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Best way to update my five-year-old scape

BenjP

BenjP

New Member
Joined
29 May 2019
Messages
12
Location
Falmouth
Hey folks,

After five and a bit years I've finally decided to re-scape my much-loved 60p, and I'm eager for some advice on the best way to do it.

It's a hi-tech setup currently stocked with ember tetras, chilli rasboras, a few sulky Otos and god knows how many cherry shrimp. I don't have a separate tank so I'm looking for the quickest and easiest way to start fresh without putting too much stress on the beasts. Here's the setup as it is:

- Oase Biomaster 350 Thermo.
  • ADA Aquasky RGB60.
  • Life Aqua single gauge regulator with Co2 Art inline diffuser.
  • Twinstar M5 steriliser (that I'm not convinced does anything whatsoever, but my partner likes it so it's staying).

1737810544270.png

In an ideal world, I'd remove the livestock, re-scape the tank, pop them back in again and pay close attention to the water params, but I fully appreciate the risks involved in that. My thinking is that the matrix is five years old and should be capable of handling the transition, and I'd rather have the livestock in a planted tank where I can keep a beady eye on them than shacked up in a plastic tub for a month. Any suggestions would be welcome!

Cheers,

Ben.
 
Your tank looks lovely, but appreciate the urge to redesign. I am hoping to do the same to mine, so interested in what people say.

I was loosely planning to purchase a large plastic tub 60cm x 30/40cm x 30/40cm, move some of the old hardscape, substrate and plants to it and fill with water from my aquarium. Move the filter outlet/inlet to the holding 'tank' and rig the light above it. Move the livestock across. Then fully deconstruct my main tank and rescape/plant it up/flood it etc and then reattach the filter and then (maybe) move the livestock back across and water change like mad for a bit. I don't know... haven't fully thought it through, so keen to get some guidance too!

I am planning to invest in a second cannister filter to run in-sync with my Biomaster 850, which I expect will make this easier and safer if I install and mature beforehand. Surely key is maintaining a healthy bacterial colony at each stage.

Funnily enough, I am going from a jungle scape to hopefully something similar to your nature style - only with (I hope) a lush carpet instead of sand!
 
BenjP said:
plastic tub for a month
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I lost some fish in a large tub many years ago, despite a heater/stat and filter with tank water and the filter had been running on the tank for ages. So I appreciate the concern.

Your tank is actually spectacular...but in my experience, if you take your time, one thing at a time sort of activity, a tank can be re-scaped with fish etc., in situ, especially if you keep an eye on the pre-filter. Hardscape out one day, plants another, freshen up the substrate or carefully syphon out, I even removed pea gravel with a syphon tube of large diameter, not catching shrimp however is an art if the suction is strong, add new hardscape, and then re-scape, with some new or existing plants, a few evenings over a week. A carpet can be done by the way on sand, just add lots of nutrient tabs.

To keep fish from a panic responses a few big rosette style plants on weights seem to take the urge to dart out of them, a big plant, and you have Java fern, can always be rinsed gently under a luke warm tap if silt covered.
 
What do you intend when you say rescape? Are you changing the substrate? Than can be an issue if you intend to use one that will leach a lot of ammonia. Are you keeping the current plants? You currently have a lot of plant mass that will do doing some/a lot of the waste processing - if you, for example, ditched that and just used little tissue culture plants - again that would be a more tricky transition.

If you are keeping the plants, the filter, and either reusing the substrate or replacing it with something that isn't a big leach it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Get a big 25l bucket or tub (with lid) and house the fish in that with some of the plants for cover. Heater and airline. Do the rescape, add them back in and just increase your water changes.
 
Thanks for the responses, I think the suggestion of doing things gradually in stages might be the most sensible approach for me..

That's exactly it, @Connswater . I'm really keen to avoid any losses. I know there's risk inherent in reintroducing livestock to a 'new' scape, but my hope is these risks will be mitigated by my use of the existing five-year-old media and overall plant mass. I suppose my query is whether that's enough?

@tam Ideally I'd like to gut it and use some of the existing plants, along with the established filter media, to completely redesign the scape. I was planning to use Tropica aquasoil because as I understand it, it won't leech as much ammonia as the ADA soil I've used previously.

I think a combination of both your suggestions make sense to me. Thanks again.
 
BenjP said:
Thanks for the responses, I think the suggestion of doing things gradually in stages might be the most sensible approach for me..

That's exactly it, @Connswater . I'm really keen to avoid any losses. I know there's risk inherent in reintroducing livestock to a 'new' scape, but my hope is these risks will be mitigated by my use of the existing five-year-old media and overall plant mass. I suppose my query is whether that's enough?

@tam Ideally I'd like to gut it and use some of the existing plants, along with the established filter media, to completely redesign the scape. I was planning to use Tropica aquasoil because as I understand it, it won't leech as much ammonia as the ADA soil I've used previously.

I think a combination of both your suggestions make sense to me. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
id say its worth it to buy a small cheap tank, and fill it up with mature media and leave it for a bit, and add bits and pieces from the scape, add the filter/heater and pop the fish in, its a bit of work but worth it as this woule be the safest way
 
I used the tropica soil when I set mine up and never had a spike (although planted heavily from the start so I could have missed it). I'd be inclined to say that your plan will work. As long as the tank can cope with the waste - which it should with an established filter - then it's not much different to moving fish from shop to tank. To minimise risk as much as possible, I would add an airline, keep the CO2 minimal and increase gradually to minimise stress, any plants (particularly stems) you aren't reusing you could temporarily float or plant in an easy to remove spot to keep the plant mass up whilst it settles. Pick a date when you are going to have plenty of time for water changes over the next few weeks as backup. Do you target feed your otos or are they living off the algae? If it's the later, you could grow some (rocks in water in a light spot) as you'll be short on snacks in a new set up.

I've not tried it, but it might be you could presoak the substrate to age it if you did want to go for the ADA soil or were worried about the tropica leaching. Could also do a test - soak some and test the water.
 
I have used Tropica soil and did have quite a long startup period with a lot of algae and surface scum. I did not test the water and did do frequent (2x week) water changes. Therefore I would not recommend adding the soil while keeping the livestock in. Setting up a secondary tank seems a safer choice to me.

Note: I am not a very experienced/successful fish keeper.
 
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