Well, here goes

[CiRXSi]

Tomorrow is the big day. I'll be doing some re-vamping. My 55 will be completely torn down. I will be getting rid of the UGF. The gravel will be rinsed (it really needs it!) and I picked up a bio-wheel attachment to still make use of my canister filter. During the day when this is going on, my fish will be temporarily moved to my new 29 G. Once I set the 55 back up after releveling it (there's about 3/4 of an inch difference in the water level between the two sides of the tank) everyone from the 15 G will go to the 29. Then my two bettas in their little crappy tanks (Nikko and Horatio) will go into the divided 15. This is gonna be sweet!!

 

[Chevy_Cowboy]

sounds like a fun day

good luck

 

[Bearfan]

Gonna be a crowded 29G. Also, when you rinse the gravel in the 55G you are removing the beneficial bacteria from the system and will have to restart a full cycle process. I don't recommend cleaning the gravel.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I agree with bearfan.
If you wash the gravel you will have to wait weeks for the cycle again and those fish cant stay in a 29gal that long.
Just give it a GOOD vac while you drain the tank and reuse it.

 

[Christmasfish]

Hoory for Horatio and Nikko, looks like they earned themselves the sweet deal from you!!
They won't even seem the same bettas! They are so fun to see "speeding" along on a patrol with tail flowing behind like a stallion's!

 

[CiRXSi]

It won't be a crowded 29 Bearfan. I'll put the fish from the 55 back into the 55 once I have it back up. The only fish that will be in the 29 when all is said and done is the fish that are currently in the 15. I'm aware of the cycle process. I won't kill everything off though. There's just a lot of crap in there that I need to be able to get rid of. I'm not going to be starting it over 100%, just getting rid of all the excess. Plus, it's only gonna end up being about a 20% water change. The 29 will be filled with 55 water for their temporary stay, and then put back into the 55 when it's done. Plus, I've got several buckets to keep some more 55 water in. Not to mention, I put extra filtration in there several weeks ago to start cathcing more bacteria, so that I can run that still after it goes back up. After things are for sure stable, I will be moving around my HOB filters for a better use of power. But I'm devoting them to the 55 right now. I've even got one to start off the new 29, with established water and gravel also.

 

[CiRXSi]

Well, the hard part is done. The 55 is back up and running. Just need to do a light scrubbing on some plant leaves, and decor will be back in the tank. I never did rinse the gravel as thoroughly as I was intending, which is of course good. I just pythoned the crap out of it, and things are good. Tonight, Monday and Tuesday will be setting up the 29 and the 15.

 

[krap101]

when i do that i usually just take all the decs and plants and put em in a bucket with the fish. the i get a siphon and move the gravel around and make on the sides and just keep moving it around a ton and all this crap usually comes out. usually takes about 30 mins i think

 

[CiRXSi]

Now, my bettas are REALLY happy!!! I've got the 29 done, and now I've got the 15 divided out for two of my bettas. They spent too long in their little 2-3 gallon tanks, and are really happy now. Nikko is quite old, and he's not as explorative as Horatio is, but I can still see that he's much happier. He's exploring a little, but he gets tired very quickly when he gets caught in the filter flow. Angel is going crazy in the 29 too! Extremely explorative, and he even found the bubbles again. Something he hadn't done for a long time when he was in the 15. I've still got a little rearranging to do with decor, and I might take a couple of the smaller guys out of the 55, and move them to the 29, but other than a couple other maintenance things, my new project is done. I love it!

 

[jaysono]

Possible to share pics?

Anyway, I am curious how things are gonna be in a week from now. I'm glad your happy, but like Bearfan & Oscarbreeder I'm a little wary on the gravel cleaning issue. Hopefully you can share with us your readings in a week or so.

 

[Christmasfish]

Heh, maybe if you position a dec so the filtration doesn't bug him....
or put those mini filters on each side... you never know your betta til you see him with elbow room!

If you are careful in stock numbers your tank change may do nothing....

When I tore down the 40 gallon looking for my missing BKG, I used the gravel and everything over again. It has UGF..so you know exactly what it took to search under it. My readings barely rose in a mini-cycle except the nitrAtes that week in the "new" tank. But I was changing out 50%every third day that week.

 

[CiRXSi]

I will be posting pics in my gallery in about a week or so once evrything is to my liking. I never did end up "rinsing" the gravel like I originally planned. Due to the overabundance of junk and mostly from removing the UGF, I had to python one and a half tank-fulls in the 55. Currently there is still a normal amount of debris in the gravel (original).

When starting all three tanks, 55, 29, 15 I:

Used well-established, non-rinsed media (In all three tanks)------
Kept manually siphoned water (All three tanks were filled with at least 66% original water------
29 gallon has 50% used gravel (from 15 gal)-----
15 gal has new, black tahitian moon sand-----

I will be keeping a closer tab on my parameters, but I feel that things will be ok. I am a little worried about Nikko, but I think his time is coming close. He's been visibly again for several months now, and just doesn't have the swim power or energy he used to. I'll be in touch.

 

[CiRXSi]

Well, so far everything has been great! I didn't lose anyone, and my params are great.

AMM-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-20-40

On all three tanks.

Thanks for all the help, and hopefully I'll get some pics up no later than this weekend.


PS--Nikko is doing great!

 

[Menagerie]

Sounds good! I have faith that you will not see your water parameters fluctuate

 

[CiRXSi]

Pics are in my gallery!!

 

[jaysono]

Nice pics. I enjoyed them.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Glad everything worked out.
The pics are great.