So!
This saturday just passed i was finally able to set up my new tank! Took me from lunchtime into late saturday night, did NOT expect it to take so long!
Since the new tank was going in the same spot the old one was, it wasn't such a simple transfer job, since i had to totally break down the first tank before i could even start setting up the new one.
It's taken this long to set up since i was waiting for my plants to arrive from plantedtanks.co.uk. These are what i got:
1x bunch Vallisneria Rubra:
2x bunch of Echinodorus tenellus (pygmy chain sword, not actually that pygmy...)
1x bunch java fern
1x bunched amazon sword (actually two rosettes)
1x Anubias barteri 'nana'
1x amazon frogbit plant
This was the old tank in its usual spot, with the Eheim 2213 sat below, ready for the new tank to be set up.
I bought some zeolite to help with the fish-in cycle and help fight any potential algal blooms (recommended in the PARC), and put it as the last stage in the filter process:
The breakdown began, with the danios (and some trumpet snails) in their temporary home:
The breakdown took longer than expected since i couldn't find all of my assassin snails in the gravel to start with.
My crypt wendtii took a long time to come away from the undergravel plate too, since it had seriously made itself at home!
Finally free
Also out of the tank came three crypt willisii plants:
Once everything was out, i was left with all the lovely mulm at the bottom:
This all went to form the bottom layer of my new tank's substrate, with the hope that my new plants will love it (my crypt certainly did!)
On went the soft plastic netting to prevent the top substrate layer falling through and maxing with the gravel. The netting is soft enough to let roots through.
On went the top layer of eco-complete
With that done, next up was planting. Attaching my anubias to the desire rock was quite tricky, but i used superglue gel and it worked out ok.
Only problem was that the rock was at a different angle when i attached it to how it is now in the tank, so the anubias is on the wonk
Final planted article:
I kept the old tank water in buckets so there wasn't too much of a shock to the livestock, whcih made up about 50%. I had quite a job fiddling about with all the wires and filter piping so that it wouldn't show on the other side of the tank. The eheim piping was pretty stiff so i soaked it briefly in boiling water and it softened up a treat.
Here's the finished article:
I also installed some blue LEDs in the hood, here's a pic but the water was still a bit cloudy!
It was an exhausting day's work but thoroughly satisfying. It's been running 2 days now and is doing ok, although i'm going to need advice with the fert regime. I've done a couple of 50% water changes already, the ammonia reading was already at 0.25ppm on the API kit both times. I've already noticed a lot of leaves beginning to yellow though, and i've had a HELL of a job trying to get the plants to stay in the substrate. All of my vallis stems uprooted, as did my amazon sword so i've gone for the lead weight option for the time being.
Ferts are TPN+ (1ml per 10L) after every water change, can't decide if i really need to dose with Seachem Flourish Excel, since the lighting is pretty low (1x 12"-8W-T5 bulb for 24" long tank...)
