Perdition to paradise (hopefully)

[greying_mantis]

documenting my progress to keep myself accountable

Tank: 266 litre Rena, 120x40x60cm (ext.)

Occupants: synodontis ocellifer (George) synodontis nigrita (Talbot), synodontis petricola or lucipinnis (2), Congo tetra (3m 2f)

Day 5475(ish)/Day 7 - The Story So Far

The tank has been looking very sorry for itself. I have seriously neglected it over the last few years due to a combination of disability and life stressors. In turn, it had become a stressor - a great, heaving brainslug of shame and disappointment. There is algae everywhere. Most of the plants have died or at least spiralled down into a sort of liminal existence. The lights are flickering ominously. Deep breath.

The first step toward rehabilitating it was getting access by clearing the clutter I had been “storing” on the lid and disincentivising myself from adding more by replacing the solid cover with two light, somewhat bendy sheets of clear plastic. Then, I upgraded the old T8s to a Twinstar 120G, reorganised the hardscape, added some more plants and scraped the algae off the front.

Plants: vallisneria sp., cryptocoryne wendtii, c. undulatus, c. nevellii, hygrophillia corymbosa, echinodorus atlandsberg, anubia barteri caladiifolia, anubias sp., leptochilus pteropus, taxiphyllum barbieri

I’ve also added some tradescantia and scindapsus cuttings to a breeding trap, hoping they’ll enjoy the high nutrient availability (foreshadowing).

I expect the new “scape” to last only a short while. The synos are busy uprooting plants and knocking the lighter pieces of wood around. I had purchased some JBL ProHaru Universal adhesive, assuming it was some sort of cyanoacrylate. I was very wrong. The stuff is sticky, black and gets everywhere. It does not want to be used on wet things, no matter what the packaging says. I’m sure it is wonderful for its best use case but I neither had the right job for it nor the temperament to use it. It is now in the bin and some proper cyanoacrylate gel is on the way.

I have also realised I need much deeper substrate - I am cursing myself for throwing half the current substrate out when we moved the tank 13 years ago. I think I was worried about “toxic anaerobic pockets” or something equally dubious. I have hopes of getting a reedfish At Some Point so I should probably plan my substrate around that. Which means sand. Which means trying to work out whether to top my current substrate or replace it entirely. The idea of taking the entire tank apart is daunting - I don’t fancy ending up in a massive flare from the sheer physical effort. And we also have the issue of water parameters…

Today I tested the water.

It could be, uh, better.

Test Results:
pH 6.4 (or lower)
Nitrate level yikes

It was as deeply red as the test could go. Time for dilutions with distilled water. 4/5, 3/5, 2/5, 1/5 all still crimson. Ah. Time to ask the resident chemist for their input. He talks me through serial dilutions. 1/25, still crimson but perhaps a little lighter. Oh dear. 1/125 we finally get a good orange. 1/625 we get a solid (English) mustard yellow. Acknowledging that we’re really pushing the capability of both the test reagents and our equipment, we settle on an educated estimate of ~1000ppm.

At this point it should be obvious to everyone that I have not done a proper water change in a very, very long time. Granted, nitrate levels are both difficult to measure accurately with typical aquarium test kits and safe nitrate levels may well be far higher than typically advised (and my test kit is old) but I am taking this result as my best proxy for general “water quality” and I think the most ethical thing to do is assume the water quality in the tank is dogsh*t. Fortunately the current inhabitants have grown up in and alongside the increasingly “mature” water but it would be deeply irresponsible to add anyone new to the tank until this is sorted. But sorting it isn’t as simple as a couple of big water changes. This needs to be a slow, careful effort to avoid shocking the fish. And me. I don’t fancy a weeks-long flare up of exhaustion, migraines, malaise and loosey-goosey joints because I lugged one too many buckets of water.

Fortunately, the plants will love their nutrient bath but I don’t think I can count on them to sort this for me. The Chemist and I have planned out a water change schedule that takes around two weeks and changes 10-20% a day. We’ll test again in a week and adjust as necessary. That should get us back to comfortable levels without stressing anyone too much and will hopefully replenish the tank with all sorts of minerals that have probably long since been exhausted. And it should slowly raise the pH back up to tap water levels (around 7.4) from whatever yellow-green hell they are currently residing in.

I have more plants on the way but I think I will hold off adding them for now. I can set up a small grow tank that should tide them over for a few weeks. Adding them now would help with the water quality but I am still concerned about the substrate issue so don’t want to add plants who’ll then get yanked around again in a week or so. Any insights here would be great, I have another thread on the subject wiggles eyebrows enticingly.

So, water change one done. Nitrate level ~900ppm.

Wish me luck.

 

[bazz]

Hi, and good luck!
I think this could quite easily be brought back round without the need of a complete strip down.
Keep us posted and we can offer advice along the way.
I presume your first point of attack is to clean the glass, hardscape and equipment. Substrate could be added gradually if time is not of the essence, I'm sure the Synodontis will assist in levelling it out, or you could remove the hardscape and the smaller plants and do it all in one hit. Either way, I've used in the past and much more recently, a jug and a length of guttering down pipe, of course there are plenty of other methods but I never even got my hands wet.

And me. I don’t fancy a weeks-long flare up of exhaustion, migraines, malaise and loosey-goosey joints because I lugged one too many buckets of water

There really is no need to be doing this anymore, I use syphon out and pump back from a prepped container in the kitchen, but something along the lines of the Python Python No Spill Aquarium Siphon | From Aquacadabra may be worth the investment and more suitable for your application. I've not carried a bucket of water change water for almost 20 years.
Look forward to seeing an improvement whatever course of action you take.
Cheers!

 

[greying_mantis]

Hi, and good luck!
[…]
I presume your first point of attack is to clean the glass, hardscape and equipment.
[…]
There really is no need to be doing this anymore, I use syphon out and pump back from a prepped container in the kitchen, but something along the lines of the Python Python No Spill Aquarium Siphon | From Aquacadabra may be worth the investment and more suitable for your application. I've not carried a bucket of water change water for almost 20 years.

Thanks for the encouragement, bazz 🙂

I forgot to mention I gave the canister filter some gentle maintenance, it was a bit gunky but not too bad as it was one of the few jobs I had kept up with, at least when I noticed a reduction in output flow.

I wasn’t planning to give everything much more of a scrub, as I didn’t think the various coatings of algae would be contributing to water quality issues and they should(?) subside naturally with the addition of more plants and eventually a clean up crew (once the water is back under control, if the synos don’t eat them, etc). I’m not aiming for visually pristine, just healthy and with good plant growth. If this seems foolish, please let me know what I have misunderstood 😅

I have my eye on a python. I rather balked at the price but you’re right, it’s such an energy saver and could make the difference between me managing this tank and not. Looks like I’m saving up again.

 

[megwattscreative]

Hiya, welcome to UKAPS! Thanks for the honesty. My advice would be to keep doing what ya doing, add in a bunch more emergent plants (pothos, tradescantia, peace lilies etc). They're brilliant for filtration and won't be bothered by the synodontis. Just be aware the water will turbo boost them, so you will be left with some very large houseplants at the end 😉

Ps. I like @bazz idea with the drain pipe - might have to do that in my tank. If you're aiming for slow growing, easily maintained plants, there's no harm in capping with play sand - that's my only substrate. I recommend giving it a very good wash beforehand.

 

[greying_mantis]

Day 9
Third remedial water change done. Algae is quickly growing back on the front glass - I should educate myself about the different types. The lights are currently set to 6hrs on, 4hrs off, 6hrs on, 8hrs off so I’ll keep monitoring to see if I need to adjust that down. Play sand ordered. Baby crypts re-planted for the nth time (thanks G & T). Possibly some new growth on the old Java ferns - they had died back to rhizome and a few tiny pin-head leaves but we might have some recovery underway. Second batch of plants should be arriving in a couple of days. Not much else to report.

 

[greying_mantis]

Hiya, welcome to UKAPS! Thanks for the honesty. My advice would be to keep doing what ya doing, add in a bunch more emergent plants (pothos, tradescantia, peace lilies etc). They're brilliant for filtration and won't be bothered by the synodontis. Just be aware the water will turbo boost them, so you will be left with some very large houseplants at the end 😉

Ps. I like @bazz idea with the drain pipe - might have to do that in my tank. If you're aiming for slow growing, easily maintained plants, there's no harm in capping with play sand - that's my only substrate. I recommend giving it a very good wash beforehand.

Thanks for the welcome 🙂

I’ve added a bunch more emergent cuttings. The tradescantia have propagated well in water for me before but they don’t seem to like the tank so I’ll keep playing there to see what they need to be happy (they’re just dumped in a breeding trap atm). The scindapsus are loving it, though.

I’m going for play sand - I’ve used it before so I’m prepared to rinse it. And rinse it. And rinse it. And…