Good morning again, fish peeps Okay, so we bought this 14 gallon hex (tall) aquarium, with tons of accessories, for a mere twenty bucks off of craigslist. Our single betta boy “Gojira” is eyeing that spacious tank as we speak.. we are so excited to get him out of the little 1.5 gallon box he has been living in!! Sooo, I scrubbed everything with hot, hot water, and I had some aquarium silicone here anyway so I resealed the exterior of the seams just to be safe, since I thought the seams between the panes of glass looked a little thin. Now, here comes the scary part: testing for leaks. The lady I bought it from was very sweet and straighforward, and everything that came with the tank (heater, filter, etc.) works fine, so I am hoping it won’t explode outright or something like that.
Here’s our situation: we live in a condo with people below us. 14 gallons isn’t a huge amount, but let’s say that I don’t want it to rain in our downstairs neighbors’ condo today. We have no yard or hose to do this outside with, we DO have a small balcony, but it is cold as heck today and if I try to test the tank over time outside, it WILL freeze. I could leave the tank on the balcony for a few hours, but after that, we would have a freezing problem. Sooo, my best guess so far is to put the tank on the counter in the kitchen, fill it slowly (and in stages) with bowlfuls of water from the sink, and be ready with lots of towels in the event of disaster! At least it would be on a laminate floor, so I could probably protect the carpet. Our kitchen is not that big, mind you, it is just the largest non-carpeted area. I thought about doing it in the tub, but then no one can take a shower or bath until it is done. How long does this process truly need to be?? I have read where people take days to test their tanks, but we have limited space/ability here. When I know the tank holds water, I can use the siphon to empty it so we can carry it to the dining room (where it will live with Gojira in it). Anyone have any other ideas?? I am so new to this!!!!!
The tank has a manufacturer’s label which reads 96, I am assuming that means it was made in 1996. Is that too old for dependability?? The whole setup looks very well cared for, considering the age.
My last question: the filter is a Whisper Power 30, and it is an intimidating hunk of filter for a mere little betta, in my (uninformed) opinion. We are thinking of just moving over the wee little Whisper that is in Gojira’s 1.5 gallon tank, and just doing regular partial water changes, rather than trying to tweak a loud, string filter to make it weak enough to be okay for Gojira. We don’t plan on putting any other fish in, maybe just a couple of mystery snails. Our betta is a big macho showoff and we figure he would like to be alone (and we would get him a girlfriend but we don’t want baby bettas).
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!