How to questions - changing all decor

[joannde]

After what seems like a month I'm FINALLY at the end stages of getting ready to "plant" my 29G tank (1.5 wpg).

The plants are being shipped overnight on Monday, so that they will arrive on Tuesday.

I'm not doing a "traditional" planting. My tank is pretty much bottomless and I'm keeping it that way except for two ceramic pots for two of the new plants, a ceramic "tree" and a bunch of ceramic "rocks" and "caves" that I've made to tie Anubias and Java Ferns to. I'll be using

I've been removing about a dozen or so of my current "glass beads" from the tank every couple of days so that my good bacteria can build up on other places - probably a bad idea in the end since all of the other decor will also shortly be removed (I see a mini-cycle in my future !).

Questions:

1. Since I made the ceramic pots myself am I setting myself up for a worse diatom outbreak (I really HATE diatoms - although I have nothing against oto's I really didn't plan on having any in the tank)

2. Since I'm removing all the current resin decor (2 large "rock / cave" things) and all the silk plants - leaving only a few of the "glass bead" substrate should I remove the fish while I "redecorate" ? Which do you think is less stressful to the fish - leaving the fish in their own tank and having them "watch" me redecorate or taking them out and putting them in a 4 gallon bucket while I give their home a makeover ?

3. Is my risk of a mini-cycle reduced because of the addition of the plants (L. repens, 5 anubia v nana, 5 lace java fern, 2 regular java fern, 3 anubia barteri v barteri, 1 red rubin sword, 1 bunch of pennywort and 4 moss balls) ?

TIA

 

[rich311k]

As long as you don't change the filter media I think you will be fine. The plants will use some of the N compounds, so yes they will help. I don't think you will have any mini cycle at all.

 

[joannde]

Thanks Rich.

Do you think I should move the fish out to the bucket while I do this or leave them in the tank ? I'd like to minimize stress.

 

[rich311k]

I have done some massive rearrangements with the fish in the tank. They don't seem to mind at all. The angels kind of watch my hand and look for food.

 

[TwoHobbies]

I've never removed my fish either. I would think the stress of catching them (if you're using a net) would be more than the rearranging.

I didn't know you made the pots..... thats pretty cool......did you make the tree too.

I think we are going to need some pictures!

 

[joannde]

Thanks - I was hoping to leave them in the tank and just do the change in sections so the fish could escape to the other side if they get scared. My husband has agreed to "stand watch" just to ensure that I don't crush a poor little fishy as I do all this.

I started taking ceramics classes a year ago so I thought it would be cool to integrate my two hobbies (hmmmmm I think I know someone with that screenname LOL). If I could find a low light orchid that grows submerged then I could integrate all THREE hobbies LOL.

Yep, I made the tree too - in fact I made FOUR trees - the first one broke after it was completed (after both the bisque and glaze firings) when it got accidentally knocked over. The second one disintegrated as the clay was drying ! The third one stayed together but its HIDEOUS ! LOL. The fourth one is drying and looks pretty cool so far - we'll see what happens during the two firings.

I also made three small caves (basically upside down pots with a "door" cut in - they look like igloos LOLOL ) - I'll be attaching java ferns to the top of those.

Not exactly "natural" but it will certainly be more natural then the resin ornaments that are already losing their color and the silk plants that I have !

(ps - I DID make the mote thing I had originally posted about but I made it too large for the small kiln I was able to borrow ! So I made a smaller version but it exploded in the kiln from too much trapped air !!!)

 

[Guest]

Hey Joannde,

A couple of weeks ago I changed all my gravel to PFS and then to add insult to injury, I bought a new tank and did the transfer.

I though for sure that I would have a mini cycle but I did not. The filter media must have seeded the new tank well enough and I kept my driftwood, rocks etc. wet.

Also, I was very nervous because my water was very cloudy with both jobs but my fish were all fine. Unless your tank was very filthy, I would leave them in.

 

[HannahJ]

Hmmm...one more tip, you might boil your ceramics to make sure they're okay for tank use. And you might add a little more media for your bacteria to grow on in your filter, just to compensate for your loss of gravel and such. But you sound like you should be okay.

Good luck!