have a tank already and you have the new substrate. Just transplant everything even the filter. That would be the easiest IMO.

[Alex1]

Ok. Thanks. I'm going to wait till I can get some help, setup a plan and move fast. I will let everybody know how I did it and what did or didn't go wrong. Glad the leak is at the top. That just tells me it's a matter of time before the whole thing goes.


~ I love my fish

[ptran]

Most BB is in the filter. You can also move all the plants out to temp container and move the sand (substrate) to the new tank.

[mredman]

Disturbing your substrate can be toxic to fish because of anaerobic bacteria and hydrogen sulfide that reside within. You should be able to smell the hydrogen sulfide (skunk smell or natural gas) only because hydrogen sulfide has been added as a safety measure because natural gas is odorless.

The good news is that Petco has a sale on tanks up to 55 gallons at $1 per gallon in the event you do not have a replacement tank.

I would still use the substrate but would not introduce the fish for a week as a safety precaution.

Mike

[Alex1]

Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you. Maybe I will use this as an opportunity to put a different substrate, like Eco plants or something good for plants.


~ I love my fish

[ptran]

Disturbing your substrate can be toxic to fish because of anaerobic bacteria and hydrogen sulfide that reside within. You should be able to smell the hydrogen sulfide (skunk smell or natural gas) only because hydrogen sulfide has been added as a safety measure because natural gas is odorless.

The good news is that Petco has a sale on tanks up to 55 gallons at $1 per gallon in the event you do not have a replacement tank.

I would still use the substrate but would not introduce the fish for a week as a safety precaution.

Mike

If you can smell H2S, you have bigger problem. LOL.
I always stir up the sand at water change without any problem. You actually want to do that to remove the debris that trap in the sand.