Manrock
Member
- Joined
- 15 Dec 2007
- Messages
- 225
So I've been keeping a planted tank for about 8 years now and have really only just got the knack of keeping the algae down, the fish alive and maintenance to less than an hour a month. Visitors to the house all complement me on my tank and one friend has even been inspired to start his own. The only trouble was that when I came on to this site again (after years away) and I saw what you guys can achieve it became starkly apparent to me that my aquascaping skills were really very poor! I just used to tell everyone that it was a 'jungle' style tank but without any stem plants at all (I can't be arsed to trim them every week).
So I decided to try and get it to look at least a bit like some of the ones I've seen on here. I have not rescaped for several years and couldn't find anything that showed how to break the tank down ready for the next re-scape. So here is my attempt to show that process.
First I wanted to save as much of the tank water as possible (80%) and for it to be as clear as possible so I siphoned off as much as I could into various containers, including a large bin for the fish, before I disturbed any of the plants or tried to catch the fish.
Then I moved the filter and in-line heater away from my cabinet and put the inflow and outflow into the bucket. I covered the end of the intake pipe with a fine mesh to stop any shrimps being sucked up when I place them in the bin. If you don't keep the filter going some or most of the bacteria will die off and you will get a nasty nitrate spike that will require you to recycle your tank. I learnt this the hard way several years ago!
Next step was to take out my wood, only one piece but a little overgrown with Anubis!
Then I carefully tried to remove the plants without disturbing the substrate too much. This didn't really work as the Crypts had made a 'mesh-work' of roots and when I pulled a bunch up the whole of the substrate came with them, in one solid mass! As I removed each plant I put them into trays with the tank water in.
Now I again siphoned off some more of the water, saving what I could. Then the task of netting the fish and larger shrimps was quite easy. I transferred them to the bin. Any smaller shrimps were left in the tank (I made a 'deep end' with enough water for them to survive in for a couple of hours). I then raked the substrate to remove the masses of crypt roots and any lead.
From here on in it now becomes a typical re-scape, which others are far better at then me. Here is the finished tank, which I am rather proud of but realise there is plenty to improve on. Please help me to improve by adding some comments.
Steve
So I decided to try and get it to look at least a bit like some of the ones I've seen on here. I have not rescaped for several years and couldn't find anything that showed how to break the tank down ready for the next re-scape. So here is my attempt to show that process.
First I wanted to save as much of the tank water as possible (80%) and for it to be as clear as possible so I siphoned off as much as I could into various containers, including a large bin for the fish, before I disturbed any of the plants or tried to catch the fish.
Then I moved the filter and in-line heater away from my cabinet and put the inflow and outflow into the bucket. I covered the end of the intake pipe with a fine mesh to stop any shrimps being sucked up when I place them in the bin. If you don't keep the filter going some or most of the bacteria will die off and you will get a nasty nitrate spike that will require you to recycle your tank. I learnt this the hard way several years ago!
Next step was to take out my wood, only one piece but a little overgrown with Anubis!
Then I carefully tried to remove the plants without disturbing the substrate too much. This didn't really work as the Crypts had made a 'mesh-work' of roots and when I pulled a bunch up the whole of the substrate came with them, in one solid mass! As I removed each plant I put them into trays with the tank water in.
Now I again siphoned off some more of the water, saving what I could. Then the task of netting the fish and larger shrimps was quite easy. I transferred them to the bin. Any smaller shrimps were left in the tank (I made a 'deep end' with enough water for them to survive in for a couple of hours). I then raked the substrate to remove the masses of crypt roots and any lead.
From here on in it now becomes a typical re-scape, which others are far better at then me. Here is the finished tank, which I am rather proud of but realise there is plenty to improve on. Please help me to improve by adding some comments.
Steve