Need advice before I ruin a good thing

[shabash]

Hello all!
I would like to make some aquascaping adjustments to my 7g nano tank, but everything is going extremely well so I fear if I do change things it might crash my tank. My plants are growing at a very fast rate and I want to move the faster and now taller plants towards the rear to allow better view of my hard scrape. My Malaysian driftwood and Ono stones are nearly completely covered by the growth of the cardinalis and even the swords. My fear is that if I uproot some plants this could upset my balance and possibly disturb any anaerobic areas. I used contrasoil as my substrate and it’s working magnificently so far. I do not use fertilizer or co2. I do trim regularly but it just seems that these fast growing plants could do better in the corner rear of the tank. Thoughts, Ideas, input are welcome .
Thank you!

 

[Fishmanic]

great looking tank.. I can't advise if your tank will be affected by moving around the plants
But I hope you will enter our next Tank of the Month contest featuring tanks sized at 16 US gallons and smaller.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Nice looking tank!

It sometimes happens with me to. I’m afraid to mess up my scape. Just move stuff around and see. You might mess it up, but that’s life. Just experiment with it.

 

[Fishmanic]

maybe do a deep substrate vac with a python water changer (if you have one) before and after moving the plants and do a 50% water change...then if you stir anything bad stuff up, you will be removing much of it.

 

[JuiceBox52]

It looks great!

 

[FishGuest5123]

I like it just like that!

 

[Byron]

|You are wise to be concerned. One of our members did this to a tank a couple weeks back and poisoned the fish with anaerobic sulfur dioxide. If you have fish in the tank, I would move them out. If no fish, Fishmanic's idea should help.

 

[JuiceBox52]

That was me! Dont do that. Not good lol

 

[FishGuest5123]

So @Byron what do you do if you want to move plants around? Moving fish out would just be for a major re-do, right? Do you dig in your sand at all to prevent anaerobic poisoning? I had MTS in my old sand to help. Do I need to put some back in? Anaerobic poisoning is my worst fear with sand.

 

[Byron]

So @Byron what do you do if you want to move plants around? Moving fish out would just be for a major re-do, right? Do you dig in your sand at all to prevent anaerobic poisoning? I had MTS in my old sand to help. Do I need to put some back in? Anaerobic poisoning is my worst fear with sand.

If it is just one plant, I do what Fishmanic mentioned, or similar. I have the Python running pulling out water, and I dig in to the sand all around the plant I want to move, then I slowly pull the plant straight up with one hand and hold the Python at the base to suck up the dirty water. I would never do a major rearrangement without moving out the fish to a temp tank.

Technically you would not have anaerobic patches around plant roots, because during photosynthesis the plants produce oxygen as a by-product/waste product, and they release it through the roots. But it is amazing how messy that area can be...I think the substrate tabs add to it, I have dug up some really black mess.

 

[FishGuest5123]

If it is just one plant, I do what Fishmanic mentioned, or similar. I have the Python running pulling out water, and I dig in to the sand all around the plant I want to move, then I slowly pull the plant straight up with one hand and hold the Python at the base to suck up the dirty water. I would never do a major rearrangement without moving out the fish to a temp tank.

Technically you would not have anaerobic patches around plant roots, because during photosynthesis the plants produce oxygen as a by-product/waste product, and they release it through the roots. But it is amazing how messy that area can be...I think the substrate tabs add to it, I have dug up some really black mess.

Do you keep snails in your tank?

 

[shabash]

I’ve both fish (10 Chili Rasbora) and over 30 Caridina shrimp. Several are berried. I would hate to accidentally vacuum up babies. My eyesight isn’t what it used to be, unfortunately. Thanks for the compliments. I’m still not sure if satisfying my aesthetic fengshui Is worth possibly crashing my tank. Is there a specific way to uproot the rhisomed plants so as not to damage them?

 

[shabash]

Do you keep snails in your tank?

Yes there are probably hundreds in my tank. MTS are the only ones I do not have tho.

 

[Byron]

Do you keep snails in your tank?

Yes, but interestingly all my Malaysian Livebearing Snails have disappeared. I now have just the pond snails. No idea why, I had hundreds in my large tanks, and one day I noticed there were few, and not one then. no idea why, they are good in very soft water, even freezing them solid won't kill them. More than once I have noticed odd things with plants too, and wonder if something else is being added to my water. They added soda ash in 2001 and to date to raise pH, and there was something about another substance fro the third reservoir, I should probably check into that again, I've forgotten what it was going to be.

 

[shabash]

maybe do a deep substrate vac with a python water changer (if you have one) before and after moving the plants and do a 50% water change...then if you stir anything bad stuff up, you will be removing much of it.

I’ve noticed if I did more than 30% water changes my shrimp either die(2 so far) or act odd immediately after. I match temperature exactly and de-chlorinate. My tank is only 7 gallons so im thinking its just too much volume for my shrimp to adapt. My tap water is around +7ph and my tank runs 6-6.5 ph. Interestingly enough my tanks water parameters have never shown ammonia, nitrites, or even nitrates. I check once a week. So currently I only do filter maintenance every 3-5 days. Rinsing sponges in clean dechlorinated water matching my tank temp. Water change only once a month or 6 weeks. I do need to thin my duck weed and salvinia nearly daily or the top is completely covered.(I’ve made a drinking straw ring to keep my floating plants out if the center and this is what gets removed) No losses or funny behavior since. I don’t have a python but I do use a syphon hose sparingly since my tank is so small.