5 foot planted tank.

[stingrays4]

Hi I am not totally sure if this is the right place for this topic? If not please move to the appropriate area please admin
My plans are to upgrade my current four footer to my current five footer - let me explain
Four foot in serious need of refurbishment
Five foot in need of upgrading so the answer is simple?
Get a new six footer and upgrade the four foot to the five footer
So the fish in the five footer have been temporally re-homed until the six footer is ready. I have removed as much of the old substrate as possible including the snails! Tomorrow shall put in new plant substrate - I think its JBL mando? Then take out the plants from the shrimp tank and a few shrimps and start aquascaping five footer Then transfer over plants and fish from current four footer then expand from there Simple
A couple of questions - how long will the bacteria in an external filter live without fish in the tank?
Replace all the water or keep as much of the old as possible?
Thanks for reading and yes there shall be photo's

 

[fort384]

The bacteria will start to die within a day or 2. You an replace as much as the water as necessary, but it won't hurt anything to use the water you already have.

 

[stingrays4]

Photo's of five foot

Hi well been a very busy week so far luckily enough work has been quiet so been getting loads done
First off re-homed the fish from the five footer. Then removed most of the water and decor. Then totally drained the tank and blocked the inlets on the externals so they would stay ready to use. Then substrate in and yep ran out so a quick trip or twoto the shop to get some more and actually changed me mind about the substrate I have used the Manado completely over the base but used a gravel tidy so i could use a lighter coloured substrate called JBL River? The idea being that one side will be heavily planted while the other half will be more 'open'as the photo's will show The fish and shrimps have been moved over from the old four footer so will now be keeping a close eye on them,and the water parameters.
Enjoy the photo's
Any comments most welcome

 

[stingrays4]

Hi thanks for the information Fort384. I shall keep a close eye on things and see how it goes.

 

[stingrays4]

Hi a couple of questions When do you start adding ferts? Also if you look at the photo I do not like the piece of slate on the right? It hides my heater {sort of}and power filter inlet but would like idea's on alternatives? Thanks in advance
One idea I had was to plant some vallis in front of it? But would this look odd directly opposite the other vallis????

 

[fort384]

I think the vals would look good.

Check out this article, it discusses the basics of planted tank fertilization:
Introduction to Fertilizing the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice

 

[stingrays4]

Hi thanks Fort384 I have put some more Vallis in today in front of the slate and the effect was immediate - looked much better I need to adjust my outlet pipe from my external as it's effect on the vallis is not good The flow is currently to fast,I need to 'disperse' the flow more evenly? Also many thanks for the link. I shall work out my current lighting levels and take it from there - it's 2 x 54 watt T5s The tubes are a year old so need replacing!
Next up will be my six foot build yes all abit fast track at the moment thanks to the tank arriving 4 weeks early
This last week I have dismantled three tanks - a Five foot, a four foot and a two foot, set up one five foot Now got to make room for the six foot to go in