Total overhaul of 20gallon betta tank.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:06 pm

I just ripped the aquarium apart, did a seventy percent water change, pulled out the internal filter I had(it kept eating my smaller fish), I put my old 30-60gallon hob filter back on and now I'm waiting for the sand particles to settle. whew

dylan644 · Post by **dylan644** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:59 pm

Yikes!! That's no fun at all!

HermitCrabby_LHC · Post by **HermitCrabby_LHC** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:29 pm

I did that the other...........week. with our 300 full living room wall tank. We stick peices of plexiglass and seal them with temperary sealent then move the fish out, clean the section and put everything back in. Then took out the wall and got the sealent off. Three times. Took 3 days to do. Uhg. But it hadent been done in a year as its super hard.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 4:46 pm

Yeah I was worried about the bacterial infection that basically wiped out my bettas I've only got Misty left though the Corydoras are doing well so I decided to sterilize everything using a weak mix of apple cider vinegar and water then everything that was treated was rinsed well under hot tap water for thirty minutes. Out of five of my Rasbora Hets I've only got two left though that is because the water chemistry wasn't right for them I didn't know that they require tannic or hummic acid in the water to survive until fairly recently so I addressed the issue but unfortunately my internal filter had eaten three of them trapping them against the intake killing them.

dylan644 · Post by **dylan644** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:22 pm

Hey Crabber, have you ever heard of a UV sterilizer? They are like filters, only they take in water and run it around a UV light and the light kills the bad bacteria in the water, but leaves enough good to keep the tank healthy. It is also suppose to keep the tank water really clear. I heard they were really expensive, but I found one at Pet Supplies "Plus" that looked like it could fit in a 20gal and I think it was about reg. $30. It's definitely not a brink of a moment decision, however it is something I thought you would be interested in hearing about since it could help you with your betta and other fish.That really sucks that your Rasboras got trapped by the intake. Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully the water change will help with the illnesses.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:24 pm

@dylan, thanks for the info I'm definitely going to be checking into the UV sterilizer.I know they are very popular with marine aquarists.

dylan644 · Post by **dylan644** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:31 pm

Yes, that is the other thing I ran across. I watch a video of a guy who used them and he said that usually you can only find them in marine tanks, but they can be used for freshwater as well. It's just not a common practice used in freshwater tanks.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 12:16 pm

I just went to town today and put out nearly thirty dollars of my vacation money on a new hob filter because my old Marine Land hob quit working on me suddenly early yesterday the turbine got off balance and ground out it's seat in it's housing causing the unit to be quite useless as it would no longer pull water and only wanted to make a rattling sound as the turbine bounced back and forth on the motor. If it aint one thing its another.