Considering closing down a tank?

[Ch4rlie]

Right, would appreciate some feedback and opinions about this as I am in two minds whether I shoudl do this.

I have a 2.5 feet, 30 x 12 x 15, tank that has been running for around 8 months, maybe a bit more, can't remember when started this tank exactly.

Currently this has 8 sawsba replenden and 11 emerald danios (one died as suspect was the only female), 1 amano shrimp and 2 black cherry shrimps (2 died sadly) and a bunch of assassin snails but rarely seen now.

And this tank did run on co2, ferts and 2 x T5 lights but since the start always had some sort of algae issues and since stopping the co2, reducing T5 to one tube and ferts twice a week the algae issues persists and tbh pretty much have had enough of trying to get this one the right track but ever getting there really.

So, my question is, do i want to close down this tank but what to do with its inhabitants?

I have 2 other tanks, a 3 foot with celestial pearl danios and lambchop rasboras with a host of red cherry shrimps and MTS, Ramshorns and common snails. A great tank this, thriving as it should be.

The other tank is a 19 litre half moon tank with amano shrimps, a few red cherries, a nice large ramshorn snail and a nerite snail somewhere that was given as a gift but suspect may have passed away due to lack of algae

So one option COULD be is to add the black cherry shrimps and the amano to the 19 litre halfmoon tank, and the sawsba replendens and emerald danios to th 3 footer but mixing celestials with emeralds is not recommended due to likely crossbreeding but if they are all males then might be ok. The sawbas may eat most of my red cherries as they are slightly larger than all my danios and lambchops.

Another thing is, what to do with my assassin snails (if any left) as they would eat all my MTS, Ramshorns and commons if I were to add them to my main 3 foot tank, I do not want all my snails eaten, a few is fine but not them all.

OR I could do a rescape with that 2.5 feet tank and leave the current stocking in a temporary holding tank, a lot of work and money would need to be spent getting new substrate and plants etc to get it the way i would like it. Money I scarcely have tbh.

One last option is, I do have a small saltwater tank that has never been set up, that could take the place of the 2.5 feet tank and would be a project and a half since never had a SW tank before, again a bunch of cash would need spending to get this up and running with some live rocks, a blenny and perhaps either sexy shrimps or cleaner shrimps, all sorts of things.

I like all options above but I keep procrastinating about all these.

If you folks can help me decide, that would be t'rffic

ALL opinions and ideas would be appreciated

 

[gmc1]

I believe you may have already made your mind up about saltwater.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I believe you may have already made your mind up about saltwater.

D'y know, I have not actually decided at all as this is a bigger project than you think tbh.

First I would need to create a bigger wood base to fit the tank stand as the SW tank is wider in width than the current stand set up so thats another DIY job thats will require some time and effort.

Not forgetting that anything salty tends to be far more expensive than standard FW stuff.

So am thinking I might actually save this SW project for when I move house in the near future hopefully.

But of course this is subject to change depending on my mood

Starting to think I might just rescape this 2.5ft tank with new everything, substrate, plants and including adding a DIY single tube T8 light unit.

Might be the cheapest option other than closing the entire tank and not replacing the tank at all. Would leave an empty corner though.....

 

[**sarahp**]

Did you come to any decisions?

Seems like a bit of a "hobsons choice" to me. Pretty much anything you choose is going to cost money (all part of the fun with this hobby!) I would be inclined to go with rescaping it and then putting the old inhabitants back. Not sure why tbh, just my gut reaction. Or maybe because I'm a stubborn old goat and wouldn't want to be beaten by algae

 

[Ch4rlie]

I would be inclined to go with rescaping it and then putting the old inhabitants back. Not sure why tbh, just my gut reaction. Or maybe because I'm a stubborn old goat and wouldn't want to be beaten by algae

Lol.

I am of the same sort stubborn mindeness but I've had 8 months of fighting this stupid algae and must sadly admit defeat.

Have to say am now going to re-scape the tank completely. New substrate, new plants, new decor, new light unit, same fish though

Will be doing a DIY single T8 light unit as low tech seems to be the way to go for me after all this algae issues. So my complete co2 system may go up for sale to fund some of the new recaping costs.

Think this weekend will go into some LFS and see what they have..........

 

[**sarahp**]

Think this weekend will go into some LFS and see what they have..........

That is always a dangerous game to play!!

*keeps very quiet about doing the same thing but looking for bettas*

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yup, a dangerous game....even have to keep this quiet from the other half.......my credit card may be in danger of melting if am not careful....

Tally ho, bottoms up, stiff upper lip and all that sort of thing rather.

 

[DrRob]

100 litre plastic box/water butt.

Break down tank, put fish in plastic box with filter etc.

Reboot tank, replace fish.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I have a spare 10 gallon tank with light, filter and heater and plastic plants, all of which should be fine, fish will only be in there for a day or two max.

But the idea of the plastic container / tub is a good suggestion though and one I've used before. Only trouble is, the box I used was not clear plastic, and made for catching/nettng the fish that much trickier to do.

 

[Baccus]

What type of algae is plaguing you? Is it blackbeard? clydo? or some other pest?
Just wondering if you could try something like this
https://www.livefish.com.au/accesso...etox-200g-delivered-to-usa-free-shipping.html

or something like this?
https://www.livefish.com.au/accesso...exit-250ml-cyanobacteria-algae-treatment.html

If the fish etc are happy in the current tank and the only issue is the algae then I personally would either live with the algae or keep trying to treat/ contain it and let the fish stay happy in their current tank rather than mucking about swapping them about and disrupting them.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thanks B for those suggestions.

I would much rather not add any chemicals for treating algae, even though those two products looks half decent albeit a bit pricey.

Anyway, the only algae am battling is BBA and its one of those truly agressive ones, keeps growing on plants and wood despite my best efforts in iradicating them.

Of course this makes the plants grow rather weakly and does not look very good at all tbh. So with less plants the fish are more skittish and hides behind the wood a lot every time approach the tank

So thinking the T5 lights are too intense and since stopping the co2 the algae has just basically taken over,

Now have decided to rescape the entire tank and will copy my main 3 foot tank as much as possible, that tank is flourising nicely. So a smaler version of that tank but with different low tech plants is on the cards right now.

I do get that the fish will be stressed from being netted and moved back and forth between two tanks but hopfully the tank will suceed much better once the rescape has been done, then they should live the rest of their lives in that tank much happier in a well planted low tech set up.

Thats the plan now anyway!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Right, have set up the temp 10 gal tank in preparation for the closing down of the other tank.



For those interested, it has a S10 HOB filter, an air pump driven HOB hatchery 1 gal tank (for the assassin snails), 100w heater ( a bit overkill for a 10 gal I know but its the only spare I have, it'll be fine ), clip on aqua one lamp, a variety of plastic plants as the fish in the closing down tank are real skittish and a sprinkling of black gravel in the tank to stop being totally bare bottomed tank as well as a half inch in the 1 gal hatchery for the snails.

Does not look too bad at all if I may say so myself, took a while to get all the bits and pieces I needed as was scattered about the flat and in garage .
Main reason going into this trouble to do a temp tank as it is likely to take longer than ancitpated to get the closing down tank and rescaping done in one day as having a 2.5 year old running around and the other half will be at work tomorrow will make hard work of things.
Therefore kinda doubt will get completed as closing down and rescaping a tank always takes longer than think. Oh and of course doing a diy single T8 light unit as well.....

So going to give myself a week to complete all to my satisfaction rather than doing a rushed half hearted job of the rescape.

Will need to go to LFS tomorrow to get some substrate, thinking a 12.5kg bag of UniPac Nyssa sand will do fine, and need a bunch of low tech plants as well while there. Hope they will have what I want.....

 

[StevenF]

just out of curiosity what kind of fertilizer did you use in that tank you are now shutting down. I am wondering if there is anything I can learn from your experience.

personally i would like to beat the algae but I do understand the frustration. I am in fact working a resurgence of hair algae again in my tank (again). One thing to keep in mind you will have to sterilize everything in the tank otherwise the algae will return. That includes the tank itself.

My current plan is to figure out this current algae issue and then setup a new larger tank. I am thinking of of setting up a undergravel filter using a water pump, not a airstone to drive water flow. I think that might work very well and help control organic buildup in the substrate. i think organice are part of my problem and hope a actively pumped under gravel filter would help me keep organic levels under better control. You might want to consider something like that in the new tank.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I used Seachem Flourish root tabs and had Co2 up and running and EI ferts calculated for that sized tank, EI ferts was added 3 times a week. The lights were two T5 tubes, pretty intense lights.

And every water change I added some Tropical Premium.

At first the plants did reasonably well and carpet plants were growing etc but never had pearling occurring.

So that, to me was the first sign of seeing the balance was not quite right.

Then a few weeks later BBA started to rear its ugly head.

So I did very minor changes every second or third week to see if could redress the balance. Such as altering the EI ferts, flow and even changed the T5 tubes. Removing algae covered plants and replacing with new plants and even new bogwood after removing the one that had BBA over it etc etc. Not all at once of course, this was over at least 6 -8 months.

Never really got the BBA under control.

Then ran out of Co2, by this time had had enough of high tech so removed a T5 tube, stopped EI and continued with root tabs and Tropica Premium. This worked for a while, plants started to bounce back a bit.

After a couple weeks of careful maintenance, hair algae started to grow. That pretty much was the final straw and started to consider restarting the tank.

And here we are now, a shame never got the BBA under any real sort of control and that it basically just took over the tank slowly.

Not sure what we can learn from that but now I have a real fear of doing any high tech set ups and will be staying with low tech set ups as my other two low tech tanks are doing real good and no algae issues at all.

 

[Baccus]

I can well understand the frustration of algae, in one of my tanks its blackbeard algae when ever I get the chance I usually snip off the affected plants often its the Val and stems of the lily I put in the tank. A couple of my other tanks get a clado which at times forms balls very similar to the much sort after Marimo moss balls. I know there is a chemical I can get which is supposed to kill blackbeard and other pest algae but I am loath to use it with the various catfish, loaches and shrimp and wanted snails in residence in the tanks.
The last all out assault I carried out on this algae was when I stripped the tank removing all the plants, timbers, rocks and fish. I then removed every piece of free floating algae I could see and removed any established clumps I found on my plant leaves. The rocks and timbers got a good scrubbing with handfuls of sand. I put everything back in the tank. I know my efforts are only a temp fix but it certainly has slowed down the growth. And it has given the plants a chance to grow and out compete the algae.
On a side note in my cherry shrimp tank a lava stone rock which is very porous has a interesting crop of this green hair algae, but either because of the shrimps constant "cleaning" or the fact that the rock is inhabited by a large colony of blackworms the algae on the rock never gets long and out of control. I keep tinkering with my tanks and hoping I may yet stumble across some critter be it a shrimp species or snail species that likes eating my pest algaes.
This is the rock the shrimp and worms adore.