Suggestions/solution to salvage tank

[madnugget]

Hi bros,

recently down on my luck and very depressing to see my efforts going down the drain. My 1.5ft cube is "dying". I have HCs, fissiden walls and gujing inside.
Lights running 4x24W from 5.30pm to 11pm and lots of CO2.

All is doing well till my filter starts to give me problems. 1st was leakage and now was low outflow due to air pockets in my 2026? Hair algae starts to bug my fissidens, my HC can be seen to be turning black and my gujing doesnt seems to be doing well.

currently a final yr student now and i dont have much time to slowly troubleshoot it as i would be busy throughout at least a month..

would like to seek some suggestions to salvage my tank. there are some options i have been considering:

i have a spare 1.5ft fiveplan tank
1) take out all my fissiden wall and put into this fiveplan tank with just a small internal filter circulating the water
2) uproot my gujing, transfer to the fiveplan tank and use weights to weigh them down for the time being
3)once all the plants transferred, try my best to scoop out any juveniles shrimps i can find and drain out all the water, leaving my HC to grow emerse.
4) decomm my filter/find solution to fix my filter
4.1) alternatively, since it is not leaking, hook up my 2026 to my fiveplan tank so as to keep the bacteria alive inside the media.

[tawauboy]

i would advise you to concentrate on your studies first.
as you have said, final year...
just keep the shrimps safe.

[blue33]

I agree with Thomas said, concentrate with your studies, you still have long way to enjoy this hobby.

What you can do is cut down your lighting to 2 tubes, lower down the water to maybe half to get better lighting, you can keep the rest except HC, shrimp can be place inside also, keep it as simple as possible and low maintenance, you can dont change water also since is shrimp tank.

All the best to your study. Hope to see you back in action.

[madnugget]

i would advise you to concentrate on your studies first.
as you have said, final year...
just keep the shrimps safe.

yup yup.. thats why im looking at some suggestions that can put my tank into "hibernation" for that period for the time being

I agree with Thomas said, concentrate with your studies, you still have long way to enjoy this hobby.

What you can do is cut down your lighting to 2 tubes, lower down the water to maybe half to get better lighting, you can keep the rest except HC, shrimp can be place inside also, keep it as simple as possible and low maintenance, you can dont change water also since is shrimp tank.

All the best to your study. Hope to see you back in action.

keep the rest except HC? meaning i transfer all the fissidens into another tank? cos all is on mesh held on by suction pads

will cut down on my lighting but necessary to lower down water? i'm using lily pipe hence theres a limit i can lower the water if not it will become like gushing unless i change to a rain bar..

[blue33]

unless your current tank is leaking, if not then dont change your current tank, you can use internal filter just that you need to cover the inlet cause your shrimp may get kill going in. HC is more tricky plant to grow and needs maintenance also, my advice is either you sell away or get rid of it. just keep it low maintenance will do.

[|squee|]

I'd keep the tank as it is for now. Reason being it's going to be very messy to change the tank. Reason you have failed is probably because you have so much light and CO2 but no nutrients for the plants.

I don't know how experienced you are or how your tank looks like but
Like what the others have said,

1) Turn off 2 tubes.
2) Increase your lighting duration to 10 hours
3) Keep your CO2 at current levels
4) Buy $10 worth of any fast-growing stemmed plant and put them in the tank. The more plants you have in the tank, the better.

[madnugget]

thanks for all the solutions/suggestions.. managed to get gotten a 2224 to salvage my 2026 and the flowrate is decent now, just gave my HC a haircut on sunday but it looks horrible now, planning to uproot everything and re do the HC again.

here are some sneaks of my tank... will do up a thread after my exams =)

by the way, does my HC looks healthy? i'm envy of bro reveru HC. His HC can creep so low that it looks like it is sprouting out of the soil whereas mine, you can see "long" branches. is it because i didnt trim it? i started off planting in december..

[reveru]

hi bro, since you mentioned that the problem is localized to the filter, why not just temporarily get a cheapo external canister filter to replace your 2026? you can just transfer the filter media from the 2026 to your new filter. then you can leave everything in the tank as it is.

it probably will not cost you too much time and money to buy a cheap canister filter. and seriously, my HC is just beginner's luck. i'm just glad they didn't all melt away, much less grow low and creep. meanwhile, its studies first! jia you for your thesis.. i also just finished mine. shag.

[madnugget]

thanks reveru~ yup because the water is literally flowing out initially. now i have gotten another one it should be ok. haha i had actually arranged the media properly so didnt transfer over and i took out all lifestock. since i will be busy for a month +, it should be alright to "redo" everything.. heh my HC was also beginner's luck.

thats nice! haha my 2nd draft was approved =D

[eviltrain]

Yah, concentrate on your studies first. well i can pass you some US fissden for a can of coke once you started your hobby back.

[reveru]

i also don mind donate some snowball or CRS shrimps to you in the event that yours perish during this difficult time for them!

meanwhile, approve le still got presentation to worry about.

[madnugget]

Yah, concentrate on your studies first. well i can pass you some US fissden for a can of coke once you started your hobby back.

thanks thanks! but i also have plenty of fissiden. planning to tear all down and make into a single fissiden wall!

i also don mind donate some snowball or CRS shrimps to you in the event that yours perish during this difficult time for them!

meanwhile, approve le still got presentation to worry about.

appreciated a lot! heh, will look for you once everything is stable

haha... presentation doesnt matter.. that will be the final small hurdle only..

[eviltrain]

woot, a single fissden wall, confirm more stress then your studies. haha

[madnugget]

yea!! haha but got uncle robin to help me so no worries!

[blue33]

dont forget uncle robin maid also.