Looking to start over

[Kelly247]

Hey guys.

My tank has been going strong for about a year now. But I've run into a problem........ I've gotten bored with my set-up. And to be honest this site is partly to blame haha. Before you all tear me apart let me explain. Since I've discovered this amazing site, all I've seen are amazing tanks. Makes mine look like a ghetto . I'm going to be keeping all the fish I have and the 20g tank but I want to rescape everything. Any ideas on what I should do? I have 3 Tiger Barbs, 3 Neon Tetras, African Dwarf Frog, Pakistani Loach(Solo) and a Golden Algae Eater(Han). The plants are live as well.

 

[Darkseid76]

I would start with the substrate. I'm assuming you want to go for a more natural look.

Then I would ditch the pottery decor. Go with maybe a piece of rock or dw.

It's really depending on what you wanna do.

 

[Kelly247]

I'm thinking sand, but where I'm located the only sand available is ocean sand. Is there any other sands I can use? I've also heard of pool filter sand, but not sure where to get that either

 

[Kelly247]

And the girlfriend picked out the deco lol. If I went with DW, should I go real(can it cause problems?) or fake?

 

[madams102]

You will have to be patient but what i would do is change a little of the substrate out at a time maybe the first third from left to right. This ensures that you are not removing your entire substrate at one time which houses a good deal of nitrifying bacteria. That is where i would start. Pool filter sand would probably be fine and you should be able to find it at a pool supply or pool service company. If all else fells just order the sand you want online. Since you will only be doing a little at a time with approximately two to four weeks between intervals it shouldn't be too taxing on the wallet. Be careful when uprooting your plants and re planting them since its been my experience they do not enjoy this process very well.
Once the substrate is finished search for some taller plants to place in the back kinda like a blanket across the back of the aquarium to hide your hardware and then smaller plants for the midground and maybe a carpet style plant for the foreground. A nice piece of bogwood would also make a nice addition and i would absolutely buy a solid black background to put on the outside of the back glass. This will make your plants and fish pop. I hope this helps.

 

[Darkseid76]

I think it's easier to change all your substrate in one go. As long as you have an established filter you should be fine.

Also if you're adding new decor it will be much easier with the tank empty to arrange plants and decor as you see fit.

You can put your fish in a bin, bucket, or spare tank with old tank water, a small heater and a bubbler. You should be able to condition new water in a couple of days and then add your fish back.

 

[Bix22]

You could do a black background and put some large driftwood in there with a few more plants.

 

[SKB]

I changed my substrate to sand all in one go, but if u wanna do it partially go ahead. I ordered my sand online from a lowes, which I picked up but u can get it shipped, either way. I used play sand and 50 lbs was like $4 ($3 and some change). I love natural tanks. Real plants, driftwood, rocks, sand.

Plants depend on what lighting you have and what time and money you want to put into it. Easy plants are java moss or java fern, Anubis nana, amazon sword etc. do a little research. Usually they say 2 watts per gallon. But I see you already have some plants, be careful with the change with them.

Some plants can be attached to driftwood. With driftwood u can find it naturally or buy some. I've found all of mine. U can look at my profile pics. Just make sure u know what type of wood it is. Certain woods aren't good for your fish and could possibly kill them. Hard wood, not soft wood. Soft wood will rot. No pine type of wood will work. You'll need to boil the wood atleast for an hour. But some wood will require more boiling to get it to sink. Tannins come out of the wood when boiled, and if it has parasites, etc, boiling will take care of that. But if its thicker wood it may need to soak for more than a month to sink. If all of the tannins aren't out of the wood and u grow impatient ( and don't mind your wood turning your water a little brown ) you can always drill a hole in some slate and into the driftwood to get it to sink.

Rocks. There is an article in this forum telling you about natural decor. It'll tell you what rocks not to use. I love beautifully colored rocks. Depending on the rest of your set up, you can add different sized, different colored, different shaped rocks to add color, and hiding places for your fish.

Background. I painted mine black. This wouldn't be good if you didn't have a light, but with plants I'm sure you do. Otherwise you can spray it blue or there is another color that's almost a shimmery whitish. I can't think of what it's called now. But I'd suggest painting the back a color. It helps bring attention to the fish and the rest of your decor along with making your tank have an allusion of being further back or bigger.

I can't wait to see what you do with it!! Post pics!

 

[Kelly247]

Found play sand on the Canadian Tire website. It's by crayola and comes in 4 colours. I'm going to check it out in store this coming Friday but I did read reviews on the site and they seemed pretty good, no one mentioned fish tanks but people did say it went with water really well. Here is the site, can someone tell me if they think it'll be good for the tank. http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brow...504129P/Play+Sand.jsp?locale=en&stop_mobi=yes

 

[Kelly247]

Can someone check out the sand on this site and let me know if you think it'll work for the tank? http://m.canadiantire.ca/mt/www.can...ardGames/PRD~0504129P/Play+Sand.jsp?locale=en

 

[jlk]

Do not use this sand as it contains chemical dyes. The bag also specifically states a warning in bold letters something to the effect of "do not get wet" / "not safe for aquarium use". Theres lots of other safe alternatives for sand substrates depending on what you are looking for.

 

[Kelly247]

Hahaha awesome, didn't see that online. Thanks for the heads-up

 

[bthomas]

I changed my substrate to sand all in one go, but if u wanna do it partially go ahead. I ordered my sand online from a lowes, which I picked up but u can get it shipped, either way. I used play sand and 50 lbs was like $4 ($3 and some change). I love natural tanks. Real plants, driftwood, rocks, sand.

Plants depend on what lighting you have and what time and money you want to put into it. Easy plants are java moss or java fern, Anubis nana, amazon sword etc. do a little research. Usually they say 2 watts per gallon. But I see you already have some plants, be careful with the change with them.

Some plants can be attached to driftwood. With driftwood u can find it naturally or buy some. I've found all of mine. U can look at my profile pics. Just make sure u know what type of wood it is. Certain woods aren't good for your fish and could possibly kill them. Hard wood, not soft wood. Soft wood will rot. No pine type of wood will work. You'll need to boil the wood atleast for an hour. But some wood will require more boiling to get it to sink. Tannins come out of the wood when boiled, and if it has parasites, etc, boiling will take care of that. But if its thicker wood it may need to soak for more than a month to sink. If all of the tannins aren't out of the wood and u grow impatient ( and don't mind your wood turning your water a little brown ) you can always drill a hole in some slate and into the driftwood to get it to sink.

Rocks. There is an article in this forum telling you about natural decor. It'll tell you what rocks not to use. I love beautifully colored rocks. Depending on the rest of your set up, you can add different sized, different colored, different shaped rocks to add color, and hiding places for your fish.

Background. I painted mine black. This wouldn't be good if you didn't have a light, but with plants I'm sure you do. Otherwise you can spray it blue or there is another color that's almost a shimmery whitish. I can't think of what it's called now. But I'd suggest painting the back a color. It helps bring attention to the fish and the rest of your decor along with making your tank have an allusion of being further back or bigger.

I can't wait to see what you do with it!! Post pics!

+1. Ive found all the rocks and driftwood for my two largest tanks. Its more work cleaning boiling and testing what you find,but you get to make the tank your own. Also a background would help alot. Ive painted three of mine black and one a dark blue. And since the paint can be changed you wont be stuck with it if you decide on something different down the road. And as others mentioned more plants will help fill in and the tank wont look so empty-
Good luck! Watching for updates

 

[Kelly247]

Picking up 2 bags of black sand this evening also going to the beach by the river to try and find some drift wood

 

[eAts]

I'm thinking sand, but where I'm located the only sand available is ocean sand. Is there any other sands I can use? I've also heard of pool filter sand, but not sure where to get that either

The major hardware stores have sand. Look for silica sand, play sand (it's dirty though), or even black blasting sand, and pool filter sand. Put the fish and some tank water in a Rubbermaid tub and put the plants and decor in there. Suck out the rest of the water, and change the substrate. Just don't let your filter dry you may want to run it on the Rubbermaid tub if it takes longer than a few hours. Good luck!

 

[Kelly247]

Sand is as clean as its gonna get I think. Rock's and DW came straight from the Saint John River here in New Brunswick. Starting to drain the tank. Pictures to follow

 

[Kelly247]

Rescape is complete. Started at 830ish and finished around 1130pm. Reused about 85% of the water that was in the aquarium before I started. I bought 2 20lbs bags of black sand (some white mixed in) off Kijiji.ca for $5, and washed the bejesus out of it. Put fish in right away and went to bed shortly after. I may have put a little too much food in though, not completely my fault, the sneeze came out of no where. Will post pictures in the morning before I head to work. KCCO

 

[Kelly247]

Here are a couple pictures. Getting background and more plants on the weekend

 

[SKB]

Looking good!

 

[Kelly247]

I've been thinking about changing from flake food to the gel version to cut down on waste, is that a good idea?