Not sure what to do?

[ForestDave]

Hi.
I'm moving to a smaller house which will need lots of work doing to it. I may be able to squeeze a tank in but if I'm honest I'm a bit burnt out with it all. I've gone all in with the tank this year and there's been times when the tank looked good but at the moment the BBA is starting to gather, I've got an army of planaria and I've lost my ommpf to sort it out. I'm loathed to scrap the whole thing completely though as I do still like it and my daughter loves it. I'm thinking of going low tech with crypts, ferns and buces and keeping a few shrimp and a few small non messy fish. Would I notice a big change in the amount of maintenance if I did this and are there some golden tips or threads I should look at for doing the conversion from CO2 fed plants to low tech.
Thanks!!

 

[Unexpected]

I think you certainly would. If you were to move to low light and low light plants, certain aspects would be simplified. I would imagine you would be able to stretch your maintenance schedule out much further too.
I've seen tanks with astonishing low light growing plants you think wouldn't work.
I'd say, give it a try. Especially if it interests your children.

 

[ForestDave]

I think you certainly would. If you were to move to low light and low light plants, certain aspects would be simplified. I would imagine you would be able to stretch your maintenance schedule out much further too.
I've seen tanks with astonishing low light growing plants you think wouldn't work.
I'd say, give it a try. Especially if it interests your children.

Thank You. I've switched my plants to a smaller dirt planted tank now but was scared off doing a cold turkey stoppage of CO2 and am still pumping it in. When it's established I might try reducing the gas and raising my light in increments, hopefully I wont get too many issues that way. I must say switching from a 200L tank to a 40L tank has made a massive difference already. maintenance is much quicker!

 

[Unexpected]

I'm read to do the same. I increased my tanks to 4 and I'm ready to reduce it to one smaller tank already. I really love working in the tanks but it gets a bit much after a while.

 

[arcturus]

Hi.
I'm moving to a smaller house which will need lots of work doing to it. I may be able to squeeze a tank in but if I'm honest I'm a bit burnt out with it all. I've gone all in with the tank this year and there's been times when the tank looked good but at the moment the BBA is starting to gather, I've got an army of planaria and I've lost my ommpf to sort it out. I'm loathed to scrap the whole thing completely though as I do still like it and my daughter loves it. I'm thinking of going low tech with crypts, ferns and buces and keeping a few shrimp and a few small non messy fish. Would I notice a big change in the amount of maintenance if I did this and are there some golden tips or threads I should look at for doing the conversion from CO2 fed plants to low tech.
Thanks!!

If you want to reuses some of the current plants then I would place them in temporary plant only tank and add Fenbendazole or a similar treatment to kill planaria. I would then restart the tank exclusively with plants that thrive without CO2 injection, including floating plants. Do not use plants that require strong light or CO2 injection. Without CO2 the plants will grow much slower, so plant trimming will be greatly reduced. Pick a small number of small fish and shrimp to reduce bio-load. With this you will be also able to reduce the frequency of water changes, especially if you add sufficient plant mass to the tank.

 

[ForestDave]

If you want to reuses some of the current plants then I would place them in temporary plant only tank and add Fenbendazole or a similar treatment to kill planaria. I would then restart the tank exclusively with plants that thrive without CO2 injection, including floating plants. Do not use plants that require strong light or CO2 injection. Without CO2 the plants will grow much slower, so plant trimming will be greatly reduced. Pick a small number of small fish and shrimp to reduce bio-load. With this you will be also able to reduce the frequency of water changes, especially if you add sufficient plant mass to the tank.

Thanks. That's definitely the direction I'm going in. I've got an extension and loads of other things to build when I move so I need as easy a tank as possible!

 

[aec34]

Thanks. That's definitely the direction I'm going in. I've got an extension and loads of other things to build when I move so I need as easy a tank as possible!

I feel your pain! I’m in the middle of fairly serious building work, which meant the 35 litre tank had to move upstairs and the new bigger one is on hold. We ended up moving the tank in situ on its table in one go 😬 My tip: get a lid if you don’t already have one. Plaster dust really does get everywhere.

(And non CO2 tanks are still v rewarding.)

 

[ForestDave]

I feel your pain! I’m in the middle of fairly serious building work, which meant the 35 litre tank had to move upstairs and the new bigger one is on hold. We ended up moving the tank in situ on its table in one go 😬 My tip: get a lid if you don’t already have one. Plaster dust really does get everywhere.

(And non CO2 tanks are still v rewarding.)

Thanks! That sounds like a top tip. I set my new tank up in my daughters bedroom this week but after 2 days she was well pissed off with me coming in and out so we had to move the whole thing downstairs in one piece like you did. At least I know it moves ok now!