I cant believe it....have to take one day's leave to mainta

[David]

Hi everyone

I still cannot believe it that I need to take a day's leave just to maintain my 3 planted tanks which incidentally is all 100% Echinodorus species....speaking of low maintnence plants[:0]. Just like to know what is everyone's fequency of tank maintnence...and how long does it take to complete it.

I salute all aquatic planters that is 40% to 100% stemmed plants!.....coz if it were in my tanks probably have to take 2 days of leave []

[vinz]

1 planted tank, 1 newt tank (simple planted), 1 cichlid tank.
Easily 2 to 4 hours every other weekend for maintaneance. Not counting the day-to-day fussing.

My planted tank recently got into really bad shape after neglect due to work commitments. So last Thursday, I spent 3-4 hours uprooting, trimming, clearing algae and replanting.

From 3pm Sunday to 2am Monday on was spent uprooting the same tank again to do a major vaccuming of the substrate, cleaning BBA and other algae of the driftwood and tank walls, washing the equipment and rescaping the tank.

Was sorely tempted to take leave to do this, but unfortunately my workload does not allow it.

Now I'm impatiently waiting for the plants to grow in. And I have yet to maintain my newt and cichlid tank this week.

My son is due anytime this month and I wonder how in the world I'm gonna find time for my tanks.

[David Loh]

Imagine when I do my planted tank maintenance every weekend and my 1 year old daughter would crawl under my feet....

[Simon]

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On 1/8/2002 6:04:44 PM

Hi everyone

I still cannot believe it that I need to take a day's leave just to maintain my 3 planted tanks which incidentally is all 100% Echinodorus species....speaking of low maintnence plants[:0]. Just like to know what is everyone's fequency of tank maintnence...and how long does it take to complete it.

I salute all aquatic planters that is 40% to 100% stemmed plants!.....coz if it were in my tanks probably have to take 2 days of leave []
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u getting old my friend[]

[David]

perhaps simon

vinz is your newt tank a terrarium (wrong spelling...not time to check) tank?

anyway congrats on the arrival of your son! ...dont worry you'll find the time.....coz I have gone through that for 4 yrs now!.....

[Simon]

kekekeee.. i do maintenance during the weekends.. every few months or when i think its time to maintain []

[jacian]

maintenance every weekend, the 4 high-lights tanks once every 2 weeks while the 4 low-light tanks once a month....

[wks]

Vinz, good luck to u. Your tank will most likely return to its old form(jungle, algae, rotting fish/plants etc.) again. Trust me, I'm a father myself.

[MECH]

trust Wks
don't listen to David
because David got maid
[] []

[David]

hi mech

kekeke

if i let my maid do the maintnence......its going to be diaster!....coz the last time, two years ago....KABOOMM!....so rule of thumb maids are off bounds to my tank

[sherchoo]

David,

Mech menat that the maid is there to help with the household and you'll have more time to maintain you 3 tanks.

I guess for me maintaining is more of a pleasure than work. But again time is a factor. Also it would be nice if the missus wasn't around so that I can leisurely maintain my tank. (please don't tell my wife wat I said).

[peterkoh]

You may be glad to know that I took 3 weeks leave starting 10th Dec and spent a lot of my time (on avg 3-5 hrs per day) on my new aquarium and it's only 2 feet ! So much so that my wife is complaining to me already ! Mainly because my tank is new and i have itchy hands but I believe once the tank, fish and plants stablilise, all I need is to periodic algae scrubbing and partial water change and clear some dead floating debris.

[Simon]

3-5hrs everyday for 3 weeks? OMG!!![:0] what u guys doing man

[peterkoh]

The interesting thing about planted tank is few men are interested or good in gardening/flowers. But when it comes to planted tank (or Dutch where plant is really the main focus), woah .... we have swarms of them ! Could it be the fish that really pulls us to this hobby and the smelly water keeps the ladies away ?? Like any hobby, we need to put time aside for it.

[Simon]

kekekee.. it could be the sweat and satifaction, we get from it..

[Allen_1971]

Peter : my goodness 3-5 hours for 3 weeks? what are you doing? rescaping your tank every 3 days?

Also with regards to the maids and aquariums, I wouldn't let my maid near the tanks... about the only thing I ask her to do is top up water due to evaporation. All other things I do myself...

[vinz]

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On 1/8/2002 9:44:29 PM

perhaps simon

vinz is your newt tank a terrarium (wrong spelling...not time to check) tank?

anyway congrats on the arrival of your son! ...dont worry you'll find the time.....coz I have gone through that for 4 yrs now!.....
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David,

Errr... I guess its a simple terrarium. Well, I ran out of gravel when I was setting it up and haven't had time to complete it although I've already bought more gravel. I'm not going to bother with proper soil, etc for the land bit. Just gonna fill it with aquarium gravel, maybe a another layer of substrate fert if I can solve the leaching problem and use 'amphibious' plants like Money plant and other aquatic plants that can be planted emersed.

ViNZ

[vinz]

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On 1/8/2002 11:19:49 PM

Vinz, good luck to u. Your tank will most likely return to its old form(jungle, algae, rotting fish/plants etc.) again. Trust me, I'm a father myself.
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[:0] Arggghhhhh...

I have a lot of stem plants now. Looks like I may have to switch to rosette and runner plants soon.

Anyway, if I don't get joy from my tanks, hopefully I get joy from my son. Perhaps I can make him a future Takashi Amano. []

[peterkoh]

That includes checking every little details in the tank, staring at them blankly for long stretches and mopping up after the maintenance. No matter how careful I am, I always ended up dripping some aquarium water on the floor and have to mop up the area and all the way to the toilet. I joked with my wife that I cleaned up that part of the house so often that very soon a shiny path will appear between the aquarium and the yard toilet.

I don't expect myself to spend that much time for too long as it will not be sustainable and I've to give up the hobby !

[David]

dont worry vinz...you will have pockets of free time coz...you would be getting much sleep in the first 3 months....i remember i even maintain my tank in the wee hours of the morning....and with no maid at that point in time.......

you should see the terri. tank at aquanautics......very nice.....