Time To Strip The Tank...

[pablothebetta]

This isn't actually my tank, but one I've recently been helping to look after. I know this is in "members tanks", but I figured it was the best place to put it. Mods, please do move it if it's in the wrong place

I felt I might just make a bit of a thread about this - I'm really hoping to get this tank looking nice and advice will be more than welcome as I go along. I'm also rescaping my own tank soon, so no doubt the guppies will be getting some of the plants left over

Some may remember seeing this thread a while back. Well, I'm glad to say that I've now began to strip down the thing and get it all cleaned up for the guppies in there. It'll take a short while tomorrow to finish it off (the guppies are in a small holding tank overnight), but I really don't mind - I'm just glad to give these fish a better home.

Well, where do I start? After catching the fish, I began to siphon out the water, disturbing the gravel at the same time - . The water looked pretty much black. If it was a dark brown it must have been a very dark brown. I'm so glad I'm getting this thing sorted out for them. The amount of assellus discovered while doing work in the tank was awful too - they were everywhere. However, I'm hoping to have got rid of them and the planaria now, as the tank has been left pretty much empty of water overnight and equally so has the gravel (currently in a bucket after being thoroughly washed).

Tomorrow everything goes back in. Should I be OK to just put everything back and then the guppies with it after everythings been 'set out' for them?

Sorry about the lack of pics - hopefully I'll be able to get some before and after shots up soon (none were taken of todays goings-on, sorry!).

Thanks for reading

 

[BigFish01]

I just did the same thing with a tank from a friends house with a common pleco and 1 black skirt tetra. Was pretty sad to see the water quality once I started moving things around. They both lived in an 11 gallon trash can I use strictly for fish stuff with my HOB filter hanging on the back. It worked out pretty good. Did my water changes daily to twice daily to get them in better water and make the change to my water a little easier. When I took out the fish and pulled the gravel out I just decided to throw it out. I had some extra play sand and just used that. cleaned and re sealed the seams and put them back in with new decor. They seem to be happy and healthy now. The skirted tetra is in my 55gal, the pleco is going into the pond when it warms up. and on to the 125gal in the end of summer! Hope things have went well with yours.

 

[pablothebetta]

I just did the same thing with a tank from a friends house with a common pleco and 1 black skirt tetra. Was pretty sad to see the water quality once I started moving things around. They both lived in an 11 gallon trash can I use strictly for fish stuff with my HOB filter hanging on the back. It worked out pretty good. Did my water changes daily to twice daily to get them in better water and make the change to my water a little easier. When I took out the fish and pulled the gravel out I just decided to throw it out. I had some extra play sand and just used that. cleaned and re sealed the seams and put them back in with new decor. They seem to be happy and healthy now. The skirted tetra is in my 55gal, the pleco is going into the pond when it warms up. and on to the 125gal in the end of summer! Hope things have went well with yours.

Thanks - things did go fairly well actually. Hope your plans turn out well too

I'm very glad to say I'm pretty sure the tank has now been eliminated of those awful assellus and planaria - there were loads of dead ones found today, so I'm hoping none were left alive. Te tank generally looks a bit cleaner too. Ok, so it doesn't look that much better in terms of decor, but I'm hoping to be able to fix that when I re-scape my own tank (as soon as I can find some nice redmoor or manzanita wood for it) as I'll have leftover plants to donate. Pics were taken so I shall upload them as soon as I get them onto my PC

 

[pablothebetta]

So I got some pics of the tank, though unfortunately they weren't all too good. I'll call in sometime soon and try to get some shots up. I do have a picture showing one or two of the guppies, though it isn't terribly good and the water was still cloudy at this point:

I do like their colours - they're not all one or two colours solid like those I usually see in pet stores. They're multi-coloured