disaster recovery

[jimbooo]

Hi Everyone, firstly to set the scene.

the weekend before last i went away for 4 days with noone to look after the tank. i thought all would be fine..... the night before i left i noticed the co2 was down to a bubble every 15 secs or so. i thought to myself, make sure you refill the cannister so it keeps running over the weekend.

I FORGOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


this is the tank i left on friday morning.

over the next 4 days the chain reaction started.

firstly co2 stopped, but the 3WPG obviously stayed on.

first casualty was the amazon swords, massivly covered in long hair algae. Then the Riccia started to die down due to lack of co2. once the riccia dies it breaks free of the cotton thread holding it down. it then floated to the surface creating a 2 inch thick blanket of rotting riccia (absolutly stinks ). as a result of that the tank was in darkness till i got back hence more algae growth.

got back monday to a stinking sess pit of a tank looking like i hadn't cleaned it for a year.

Then I had a call from the LFS asking if i had any spare riccia for sale er yes i said (thinking i could salvage some). took a tub of riccia (1/2 alive) to the shop and bought 12 neon tetras and 4 ottos for £3 - RESULT

i limped along with it for a week doing 40% water changes every other day. and finally last wednesday re aquascaped. i managed to save a reasonable ammount of riccia just couldn't be bothered with tying to wood again. out came a piece of slate and a hairnet, i was feeling lazy. Turns out it made a great cave for my sailfin.

heres the result and i'm actually quite pleased with it. what do you guys/girls think.

Home Bread Guppy

Favorite home bread guppy

Glowlight Tetra

White Cloud Mountain Minnows

All coments welcome.

 

[Bloo]

Oh my Gosh - Shock horror it must have been for you ! I did not realise things could turn that bad in such a short space of time
Did you at any point during your 4 day break realise that you did not refill the CO2 ?

Well you've done a pretty damn good job of re-aquascaping and the riccia covered slate looks lovely. Any fish casualties ?

 

[jimbooo]

Thanks Bloozoo2, fish were fine.

i was canoing 26 miles on the Norfolk broads. my mind was on other things so no, i didn't realise until i got home.

the reason it went sooo quickly is my light.

just think of it 2 inches of rotten plant matter on the surface with no co2 and plenty of ferts with 3WPG 1 inch above it.

not a good situation to leave for a weekend!!!

thanks for the comments on the new layout, the riccis still needs to grow to conseal the net. should look better in a week.

 

[Sime]

thats stunning jimboo - riccia looks great and i love he cave. you've made your tank look much bigger. excellent.

 

[aloaring]

Hey jimboo, you tank looks fantastic even after that disaster!!
In a couple of months i'm planning on setting up a planted tank in a 12 gallon, can you tell me what equipment you've got that makes yours look so fantastic please?
Thanks

 

[jimbooo]

Hey jimboo, you tank looks fantastic even after that disaster!!
In a couple of months i'm planning on setting up a planted tank in a 12 gallon, can you tell me what equipment you've got that makes yours look so fantastic please?
Thanks

thanks aloaring, not a lot really.

Juwel Rekord 60
standard internal filter with a bag of Rowaphos
standard supplied heater
laterite & gravel substrate
added 1 extra tube (1X 4000K Dennerle Special Plant, 1X 7500K Arcadia Freshwater, both full spectrum)
1 Nutrafin natural plant system (CO2) mix 1 tsp yeast, 1/2 tsp bicarb, sugar, water (lasts 5 days on average)
fert sticks (free with nutrafin kit)
liquid ferts with water changes

Iron & Phosphate test kits - very usefull to know whats going on in the water, as a result i can usually catch problems before they start.

the last bit is the key in my opinion. my iron is gone after a week to 0PPM. after nitrate, co2 and light iron is next in the list of priority.

nitrates sit at 12.5 most of the time as i have a reasonable ammount of fish plus a big poo machine of a plec.

hope that helps

 

[abstract]

haha i like it even more now!!

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

i agree i think its excellent! it alos looks much muhc bigger tehn a 12 gallon

 

[aloaring]

Thanks jimboo
Its good to know its possible to do a great planted tank in a small tank.
when i start work on mine i'll do a journal and put it onto the forum!!

 

[jimbooo]

thanks for the kind replies.

to be honest i was quite glad it all went wrong, whats the fun in a finished tank. nothing to play with.

 

[abstract]

thanks for the kind replies.

to be honest i was quite glad it all went wrong, whats the fun in a finished tank. nothing to play with.

so true!

 

[RYO]

Nice save m8, looks good. My 60L is getting a make over soon(getting bored with the look)my swords have taken over.Love the riccia too(bugger to find round here)

 

[jimbooo]

Nice save m8, looks good. My 60L is getting a make over soon(getting bored with the look)my swords have taken over.Love the riccia too(bugger to find round here)

thanks for the comment. i cant get riccia in any of the shops here either. you have to special order it from the LFS or get some from greenline. you only need a small ammount at first as it grows pretty fast.

 

[houndour]

what liquid ferts do you use? and do you use as recommended on bottle?

BTW, your tank still looks amazing. Well done for saving it. I didnt realise what an impact it would have leaving the CO2 to stop. I guilty of leaving the CO2 levels to go low, so maybe thats another factor contributing to my algae prob *sigh*. Will replace the mixture more often.

 

[jimbooo]

Thanks hondour, it normally wouldn't be a problem.

the reason it got so bad was the ammount of riccia in the tank. bearing in mind it floats. when it's only held down by cotton thread all it takes is the part behind the thread to rot and it floats free. the rest of the problems came from the blackout effect the blanket or riccia on the surface had on the tank, plus the dead stuff was then only inches from the lights for 4 days.

if the riccia wasn't in there i would have had a bit of algae but thats about it.


I dont want to scare anyone off keeping a planted tank!!!!

edit: i use kent botanic "GROW" multi nutrient liquid fert plus Kent botanic FE (iron)

Grow: 10 drops every water change (saturday) plus 10 more on wednesday
Same dosage for Iron but test before the midweek dosage, if not needed i dont add it (too much and algae will flourish)

i have er rather a few fish so Nitrate is always at 12.5 ppm

thats about it apart from some fert sticks under the big plants (amazon swords etc..)