A New Day's 65l

Almost 3 months on the 65L

 

Hi guys and gals,

I’m planning on replacing the awful gravel with pfs but terrified that I’ll loose all the beneficial bacteria populating the gravel and upset the nitrogen cycle in the process. Also the logistics around catching and keeping the livestock might be a bit tricky. I want to get rid of the gravel because uneaten food etc falls into the gaps, it is too sharp, and I also don’t like the look of it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

- the cannister filter has matrix in it, I’ll re-use as is. Not a huge amount of matrix though
- perhaps i should hide 2 cups of existing gravel (rinsed in dirty tank water) under the pfs?
- should I do 8 days of Stability afterwards just in case?
- the dragon stone probably also has BB on it so perhaps I should keep it aside in dirty tank water too during the process?
- How important is it for the BB to stay at temp and how long do you think I’ll have before it dies off? Think I’ll have to be rather quick about it and have all my ducks in a row before hand. I’m basically going to put everything (plants and stone) back where they were so won’t be a dragged out scaping challenge. Just not sure how quick is quick enough for bb to survive below temp.
- when I refill, should I try to use some of the old tank water to try and keep parameters similar as much as possible? Eg PH in the tank is lower than my tapwater.
- i have an extra heater i could use to bring new tankwater (treated with prime) to temp while the other heater keeps the fish at temp in a plastic container. I can keep the filter running with the fish. I have an airpump with air stone that I dont use currently but could add if there will be benefits?
- livestock is a dwarf gourami, neons, cherry shrimp (with babies) and snails. Think I’ll keep the invertebrates separate from the fish during the process, as the shrimp won’t have cover and will be preyed upon in an open container.
- I won't have an extra heater for the shrimp but could float them in my other tank if temp is important - they won’t have filtration/ air circulation though. Although slight temp drop for a couple of hours is probably ok for the shrimp?
- catching the shrimp (especially babies) might be an issue on the existing gravel, I’ll try the plastic bottle diy shrimp trap the night before?

Am I overthinking all of this? Just don’t want a tank crash and don’t want to stress the fish too much...

 

Thanks guys, some great advice given. Much appreciated! Great article too

 

D-day!

 

Sho it was actually quite a job. i need a nap

 

Trying to catch the baby shrimp on that gravel was a nightmare, a) they’re well camouflaged b) the gaps in the gravel are actually large enough for them to hide in c) the gravel pieces are hard, coarse and heavy. Even when they’re swarming to food.

With all the stone, plants and fish out of the tank I realized there were way more baby shrimp than I thought- probably around a 100 or so, crazy. I probably managed to catch only about 30 of them and that in itself took ages

The adults were easy to catch.

 

A Dwarf gourami and neons, with plenty of cover for the shrimp. I’ve seen the neons catch baby shrimp, and the gourami would probably too although I haven’t seen him do it nor pay attention to the adults.

Having said that, there were only 6 of 10 the original adult cherries today, plus what looks like a male wild type neocaredina i got a while back from someone with some other things. Some of the shrimp babies are brown so I reckon they’re inbreeding and before long my cherries won’t be fire grade anymore. But that’s ok, the shrimp are secondary and I’m not purposefully breeding with them. My main concern in this tank is the 4 year old gourami.

 

Yes you got a very nice shrimp freebie, lucky you! Your densely planted tank should provide enough hiding spots for a shrimp colony to survive and even thrive. That’s what I’ve been told by experienced folk and it seems to play out.

You might have some losses from fish snacking on them (especially the babies) so if shrimpkeeping is a core focus (eg you want to breed and sell them, or want to see all of them out and about during daytime) it’s probably better to get a dedicated shrimp tank.

When you introduce the shrimp to a tank with fish already in it, try switching off the light for 2-3 hours and covering the the tank with a blanket to make it pitch black so the fish go to sleep (night time would be easier) then also keep everything dark for the rest of the night.

 

I’m still waiting for the last bit of cloudiness to clear up and unfortunately had to rinse the filter in tank water this morning. Am adding Stability, will keep a close eye on ammonia and nitrites for the next 2 weeks, fingers crossed...

Went for pfs and root tabs as I had pfs left over from another project, and this tank tends to be very gloomy due to the low light and hood. Agree with @Pezulu that it might not be the best option, we’ll see. Hopefully the plants will cover most of the floor surface soon and once the water has cleared up properly there won't be too much glare for the fish...

The neons seem fine, they faded in the bucket yesterday but are colouring up again nicely. I accidentally hurt the smallest one during the catching process and feared that he won’t make it, but it seems fine. The gourami is hiding from me at the moment (not impressed by being netted yesterday) but when I’m not close to the tank he’s out and about. All fish are eating well.

Added susswassertang, fissidens moss and java moss. Also what I believe (hope) is bolbitis difformis baby leaf fern that is meant to stay small. A few stems of ludwigia glandulosa (which might prefer higher light) and floating some bacopa Monnieri. Rest is exactly the same, including the ludwigia repens. The narrow leaf java fern at the back in the middle should hopefully cover the power sockets, but it grows quite slowly so it may take a while.

 

Testing every day for Ammonia and Nitrites. Ammonia negligible / well within safe levels but not absolutely zero like it used to be. Nitrites 0,5 on days 2, 3 and 4 (today). I continue to add Stability and Prime. At least it’s not climbing.

No losses except for an adult cherry shrimp on day 2, no visible signs of injury/predation.

 

A month now since the substrate replacement. Had some significant crypt melt but almost immediate regrowth. The swords also lost some leaves but good regrowth.
Nitrites and ammonia counts were back to 0 by day 5 (NO2 was 0,5 for 3 days, ammonia within safe levels).
The sad news is that my 4 year old dwarf gourami passed away 2 weeks after the rescape, with no visible signs of injury or disease. I think it was all just too stressful for him. This made me seriously regret the overhaul...

Last week I made the following changes to the tank
- gradually dialed down temp to 23C (think the neon tetra and cherries might appreciate it). Neons are spawning.
- removed the hood
- replaced the light with a 12W clamp on crystal multi-spectrum LED. Hoping that the brighter light might grow a bit more algae, think the shrimp might appreciate it. Also the tank looks a lot better (less pink, brighter).
- moved the 1 wild type neocardina to my 180L and added 3 more cherry shrimp that unfortunately brought planaria with them. Trying out a DIY planaria trap as first line of defense, I don’t really want to use No-planaria - will kill my snails.

I’m thinking of adding CPDs (celestial pearl danios). What do you think?