Topping / adding more substrate to matured planted tank

**khuancc** · 8th Sep 2010, 14:07

Any idea how to do it? Re-scaping and removing my fishes is not in my favour as I've got an arowana in my setup.

Do you guys think that lowering the water to 50% mark and slowing adding more soil is a viable option? Currently my tank is using ada soil; hearsay Gex is better in terms of not clouding the water..

Thanks in advance.

attached, my tank.

**v_nod** · 8th Sep 2010, 23:23

Hey I have no idea how to do it, but just wanted to say that yours is a great looking tank!

**eviltrain** · 9th Sep 2010, 09:57

use a 2-3inches diameter pipe, hover the area you wants to top up soil, pour the new soil through the other end slowly.

**Blue Whale** · 9th Sep 2010, 22:41

Not viable.
Topping with another type of soil, eventually the two types will mix and show up as mixed colors as you siphon the soil bed. Cloudy tank is bad for aro. They prefer clean water as most aro. keepers are already aware of.

Keeping the aro. in a red pail is also not viable. Firstly you must have a fish net big enough without damaging the fins. Secondly, the aro flipping is too strong for the pail. So usually people only do that if need to do 100% water change which is a very short 30mins to 1hour thing where you can keep an eye on the pail. Cover is required with strong securing. Beyond that is not adviseable.

So my 2 cents would be:
1. A friend's tank which can help you to keep the aro. temporary.
2. A LFS empty tank which can help you to house the aro. temporary.
3. You have extra tank.

It takes time to re-scape. I don't know if Vinz have tried that with his aro. planted tank or not - as in re-scape.

**kenny** · 9th Sep 2010, 23:36

Hi,

to add to the confusion, maybe you can get some anesthetic for fish, so that the arowana will not be (or less) harmed during the process.

Knock the fish out, put in another tank , revive fish, drain away all water in old tank, (maybe remove all ADA soil), top up with new substrate, fill tank with water slowly, plants in, knock out fish again!, replace it back to the old tank, revive fish !

I guess will take about 2 hours or so? Better to get another person to help.

**ranmasatome** · 10th Sep 2010, 10:20

IF you have an arrowana then i would suggest thinking about it throughly... The trouble taken to move the arrowana and then letting the water stabalize before putting him back in is really quite huge.

**khuancc** · 10th Sep 2010, 20:11

thanks. decided to take a risk. lower the water left 30% and top up the soil as im only going to top up part of the tank and i have a hugh sump below which i hope the water in my sump should be able to maintain the parameters. haha. wish me luck.

**Blue Whale** · 10th Sep 2010, 22:06

Definitely you would experience cloudiness, the idea of moving the fish is to allow the fish gills not to take in dirt which might sicken the aro.

If you do not want to remove the aro. but still want to continue to add soil. The best way I can think of is to use one of those plastic pipes (thick ones - LFS), with a huge funnel (Sundry/Hardware store).
Idea is to stuck the shorten pipe into the soil bed, put the funnel and fill up with soil. As you lift the pipe slowly, it will release the new soil to the soilbed with minimal disturbance. Certainly better than dumping one cup or one handful of soil from top to bottom. As you can see the soil introducing in, you can control it slowly. If soil get stuck, you just need to shaken gently.

Now given this method your challenge here is that your hand looks like food, so beware of your aro. coming towards you. Your observation skill has to be tip top. So better sleep first, wake up, eat then do your introduction. Not after lunch and feeling sleepy. And yep, you will get water slashes from your deary aro.

Lowering water is to reduce water buoyancy, if you need to re-plant.

Water change at the end of your exercise is also expected, so standby those pails near to you.

**icefire** · 23rd Sep 2010, 10:35

Originally Posted by Blue Whale

Not viable.
Topping with another type of soil, eventually the two types will mix and show up as mixed colors as you siphon the soil bed. Cloudy tank is bad for aro. They prefer clean water as most aro. keepers are already aware of.

Keeping the aro. in a red pail is also not viable. Firstly you must have a fish net big enough without damaging the fins. Secondly, the aro flipping is too strong for the pail. So usually people only do that if need to do 100% water change which is a very short 30mins to 1hour thing where you can keep an eye on the pail. Cover is required with strong securing. Beyond that is not adviseable.

So my 2 cents would be:
1. A friend's tank which can help you to keep the aro. temporary.
2. A LFS empty tank which can help you to house the aro. temporary.
3. You have extra tank.

It takes time to re-scape. I don't know if Vinz have tried that with his aro. planted tank or not - as in re-scape.

point 2 not viable. some lfs are horrible towards their fishes. you should see some of the lfs *killing* their aros immediately after putting it into the tanks...

**Desewer** · 2nd Oct 2010, 10:50

i recently did a similar technique on my own planted tank. instead of moving out all my livestock, i lowered the water to half and then slowly added more substrate material. the difference being, i'm using lapis sand which is relatively clean and does not cloud the water. i simply used a cup and slowly shook the cup to spread out the sand over the old substrate. my fish were not disturbed, but then again i don't have an aro in the tank.

**Blue Whale** · 3rd Oct 2010, 18:53

Originally Posted by icefire

point 2 not viable. some lfs are horrible towards their fishes. you should see some of the lfs *killing* their aros immediately after putting it into the tanks...

There are experienced people. Whilst I am very sure I know what you mean, spotting that experienced LFS people do take some observation skill as well.
People who tells you when the fish stock comes in and ask you to collect on that day, well, you might want to avoid them. (Quite a number of them, I don't think I wanna spoilt the market).
People who tells you when the fish stock comes in and ask you to collect only after a few days, and kept healthy fish (like the LFS in Bukit Batok), you give them your respect and have peace of mind that the fish would be very healthy.
^_^ best option of course is still 1. or 3.