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Downsizing

jolt100

Member
Joined
13 Jan 2008
Messages
209
Location
bury,lancs
Hi all, I am downsizing from my 120cm 330litre to a 90cm 200l quite soon and thought I should keep a journal to monitor progress and perhaps ask for some opinions.

So before I start here is the current tank which has been running for 15years.
20220818_171523.jpg


It's a bit overgrown but its not an aquascape and the fish seem to like it.
Inhabitants are mainly small Aphyosemion species (Killifish) 3 or 4 types 50 or 60?
P. Normanii (lampeye) 15 ish
4 emperor tetra which must have transferred as fry in some moss from the Emperor breeding tank in the shed and survived.
Corydoras Sterbai and Gossii. 6+12
Cherry shrimp. ??

The Aphyosemions mainly live in the large java fern so I need to keep much of that after some pruning. The rhizome is completly intertwined .
The middle crypt is also difficult to split as the roots are so tight.
Lighting is a mixture of T5 and 2x20w floodlights.
CO2 is circulated via one full length spraybar using a 3000lph external circulation pump through a cerges reactor.
Filter is Eheim 4+ 350 through a second full length spraybar.
The image doesnt show the reds in the stems.
I keep two large clumps of semi emersed hydrocotyle as fry refuges
Substrate is a mix of pea gravel from a previous tank, moler clay cat litter and river sand. It was layered but is now mixed.
Tap water is very soft <1KH and<2GH. I add EI ferts and some MgSO4 , oyster shell grit and Potassium Carbonate which might give 1KH 2-3GH for the Cherry shrimp.

So now I have to work out how to make the changeover, I will take more pics as I go along👍
Cheers
John
 
Update after 6days.

Do you ever get the feeling you wish you had left things as they were? Thats were I am up to🤣

Made a start ,took out the big java fern
20220831_140508.jpg

Then the rest of the crypts, stems and carpet.
And put them in a holding tank with a small circulation pump and airstone and about 100l of the water.
Then it took 2 days to catch the fish and shrimps in the murky water. Put in a shrimp trap

But only succeded in catching fish🤔, although that was a plus.
Moved the fish in batches as I caught them and moved to another tank in the fishhouse.
It took another day and a half to move the (very heavy) tank to a position next to the garage to use for daphnia, and dismantle the old cabinet. 3x2 carcase and mdf panels with oak front. I didn't realise how many screws I had used but it wasn't going to collapse!

Put the new tank and stand in position

20220902_140811.jpg

Wasn' sure if I should use the Twinstar 900s or keep the modified Giesemann with 2 led floods. Decided to keep the Giessmann as I will have some emersed pots where the gaps are.
There was a lot of used tropica soil with the tank but it was mixed with lave rock chippings so decided to keep my old cat litter,gravel and sand after a quick rinse .
The idea was to add the substrate then position some rocks and wood then select plants from my holding tank but I went into panic mode when I found that the holding tank of plants were deteriorating rapidly.
They were tightly packed and I should have given them more circulation, or preselected what I would use and kept just those in the holding tank.
So I put the old water and some of the plants in the new tank and topped up with new aged water. I ran my old Eheim and the Oase 850t that came with the tank side by side
20220903_175830.jpg


After 3 days


20220905_120836.jpg
most of the stems melted.

I am going to leave it for another week and see if everything else starts to recover.
Not sure if I should strip it and start again ?
 

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Thanks Darrel, I'll do that for a couple of weeks and see what starts to recover. Fortunately I have back ups in the fish house.
 
Well, after a couple of weeks I think I have finally fixed my CO2 problems. When I reassembled my CO2 and reactor I couldn't get a consistent bubble count, some days it wouldn't start at all. Finally traced it to the joint between the regulator and the solenoid, I couldn't trace it with soap solution and resorted to sticking a piece of airline in my ear and going round every joint, I also found two holes in the CO2 tubing, a piece I thought was unused. The joints on the CO2Art regulator all seem to be sealed with threadlock not threadseal and this makes them very difficult dismantle. Once back together using Loctite 567 everything is now stable.
Unfotunately I now have BBA on the buce and both the Stauragynes and will have to give them a brutal trim.
This was last week after I reintroduced some of the livestock.

20220918_171726.jpg



I intend to leave things to settle for a couple more weeks , other than trimming the BBA, to see how the rest settles in before rearranging slightly and putting more fish back.
16638593153063014370072353396873.jpg

This is today after 3 weeks.
 
Another 3 weeks on and I only had to remove a bit of melted plant. The stems started to recover and grow but not as quickly as in the old tank where I would have to cut back weekly. I dont understand why as the lighting and substrate are the same. There are a lot less fish so far?
20221002_154727.jpg

This was at 4 weeks. Still some BBA on the buces and stauragyne but I was reluctant to take leaves off the buce and tried first spot treating peroxide then glutaraldehyde without success so took some away.
Trimmed the stems which now seem to be growing faster.
I noticed that the frogbit has"tiger stripes" and some of the Blyxa japonica on the right is turning pink. I introduced a couple more from another tank which were bright green and they are starting to change colour after a week.
This is 5 weeks
20221011_185707.jpg

And top view of frogbit and hydrocotyle.
20221011_185718.jpg

Reading some past posts it looks like I need to increase the ferts but dont want the conductivity to increase further, its currently 250microS, tapwater is 70.
I frontload some of the macros, KNO3, MgSO4, MKP. And add Pot carbonate and CAN 3x weekly with Solufeed traces alternate days.
I have some Urea and could add small amounts daily if the frogbit needs Nitrogen? Any suggestions?
I will increase the livestock over the next couple of weeks when/if I can catch them in the fishhouse, difficult in planted tanks on racks because theres not much room to manouvre and they are fast☺️
 
I noticed that the frogbit has"tiger stripes" and some of the Blyxa japonica on the right is turning pink.

I have some Urea and could add small amounts daily if the frogbit needs Nitrogen? Any suggestions?
Beautiful tank 🥰
Blyxa japonica will turn reddish under high light, although there may be more reasons for it to turn reddish.
Im not sure if there is one definitive cause for tiger stripes on frogbit, but to my eyes your frogbit looks pretty green and happy overall, im not sure I would change much if this was my tank 😍
 
Thanks for the comments @Hufsa and @MichaelJ , I read through the link but now I am more confused😂 , not sure if I should try increasing phosphate , magnesium, or nitrate.
I will take the advice and leave it for a couple more weeks before making any further changes, I quite like the tiger stripe but just want to get the best conditions for everything.👍
Thanks again
John
 
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