Need Help -moving Bedrooms/cleaing Question-

[ValveKing]

Hi, I am switching bedrooms with my parents beacuse i need more space for playing guitar and and my computer and stuff.

I have a 20 gallon high semi-planted aquarium.
The new bedroom is just down the hall, so it isnt downstairs or anything.

I'm not new with aquariums but have never really moved one before..
I need allll the help i can get.
I also have a snail problem..I've never bought snails i have no clue how they got in my tank.
I do have a major algae problem, It's stuck to my aquarium walls and i cant get it off, also i have weird hair-like algae inside the aquarium, so i think i need to clean my plants and stuff.
Should i also rinse my gravel, or will i have to re-cycle my tank.

 

[reportingsjr]

First things first, when you are moving the tank you /must/ empty of it of almost all of the water. If you do not and you try to pick it up, well have fun picking it up because that's about 160lbs+ of water I believe, you will create uneven pressure on the glass/acrylic and shatter it.

If you have a semi-planted aquarium and even then you are getting that much algae you are most definitely giving too much light for the amount of plants you have, and giving too much nutrition. (One large cause of algae growth like that is overfeeding, fish don't need food that often!)

The slimy algae stuff on the walls, gravel, etc are diatoms which are a form of algae. The hair-like algae is... well, it's hair/string algae! haha. Do NOT wash the gravel, while it does not have as much bacteria as your filter it still has a decent amount and you will end up giving your fish ammonia poisoning. To get rid of your algae problem you can go buy a razor blade to scrape it off the walls of you tank (really only recommended if you have a glass tank as acrylic will easily get scratched by the razor blade) and I don't mean one of those things you shave with, I mean a straight edged razor blade. Fill your tank with more plants (50%+ would be optimal, and not really that hard to take care of plus a nicer looking tank! ) and if you are overfeeding then feed much less. Fish only need to be fed what they can eat in about 3 minutes once every one to two days.

Other than that you could just get a snail or two. (Don't get pond snails, get something like a nerite or some type of apple snail.)

Good luck with the move!

 

[ValveKing]

Thanks for the response reporting very helpful
I'm gonna take some pics right now.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi ValveKing

Welcome to the forum!

If your gravel appears dirty, give it a rinse. Most of the beneficial bacteria live in your filter, so be extra careful with it while moving the tank. Put it into a pail of water from the tank and be very careful not to expose the media to the air. This would not be a good time to clean it. Once the fish are back in the tank they will immediately start producing waste that will help the filter regenerate any bacteria that have been lost during the move.

Your parents are kind folks to switch rooms with you. Be sure to give them a big hug on behalf of the fish.

 

[ValveKing]

Thank you Inchworm

Here are some pics:

Wow that pic makes it look bad
Well.. I have Eco-Complete, and that has all the plant benefit bacteria stuff in it..
Is is still ok to rinse it and how would I do that?
Also, when you said "put it into a pail of tank water" You are referring to the filter media right? So do i just put all 3 bags from my filter?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi ValveKing

If you can just take the whole filter off and put in right in the pail of tank water, so much the better. It's the least risky way of moving it. If not, take the bags out and put them into the water.

I don't know about the Eco-Complete since I've never used it. It might be a good idea to ask about that in the Planted Tanks section of the forum. The members there can offer advice about your algae problem too.

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showforum=10"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showforum=10[/URL]

You have a lovely tank.

 

[ValveKing]

Thank you
I put some more pictures up.

 

[ValveKing]

anyone else? MOVING TODAY

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

thats a lovley tank do you use a coloued bulb to get that 'blue' effect?