A little background...we set up a 45 gallon fresh-water aquarium about a year and a half ago. We had great success early on. The tank cycled well, our plants were growing like crazy and our fish seemed really healthy. Then last summer we had what we refer to as "The Reckoning". We went away for a couple of days and came back to a tank full of dead fish. It seems the heater malfunctioned and kept heating the tank up more and more. It looked like the fish were cooked. So we cleaned up and started some new fish. Since this point, we haven't had the same success. Plants aren't growing well. Fish do poorly. And then we had an outbreak of brown algae (well diatoms anyway) that has lasted months, with no fixing, not due to trying though.
So I had decided that this tank needed a serious overhaul and that's what last night's trip to Big Al's was about. We purchased the following:
- Large bag of black gravel (I had wanted to go with sand, but the pro's advised us against it with the type of filter we have *Eheim Canister Filter)
- Large bag of Eco-Complete (plant fertilizer)
- 6 new plants: 2x Nesaea crassicaulis, Limnophila aromatica, Bronze Windtii, a Crypt and an Amazon Sword
- 2 silk plants: I know I said I'd NEVER have fake plants in one of my aquariums, but silk plants have come a long way - anyway, these are just filler until my plants get bigger and/or I purchase more real ones - that being said, I'm really pleased with the way they look
- A ship wreck: Another thing I don't normally go for, but I liked this one as it has many holes for "Headly" (our Raphael Catfish) to hide in
- 2 large pieces of driftwood
- 2 large rocks and a piece of slate (to make a cave for "Headly")
- And some extra "Big Al's Bio Support" to help with any good bacteria lost in the move
So we started by removing all the fish into a 10 gallon tank. We currently have:
- 1 Spotted Raphael Catfish
- 1 Glass Catfish
- 1 Redwag Platie
- 1 Albino Cory Cat
- 4 Spotted Cory Cats
- 2 X-ray fish
- about 4 or 5 each of Neon Tetras & Rummy Nose Tetras (haven't counted lately)
Then we suctioned out most of the water, saving what we could. Got rid of all the old brown gravel and fertilizer and scrubbed down the glass inside with RO water and a very clean cloth. It looked like new when we were done.
Next Jay cleaned out all the filter tubes, our "bubbler", the heater and the hood. We rinsed out the pads from the filter, in the tank water as they were FULL of brown algae, but hopefully did not destroy too much good bateria.
Added in the Eco-Complete, the new black gravel hooked up the filter, heater & bubbler and started "aquascaping". I like the way it turned out! Can't wait for the plants to grow and take over more though.
We filled half full with fresh, de-chlorinated water, added in the saved water from the old tank set-up and turned on the filter and let it filter for a bit. We then topped up with a bit more fresh de-chlorinated water.
Once temp was good and filter had had a chance to deposit some of the good bacteria around, I added some "Bio Support" for good measure and then released the fish back in.
They all seem happy, especially one guy! "Headly", who we normally never see as he's always hiding and nocturnal, has been swimming around checking out the new space for several hours now...in the daytime! Hopefully this is a sign he really likes the new place.
Now if I can just get Jason to splash out on all the stuff needed to set-up our 90 gallon tank...as a reef aquarium!!
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