Getting motivated
 

I've had a few emails from people inquiring about my recent absence
around here. Nothing bad was going on, I just had a bunch of work
and family stuff to take care of, and I wasn't feeling very interested
in my tanks. For the most part, I just fed the tanks every day and
that was about it. The 75g was left overgrown, and spot algae had
covered most of the glass.

Finally I gave the 75g some much needed attention. Pulled out every
single plant, did a good cleaning on the gravel, and re-arranged the
tank. I suspect the new look of the tank will jump start things for
me.

In the time the tank was neglected, several species of plants seemed
to have disappeared completely from the tank. These include my
Pearlweed, Baby Tears ( a tiny bit left floating, might recover),
Hygro, and Windelov Java Fern. I had a big rock completely covered
with Windelov JF, and now it's a rock with a few old roots attached.
I did find one small windelov JF plant that was ok, so it might
re-establish itself.

Here's a picture of the tank. The water is still very cloudy, and I
haven't even really cleaned the outside glass all the way, but it'll
give a general idea of the new layout. In the next day or two, I'll
actually get around to updating my website with new good pictures!

http://dev1.cfxc.com/chuck/tank030609.jpg

The piece of driftwood laying flat near the center of the tank just
settled there while I was cleaning, and I noticed that it looked good
that way.


Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

Getting motivated
 

On Mon, 09 Jun 2003 12:53:53 -0600, Chuck Gadd wrote:

I've had a few emails from people inquiring about my recent absence
around here. Nothing bad was going on, I just had a bunch of work
and family stuff to take care of, and I wasn't feeling very interested
in my tanks. For the most part, I just fed the tanks every day and
that was about it. The 75g was left overgrown, and spot algae had
covered most of the glass.

Finally I gave the 75g some much needed attention. Pulled out every
single plant, did a good cleaning on the gravel, and re-arranged the
tank. I suspect the new look of the tank will jump start things for
me.

In the time the tank was neglected, several species of plants seemed
to have disappeared completely from the tank. These include my
Pearlweed, Baby Tears ( a tiny bit left floating, might recover),
Hygro, and Windelov Java Fern. I had a big rock completely covered
with Windelov JF, and now it's a rock with a few old roots attached.
I did find one small windelov JF plant that was ok, so it might
re-establish itself.

Here's a picture of the tank. The water is still very cloudy, and I
haven't even really cleaned the outside glass all the way, but it'll
give a general idea of the new layout. In the next day or two, I'll
actually get around to updating my website with new good pictures!

http://dev1.cfxc.com/chuck/tank030609.jpg

The piece of driftwood laying flat near the center of the tank just
settled there while I was cleaning, and I noticed that it looked good
that way.


Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

Hi Chuck:

I'm curious, and I was planning to post the question to the list, when
one does a major cleaning/re-design of a planted tank it is necessary
to remove the fish in order to do so?

I'm asking because I have a 120g 24x48x24 inch tank and I would like
to re-design it by moving plants and building and installing a slate
landscape. I cannot move the fish because this is the only tank I
have.

Any suggestions you may have would be appreciated.

Robin

Getting motivated
 

120 is a big tank... you could get a 30 gal rubbermaid container and fill it
with aquarium water. Catch and put your fish in that container and do your
redesign. I have done this, keeping my fish in the rubbermaid for 2 days.
Just run heater and airstone in the rubbermaid and the fish will be fine.
Wash it first!

HTH,

DJay


wrote in message
...
On Mon, 09 Jun 2003 12:53:53 -0600, Chuck Gadd wrote:

I've had a few emails from people inquiring about my recent absence
around here. Nothing bad was going on, I just had a bunch of work
and family stuff to take care of, and I wasn't feeling very interested
in my tanks. For the most part, I just fed the tanks every day and
that was about it. The 75g was left overgrown, and spot algae had
covered most of the glass.

Finally I gave the 75g some much needed attention. Pulled out every
single plant, did a good cleaning on the gravel, and re-arranged the
tank. I suspect the new look of the tank will jump start things for
me.

In the time the tank was neglected, several species of plants seemed
to have disappeared completely from the tank. These include my
Pearlweed, Baby Tears ( a tiny bit left floating, might recover),
Hygro, and Windelov Java Fern. I had a big rock completely covered
with Windelov JF, and now it's a rock with a few old roots attached.
I did find one small windelov JF plant that was ok, so it might
re-establish itself.

Here's a picture of the tank. The water is still very cloudy, and I
haven't even really cleaned the outside glass all the way, but it'll
give a general idea of the new layout. In the next day or two, I'll
actually get around to updating my website with new good pictures!

http://dev1.cfxc.com/chuck/tank030609.jpg

The piece of driftwood laying flat near the center of the tank just
settled there while I was cleaning, and I noticed that it looked good
that way.


Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

Hi Chuck:

I'm curious, and I was planning to post the question to the list, when
one does a major cleaning/re-design of a planted tank it is necessary
to remove the fish in order to do so?

I'm asking because I have a 120g 24x48x24 inch tank and I would like
to re-design it by moving plants and building and installing a slate
landscape. I cannot move the fish because this is the only tank I
have.

Any suggestions you may have would be appreciated.

Robin

Getting motivated
 

On Mon, 09 Jun 2003 22:52:02 GMT, wrote:

I'm curious, and I was planning to post the question to the list, when
one does a major cleaning/re-design of a planted tank it is necessary
to remove the fish in order to do so?

It really depends on what you are doing. In my case, I wasn't
removing substrate, just pulling all the rocks/wood/plants. I left
all the fish in the tank.

I did completely replaced the substrate in my 29g tank without
removing the fish. I had to work slowly, to avoid scooping up any
fish and or shrimp, and to avoid burying them when dumping in the new
gravel. Frequent water changes were required to keep the water
survivable.

I'm asking because I have a 120g 24x48x24 inch tank and I would like
to re-design it by moving plants and building and installing a slate
landscape. I cannot move the fish because this is the only tank I

If possible, do one half of the tank then the other. Keep the
filtration running, and plan on changing/cleaning the filter several
times during the renovation. Messing with the substrate kicks up a
lot of junk in the water, and it will clog filter pads very quickly.

Also, All the junk that gets kicked up can cause a big spike in the
tank ammonia level. Adding Ammo-lock or Seachem Prime will
neutralize the ammonia.


Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

Getting motivated
 

Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

I redid my 75 and swapped a Via Aqua Filter on it and I like it.

I see you are trying for the lower mainteance plant groupings. Well
with family and other things that suck your time, I think many would
do well with a bit less light and slower growers.

But I'm trying to stay true to my desgin and keep all locally
collected weeds/fish for this tank.

Damn Madtom cats eat my shrimps and anything else they get a hold of.
They make me a mad Tom. Go figure.
Still, one of the nicest little cats.

The mollies are plentyful and do an okay job at hair algae etc but
don't do much for glass algae etc. The ghost shrimp don't any any
algae I can tell,
I might have to get an a small pleco for an algae eater. Flagfish are
fine but they are no better than the mollies.
Otto's or Amano's are out since the cats will/have eat/en them.

So are you going to build up any "hills" out of wood or rock for the
tank? Cover those with ferns/moss etc?
Regards,
Tom Barr


Regards,
Tom Barr