New fish tank!

[annissamazing]

I inherited Kevin's mother's 27 gallon hexagon tank this weekend. It was in pretty bad shape when I got it. She is no longer able to get up on her stepladder to properly clean the tank, so it had a thick coat of algae all over the glass. Plus there's algae on the silicone sealant that I wasn't able to clean off. I think that in the near future I'll need to tear it down and reseal the whole thing. The sealant was actually loosening from the sides while I was cleaning it. I filled it up to check for leaks and there are none. I think I'll tear it down and reseal it when I move. In the meantime I've decided not to spend any money on it and just used the gravel, fake plants, and filters that she sent along with the tank. I'm surprised at how nice it looks in my living room. My heavily-planted tank is prettier, but I'll be able to keep a wider variety of fish in the hex tank since I don't have to worry about fish eating the plants.

Comments

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

How soon are you moving?
It's easier to move a tank that doesn't have live things in it yet...
The idea of devoting it for fish that eat plants, such as silver dollars etc., is a great idea. You may want some algae-eaters in there to keep it cleaned up. Ah hah! you could have some of the really pretty pleco species that chomp plants!
Just pick smaller ones, not the monster 4-footers. For a 27 gallon, I'd try to pick one of those under 1' size. This catfish site might be able to tell you some interesting choices, or have links to others.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm

Also, if the tank doesn't leak now, and it's on the same stand as it was before, you're probably safe for quite awhile. You don't want it to undergo different or uneven stresses than before. The important part is the seal within the seam itself. The outer edges that come loose are just extra holding strenth/cushion to help protect that if there's any bumps or cross-stresses on the glass, and serve as early warning that it may need re-protecting.
It'll need rechecking for leaps when you move it anyway. For a thorough redo during/after moving, I would probably soak it with alternating baths of bleach and vinegar up to the top seam to get rid of the old algae back under the seams, finish with rinse with good doses of deChlor-type tapwater conditioner/neutralizer.
Then I'd use a craft knife very carefully to cut away the old silicone on the inside, taking it slowly and steadily. I'd be tempted to run a bead of aquarium silicone along the outside of the tank seams as well as the inside, though it may look a little odd. Start somewhere that doesn't show much unless you've already had practice, and run a slow continuous bead from top to bottom of any given seam at a time. You usually want to push the bead with the cut applicator tip, and smooth bumps with a wet finger (keep damp shop towels, or wet heavy paper towels, handy to wipe your fingers right away).
I'd leave it air to directions on silicone, usually 24-48 hours, and then rinse it a few times, and check again for leaks before restocking.
I posted some tear-down suggestions to some other folks (same methods applies to moving the tank) over on aquariumplants, if you haven't already seen the comments.
http://www.livejournal.com/community/aquariumplants/
Hope this helps!

[annissamazing]

Thanks for the advice! I also inherited some fish to go with the tank. I've got two albino corys and one, um...not albino cory. And four black skirt tetras. The corys are all 10 years old and the tetras have a few years on them too. They'd been in a 3 gallon bucket with an aerator for about two days. They were put in the tank yesterday at about noon and are now doing very well. I thought I was going to lose one of the tetras for sure, but when I got home yesterday after work, they were all swimming around fine.

I'm not moving any time soon. We just signed another year-long lease last month. We're saving for a house and that'll take a while. I do love my apartment and I'm not exactly in a rush to move out of it.

I'd really love to get some rosy barbs. Is there different rules for stocking hex tanks? I heard something about hex tanks not being able to support as high a bioload as a normal rectangular tank.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

The general guideline of 1" to 1 gallon is for longer lower tanks with more "top surface area" to volume ratio. It's also intended for torpedo-shaped fish like tetras, not tall fish like angels or bulky bruisers like some of the monster cichlids. It originated back when people were not using pumps or aeration of any kind.
It's kind of a safety net now, because although we have better water movement, our tanks tend to run warmer (=less available O2) than they used to, and we push the stocking levels on our tanks (more algae, P and N excess problems).
A planted tank will eat up some of those waste products; wih a non-planted tank, good maintenance, more frequent water changes, using carbon filtration, makes up the difference. Also, I found it helped to use higher quality, finer-grain carbon filtering materials.

IF you can stay 1/3 to 1/4 of the totals inside that 1" rule and do reguarly water changes, you should be very safe.