Hey, remember the dreadful thing about maintenace is always about the sand bed?
I have a 5 year 3ft with sand. Put index finger in and still will not reach the bottom, hee. I can see deposits at the bottom, black. Water is still clear, fishes are swimming quite ok, some flying zip zap the tank in 2 secs.
So for the old birds, care to share your experience on how do you maintain your sand bed whilst your fishes and plants are still inside?
Thank you in advance.
How deep is your sand bed, and what type of sand are you using? If it is the fine sand, you're in for some hard work.
Depending on the depth of the sand bed, you will require a rake of some sort to disturb the sediment at the lower sections. That or you need a gravel vacuum capable of handling fine sand.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
4" or 10cm thick. I pick fish rearing and planted tank as a casual hobby, so I can't actually ID the sand. Here are pictures but taken in broad day light hope you can see it.
Last edited by Blue Whale; 12th Dec 2009 at 17:01.
That looks like the Lapis Lustre sand from this Monterey Bay company. In this case all you need is a gravel vacuum. Get those motorised vacuums if possible. If you don't have a layer of base fert, the vacuum is fine.
I used Google and found these:
http://images.google.com/images?q=gr...N&hl=en&tab=vi
There's some siphons for the tanks that come with some sort of "gravel vac" attachment. They are great when you want to do a water change, and suck out the layer of mulm under the gravel at the same time.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
Gravel Sipoh looks great. =)
But I figure I have the change the tank. Base fert was put there couple of years back I guess it should have been gone by now.
Need to change tank first...dropping to 50% of water since the leak. The leak is at the centre of the tank. Water pressure is there to kept further leaks. Corrossion at the stand due to the leak...so I guess I have to replace that as well. Want to keep the sand as much as possible.
Overall, still attrack people to stop and look at the tank.
Last edited by Blue Whale; 12th Dec 2009 at 17:01.
Yup gravel siphons are useful.
Well if the tank is leaking and the stand is rusting, might as well get a new one. I had a tank that stood for nearly 12 years. Bought it from an old LFS near my home that closed down a few years ago. I threw it away this year along with the stand, since the stand was already very rusty. Couldn't risk a sudden collapse of the tank if that rusty leg gave way, and the glass tank itself was showing the age.
Ended up buying a new SunSun 4 ft tank with cabinet during Aquarama, at a very good price.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
My stand I think its not metal, feels more like iron. Just a small rust there.
By itself, it is still quite enjoyable to watch fishes zipping left and right. Too active.
I do have a Mr. Cleaner, battery operated Siphon with a vaccum bag; but it tends to cloud the tank when you are using it. I wonder what else does the rest use beside a gravel siphon. I searched one post before posting is that he attached the plastic tubbing to the stick then going into the bottom of the tank. That would work well, if you don't have a thick sand bed.
Anyone else have other methods of cleaning the sand bed? Or most of you leave the sand bed untouched until next next Biggg.....maintenance then redo the entire tank?
Well if you want to save yourself the pain of cleaning your gravel bed, just get a new tank. For less work, use less gravel and don't plant anything. Just Java Ferns and mosses on driftwood = less work.
Thin layer of gravel with those plants on driftwood can be a cheap aquascape, at lower cost. No fertilizer substrate to worry about, plus you get to clean the gravel easier if the depth was lesser. I think a 2-3 cm depth on the gravel is good enough, if you're not planning to plant anything in the gravel/sand.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
Biotope staff gave me different option. Seem like dark sand but more like beads....ADA ones...very very tempting indeed, but one packet is $43...ouch!
My current depth is about 5", usually I plant downwards by using fingers (not tongs) to push to roots 4" downwards. This way, it can then access the base fertilizers (If any, after 5 years..ha). If no more fertilizers there, I think the fish shit that accumulate for 5 years still have some effect.
Rissia <- spell correct? Maybe plant some rissia and other stuffs. So there is an entire list of things to do.
1. Buy Tank + Iron Stand (Biotope is in process of quoting)
2. Keep sand or Buy new sand
3. Cycle the tank
3. Choose plant, driftwood replacement, etc.
4. CO2 tank need topping up, can use reactors and tablets for time being.
5. Cycle Cycle the tank.
6. Condition ripe, fish migration.
Roughly all things count.
You planned it out nicely so I don't think there should be any hiccups. Try and get a stainless steel stand if you can afford it, since it should not rust.
The substrate type need not be of the expensive type. The gravel you are using right now can be reused if necessary. Just need to wash it a few times to rinse out the mulm and accumulated waste.
I think the base fert layer can last from anywhere between 2 to 3 years if I remember reading from somewhere. You can probably supplement the base fert with some fertiliser balls or pellets made for aquariums. Great way to enrich the substrate without having to dig it up.
Sometime back, I got lazy maintaining the gravel bed, so I just switched to a fine sand substrate up to an inch in depth, used some random branchy driftwood and got those Java fern, Anubias tied on driftwood as decor. Worked pretty well since all I kept in that tank were some dwarf corydoras and Boraras species.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
^__^ waiting for quote. Shall see how, the customised tank should have a slope for easier planting but I still need to see how the depth of the sand bed go before adding water. We used to cut these partitions to built the slope.
The starting part is the fun and most frustrating part. But I think I will allow myself to enjoy the process...hee hee.
True...most of us forgot and get carried away easily or stress ourselves with it...relax..and enjoy bro...Originally Posted by Blue Whale
I call it "falling in love all over again". How about that?
I am trying to get my 10 posts together so I can start a new thread. So I have to add something to the thread that may be obvious but not yet mentioned, I think. Add some Malaysian Trumpet snails to the sand. They airate it and keep toxic pockets from forming. Other then that just vacumm over the top to remove left over fish food, poop and plants debris, but leave the rest of the sand alone, the plants need the mulm. 6 more posts to go, lol.
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