RobS84
New Member
It feels like I'm long overdue a major re-scape on my tank that's now around 8.5years old. With this I have a few questions that despite some searching i haven't found many conclusive opinions on.
1. Re-using ADA aquasoil?
Over the years there's been (sometimes long) periods where I've been very neglectful on ferts and maintenance, so i strongly suspect this is now close to fully depleted of nutrients. This is backed up by a recent large outbreak of Cyanobacteria I'm now getting back under control (back in the habit of large and regular water changes and EI dosing).
If re-using I think I'd probably want to wash most/all of the substrate anyway which i suspect diminishes / eliminates any benefit to tank cycling anyway. I also guess I'd want to use root tabs / osmocote to replenish the nutrients.
Thoughts on pros/cons of re-use vs. new, aside from the obvious cost implications.
2. Contamination (Cyanobacteria) due to re-use of hardscape, filter media, plants.
As mentioned above I'm getting an outbreak of BGA under control though manual removal, back to full EI dosing, light reduction and much more diligence on maintenance. I'm getting there, but conscious that the hardscape, filter media and plants etc will likely have to a small degree cyanobacteria on them no matter how well I manually remove and treat the causes. Is there any merit in ensuring nothing from the old scape ends up in the new to avoid contamination or in reality is getting algae spores & cyanobacteria in the new scape inevitable through airborne contamination / livestock introduction / any other means anyway, so it makes no difference?
3. Bogwood life expectancy?
The wood in my current hardscape is the age of the scape so 8.5 years. At some point this will obviously rot. It's not too soft yet and doesn't seem to crumble with manual cleaning. That said if the re-scape goes another 8 years, is 16 years pushing it? and hence would it be best practice to replace? (I'll be adding to it anyway as I'll probably be going reasonably heavy on hardscape this time)
4. Opinion on rocks
Would appreciate some opinions on rocks for the new hardscape, which i know is a subjective thing, but my choice of slate in my previous setup was the least favoured part of <moving to higher tech> due to lack of texture.
I've sourced some Granite / Quartzite? stones from a disused quarry. A pilot test of 48 hrs in a small volume 0ppm RO water made no impact on TDS so from a water quality point of view i think I'm fine (will check all before use). But I'd value the opinion here on general aesthetics. Pictured here I've crudely dumped 2 into the current tank (where you'll see the remaining BGA
) next to the dirty slate. General thoughts & opinions?
Thanks.
1. Re-using ADA aquasoil?
Over the years there's been (sometimes long) periods where I've been very neglectful on ferts and maintenance, so i strongly suspect this is now close to fully depleted of nutrients. This is backed up by a recent large outbreak of Cyanobacteria I'm now getting back under control (back in the habit of large and regular water changes and EI dosing).
If re-using I think I'd probably want to wash most/all of the substrate anyway which i suspect diminishes / eliminates any benefit to tank cycling anyway. I also guess I'd want to use root tabs / osmocote to replenish the nutrients.
Thoughts on pros/cons of re-use vs. new, aside from the obvious cost implications.
2. Contamination (Cyanobacteria) due to re-use of hardscape, filter media, plants.
As mentioned above I'm getting an outbreak of BGA under control though manual removal, back to full EI dosing, light reduction and much more diligence on maintenance. I'm getting there, but conscious that the hardscape, filter media and plants etc will likely have to a small degree cyanobacteria on them no matter how well I manually remove and treat the causes. Is there any merit in ensuring nothing from the old scape ends up in the new to avoid contamination or in reality is getting algae spores & cyanobacteria in the new scape inevitable through airborne contamination / livestock introduction / any other means anyway, so it makes no difference?
3. Bogwood life expectancy?
The wood in my current hardscape is the age of the scape so 8.5 years. At some point this will obviously rot. It's not too soft yet and doesn't seem to crumble with manual cleaning. That said if the re-scape goes another 8 years, is 16 years pushing it? and hence would it be best practice to replace? (I'll be adding to it anyway as I'll probably be going reasonably heavy on hardscape this time)
4. Opinion on rocks
Would appreciate some opinions on rocks for the new hardscape, which i know is a subjective thing, but my choice of slate in my previous setup was the least favoured part of <moving to higher tech> due to lack of texture.
I've sourced some Granite / Quartzite? stones from a disused quarry. A pilot test of 48 hrs in a small volume 0ppm RO water made no impact on TDS so from a water quality point of view i think I'm fine (will check all before use). But I'd value the opinion here on general aesthetics. Pictured here I've crudely dumped 2 into the current tank (where you'll see the remaining BGA
) next to the dirty slate. General thoughts & opinions?Thanks.
