Sand.

[skinbad]

Readings all say its good, nitrates almost non existant, but i curently have two common plecs, so 50% 2x a wk, and use an air pump gravel vac daily too.

 

[minnnt]

Water is of no use at all really... the cleaner the better imo!!

 

[dalethewhale]

DONE! will post pics tomorrow when cloudiness has gone.

 

[minnnt]

Looking forward to it mate. It took me 4 and a half hours all in all

 

[raptorrex]

Why would the tank cycle again??? The bacteria are found predominantly in the filter, not the water, substrate or anywhere else in the tank.

+1

its the filter that's cycled, not the water. regardless of how good your regime is.
apart from the stress to the fish, of being taken out. 100% should be no problem for any, community tank.

 

[dalethewhale]

well? what do you think?

 

[fluttermoth]

Oh, that looks very nice indeed? Are you happy with it?

 

[dalethewhale]

Oh, that looks very nice indeed? Are you happy with it?

Thank you, and I am however it makes my tank look empty! and i'm slightly disappointed that i couldn't get any taller vallis... guess i'll just have to wait for it to grow!

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes; I find rescaping always makes the tank look empty! The plants will soon fill out, and the vallis will grow and spread; it'll be gorgeous in another six months

 

[Athena]

Hi - looks nice and clean!

Quick tip - buy a turkey baster LOL

Seriously, I use mine whenever I see a bit of poop on the sand. My filter is pretty good so I don't have tons of poop-scooping to do but I find it's definitely easier with the turkey baster than getting out the gravel vac/bucket/get the suction going, get the swirling action going blah blah blah LOL. With a baster you just squeeze, insert into the aquarium above the poop, slowly release the bulb and whoosh it sucks up the poop quickly and easily. Then a quick squirt into a little tub and it's all done!

Also, another handy use of the wonderful TB is for making natural looking sand dunes by blowing gentle puffs of air onto the sand to scape it how you want (turn your filter off whilst doing this).

I have convicts who do this sand-scaping on a daily basis, anyway, but sometimes they go a little bit overboard and completely remove a whole area of sand and stockpile it in a corner, so I then gently puff it back into place with the TB.


Athena

 

[Tizer]

Looks like someones childhood was missing visits to the beach and they are making up for it now

 

[This Old Spouse]

Hi - looks nice and clean!

Quick tip - buy a turkey baster LOL

Seriously, I use mine whenever I see a bit of poop on the sand. My filter is pretty good so I don't have tons of poop-scooping to do but I find it's definitely easier with the turkey baster than getting out the gravel vac/bucket/get the suction going, get the swirling action going blah blah blah LOL. With a baster you just squeeze, insert into the aquarium above the poop, slowly release the bulb and whoosh it sucks up the poop quickly and easily. Then a quick squirt into a little tub and it's all done!

Also, another handy use of the wonderful TB is for making natural looking sand dunes by blowing gentle puffs of air onto the sand to scape it how you want (turn your filter off whilst doing this).

I have convicts who do this sand-scaping on a daily basis, anyway, but sometimes they go a little bit overboard and completely remove a whole area of sand and stockpile it in a corner, so I then gently puff it back into place with the TB.


Athena

+1!

I saw a while ago that someone was using a turkey baster for something or other, so I though it might be a great idea to get rid of the mounds of pleco poop I find every day. YES!!

His poo is too heavy for my gravel vac, too, so this works perfectly. It also works great for transferring fry! And as Athena said, for sandscaping there's nothing better. Love mine.

 

[Athena]

Looks like someones childhood was missing visits to the beach and they are making up for it now

well, at least I haven't gone so far as building little sandcastles, although I did think about it when I had all that sand in the bucket during the cleaning phase...lol

Oh...and re the turkey baster - after going into several local shops and asking for one and getting some weird looks (tut tut) with no luck, I decided to save on the embarrassment and I ordered one online. Should have done that in the first place lol

 

[minnnt]

Looking good Dale. Very neat indeed. The Vallis will soon grow, mine shot up when it was planted in play sand!