Fixing my Tank

[Angry_Platy]

Tomorrow I am going for a drive to get some laterite and a substrate heater for my 30gal tank. The substrate heater is meant to be sufficient for a 40gal tank so I should be fine. If I get home in time I will be doing the conversion tomorrow afternoon. If not, it will be Monday evening.

OK....some questions:

1. What is the best way to remove sand from the tank? I was just going to use my gravel vac to suck it all out. Would this be OK? (obviously after removing all the plants)

2. Then comes the laterite (yes, jimboo, I have allready asked you this but am still confused)....I am reading that where possible the laterite should go underneath the gravel. So I am getting 200g laterite tomorrow. So this goes on the bottom. And the gravel goes on top. Do I still need to make the substrate about 2 inches deep? Will the heating cable be able to heat the entire depth of substrate?

3. Would fluorite be better? The reason I am asking is the place I am buying the laterite does have fluorite as well. Problem is that it costs $80 for a 7kg bag. The laterite is $30 for 200g (apparently enough for my tank).....Is it possible to get a bag of fluorite and mix it with the gravel and still have the laterite underneath or is the laterite on its own (with gravel) enough?

4. With laterite on the bottom, will I still need root tabs for my sword plants. They are not growing all that well and I am SERIOUSLY hoping this tank revamp will fix them

Thats enough questions for now......

 

[jimbooo]

Hi Angry platy.

in answer to the questions

1 - no idea, never used sand

2- rince the laterite well before ading to the tank. heater cable first, laterite next (in a layer), gravel on top. i'd say 2.5 inches of substrate would be best. sloping front to back ie 1.5 inches at the front pane, 3 inches at the back.

3- no experience with flourite (and sounds expensive) i've managed fine without it so personally wouldn't bother.

4- it wont hurt, i'd add 1 per sword directly under the roots when you first replant them, you may need to add them again in a couple of months but not anyway near as often as prior to the laterite.

good luck with your little mission, i'm quite excited for you, sad isn't it!!

by the way when you refill the tank it'll have a rusty look to it. Laterite is dried clay as i said before so quite normal. the colour will fade in 24 hrs, if not add carbon for a day or two.

 

[Angry_Platy]

i'm quite excited for you, sad isn't it!! laugh.gif

I am excited for me too.....I have to drive an hour to get the stuff (at least) and I have been planning out the best route allready

I am hoping I am home in time to do it tomorrow afternoon (there are a few LFSs I am going to while down that far)....if not it will either be a late night (highly unlikely since I start at 6am the next day) or a busy next afternoon after work project......

 

[houndour]

What is the best way to remove sand from the tank? I was just going to use my gravel vac to suck it all out. Would this be OK? (obviously after removing all the plants)

Sounds OK to me. I dont think you'd have to syphon it _all_ out. You can syphon, say half, mix the laterite in with the sand thats in the tank and then put the rest of the old sand on top. You will find bits of laterite do surface after time, I wouldn't worry about this...I've got a quite a bit thats come to the top and had no ill affect to fish. I've heard you can use an entire substrate of laterite anyway.

I asked about fluorite at my LFS and he seemed to think Laterite was better. If you're using fluorite I think you're sposed to use it as 100% substrate.

So I am getting 200g laterite tomorrow

Are you sure 200g is the right amount? I only ask as I put 1600g in my 20 gallon. It might not be the same stuff though and I think I put more than was recommended.