Operation Face Lift Underway

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There comes a time when we all have to say goodbye to end of an era. Folks....my gravel tank (29g) has outlived itself. It's been "ok" for the past three years but it's time for change. I will be converting this tank to SMS.

As with all the tanks, this one suffered greatly during the time when we were taking care of my father. I lost quite a few plants in there and it's almost a skeleton. Unlike the other tanks where they grew outlandishly like jungles...this one went the opposite direction. Instead of trying to reclaim what was there, I decided that now is the time to change it. This one has some fishies in there so that adds to it. But I've done this many a time so that part of it shouldn't be too bad. On the plus side...the snail population has been reduced.

I will also be tearing down the 20long and completely redoing it as well. I will be keeping the substrate in that one. I just have to pull out the jungle and re-do it.

Phase I has commenced by giving the SMS a good rinsing. Oh what fun!

I'll get some pics of the progess as I go. Keep in mind that this tank was pretty much let go and it is an eye sore. So please don't beat me up too bad when you see. Sometimes life only sends you one train and you have to get on for the ride.

 

Taking a break and letting the filters catch up to debris. So far so good. All is going good. I did make the BPs and Oto's mad as I took away their hiding cave. It'll be ok as they are going to have a much better place when done.

Going to see if this works for pics:

The begining: Here's the state of the 29 prior to face lift. Very bad. Hard to believe this used to be a very beautiful tank.



Here's the product of choice:


SMS when dry (prior to rinsing):


SMS after rinsing and ready to go:


More to follow.....

 

Storm a brewin...may be done for the eve if I lose power. Monitoring closely.

 

Storm coming over the top. Lots of energy out there. Unplugged the laptop. Definately time to take a break!

 

Starting to slack off. Still a ton of energy out there. Came right over the top of the house. Tell you how bad it is/was....some of the thunder literally shook the house...and I have a log cabin. Pretty Intense.

During this time I decided I was going to be nice and sift through the gravel for ramshorn snails. Don't ask ... I had to pass the time. Didn't want to stir up the tank any more just in case we lost power.

Anyway...discovered my first casulty of the neglect. A big hit at that...I lost my banjo cat! Found his skeletal remains while sifting the gravel. So mad at myself!

 

Ok..calling it quits for the night. Storm set me back. Didn't quite get all the gravel out. On a side note, my filters are keeping up nicely. I'm running two 30s while doing this. Just swapped out media pads. Will continue first thing in the morn.

 

No worries for baby otos. That is a seperate tank.

Filters still hanging with me. Have the water nice and clear this morn. Ready to get started.

Now I know what you're thinking. Why didn't I pull out everything before I started? I'm keeping some plants and rocks in here to help reduce stress. Other than the cories not having their usual corner, all is well so far.

Here's where we begin this morn:


Work continues.....

 

Almost all gravel removed. Removed the last of the plants. Only two pieces of driftwood and prefilters remain. Let things settle, do a small vac to get up more of the debris and then the SMS will go in.

 

Trying to be. Limited schedule so need to get most of what I can done the weekend. Then work and staying with pops at the rehab clinic kicks in again on Monday. Still gotta do garden work as well! Action packed weekend ahead.

Did a quick water test just to be safe. All looks good. PH ~ 6.8, NH3 ~ 0 (surprising with everything that was stirred up), and NO3 ~ 20.

Skimmed the surface to remove all the duckweed and other floating particles. Took the opportunity to also get rid of the pond snails. I know I won't get them all but most of them at least. I can deal with that as I'll continue to pick em out.

 

Battery running dead need to charge it. In the mean time....SMS going into the tank. This is how I do it when I am changing substrates with fishies in the tank. Nice smooth process and minimum/no cloudiness.

StepI: Fill the cup with water:


StepII: Lower cup to bottom of tank and slowly pour it out.


StepIII: Watch fishies investigate as the wonder what the heck this stuff is:


They have been swarming over it non stop. Very interesting to watch.

First batch of SMS in tank. Rinsing second batch now. Will be scaping at 1 1/2-3" throughout the tank. Should make for a nice effect. That is...if it works like I vision it.

 

All the old substrate has already been pulled out. Pour the new in slowly which ensures you can keep an eye on the fishies during the process.

 

Oh yeah...it was filled up (or should I say about 3/4) when I started. I didn't completely drain and remove everything. I did it with water and fishies still inside. ;o)