Operation Fish, for the unacquainted, was a secret operation during WW2 to evacuate the very wealthy; the top echelon of British society to Canada complete with family, belongings and bags of gold. I expect Canada was rubbing its hands in anticipation.
Well, my modern day equivalent holds very little semblance to that of the then government operation, however it does require….probably, the same strategic planning, transportation complexities, rigorous timing, equipment haulage, and everything else that goes with moving 17 wobbly Vertebrate and 2 rigid Homo sapiens, 60 miles through Surrey/Kent border, riding on the currents that are the M25, M26, M20 and lots of winding lanes to boot.
I also can’t be sure that Kent will welcome us with quite the same anticipation as the Canadians did back then (perhaps it is the lack of gold) but.. and here’s the thing, as Starship used to belt out from my 80s stereo system back in the day - “Nothing’s Gonna Stop us now”. And so it won’t, unless it’s a flat tire, then I’m buggered.
So, with 6 days left, the final countdown has started…I can feel another song coming along…. I thought I would start a log blog, as has already been successfully portrayed on here recently, to capture the messiness.
Operation fish will commence in the morning so until then and inevitably, like the bing bang bosh of the EastEnders theme tune bouncing into life, I’ll have leave it there, on the edge of the proverbial tank.
J
Operation Fish
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- Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2020 8:12 am
- Location: Kent
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Hardware:
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
- plankton
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Good luck Robbo, at least the traffic should be lighter than usual.
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@plankton Indeed Sir...
Hardware:
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
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- Member
- Posts: 123
- Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2020 8:12 am
- Location: Kent
- Has liked: 49 times
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Stage 1 - Separation
I started moving the fish today. Boy was it hard work. The little 15lt has been steady and pre tested for a few weeks now. It gets very brown very quickly with the bogwood tannins but i can live with it for a week i guess with a couple of 30% WC's.
I tried to separate by fish types; moving only the guppies first who were so enthralled with the plastic bag they practically jump in. They were moved immediately. The rest, not so easy. I tried to then work on the WCMM who had clearly been reading my earlier post and basically played hard ball. One actually jumped out of the bag onto the floor... The tiny 'your loss pal' glint in my eye appeared for a nano second before i scooped him up and popped him back in the big tank. I missed a trick there, but i panicked. If i'd thought quicker i could have popped him in the small tank but hey ho.
i had to do the transfer in 3 stages in the end and it's still not complete. There are still two ZD's left in the big tank keeping the Peco company. I didn't want to stress them too much so had to make breaks between scoops. If the truth be told it was probably me who needed the stress break, but they are all alive in one tank of another which is good news.
Primarily i scooped them all out with a bag, apart from one challenged ZD who had to be netted.
I will finish the transfer tomorrow but not entirely sure how to get the pleco if i can't use a net. She very rarely comes to the top of the tank and she moves like lightning.
Any ideas folks?
I started moving the fish today. Boy was it hard work. The little 15lt has been steady and pre tested for a few weeks now. It gets very brown very quickly with the bogwood tannins but i can live with it for a week i guess with a couple of 30% WC's.
I tried to separate by fish types; moving only the guppies first who were so enthralled with the plastic bag they practically jump in. They were moved immediately. The rest, not so easy. I tried to then work on the WCMM who had clearly been reading my earlier post and basically played hard ball. One actually jumped out of the bag onto the floor... The tiny 'your loss pal' glint in my eye appeared for a nano second before i scooped him up and popped him back in the big tank. I missed a trick there, but i panicked. If i'd thought quicker i could have popped him in the small tank but hey ho.
i had to do the transfer in 3 stages in the end and it's still not complete. There are still two ZD's left in the big tank keeping the Peco company. I didn't want to stress them too much so had to make breaks between scoops. If the truth be told it was probably me who needed the stress break, but they are all alive in one tank of another which is good news.
Primarily i scooped them all out with a bag, apart from one challenged ZD who had to be netted.
I will finish the transfer tomorrow but not entirely sure how to get the pleco if i can't use a net. She very rarely comes to the top of the tank and she moves like lightning.
Any ideas folks?
Hardware:
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
- fr499y
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Jug is what i used. A larger one when I transferred a huge common
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- Location: Kent
- Has liked: 49 times
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Stage 2 - Disassemble
I made a grave error here i think on many levels. I simply forgot all of your good advice.
I planned to do this stage on Thursday morning but as i was packing and kind of panicked and wanted to get all the big stuff done, ready for Wednesday evening. So i decided, in a momentary lapse of madness to disassemble the tank. I remembered to turn the the filter off but not the heater, so this went pop when the water level went down. I was half way through the clean when i remembered the advice from you all about the filter media and that it could survive in a bag for a few hours, not in this instance a few days.
So I will really have to start a fresh on Thursday pm. I'm a bit annoyed with myself but can't really do anything about it now. Tank will be set up on Thursday pm and Fish go in Monday pm. Hopefully the transition won't be too bad. I'll be on hand to test and trace throughout though.
The transfer pot arrived. Its massive!! It is twice as large as the baby tank. It does say 30 Ltrs but i didn't read it properly and didn't compute the size. When it turned up it was in a massive box what with Amazons way of packing and the Mrs thought I'd bought a new tank. Still, it will do a job but the idea of her holding it between her ankles on route will have to be re thought!
I started the clean down and was very disappointed and surprised at how much dirty water was sitting in the sand. look at below. Is that normal or simply a result of poor maintenance? i do clean every 3 weeks with a pump filter that sucks up the top dirt and with a 20% - 30% WC it comes out very clear indeed with no signs of the dirt in the pick.
I drained the rest of the tank and it's now ready to travel. Clip below of sister and brother all set.
i've also just realised, in my madness that i have to repeat Stage 1 when i move from the small tank to the transfer pot. Not very sensibel. All good plans get ruined i guess.
I made a grave error here i think on many levels. I simply forgot all of your good advice.
I planned to do this stage on Thursday morning but as i was packing and kind of panicked and wanted to get all the big stuff done, ready for Wednesday evening. So i decided, in a momentary lapse of madness to disassemble the tank. I remembered to turn the the filter off but not the heater, so this went pop when the water level went down. I was half way through the clean when i remembered the advice from you all about the filter media and that it could survive in a bag for a few hours, not in this instance a few days.
So I will really have to start a fresh on Thursday pm. I'm a bit annoyed with myself but can't really do anything about it now. Tank will be set up on Thursday pm and Fish go in Monday pm. Hopefully the transition won't be too bad. I'll be on hand to test and trace throughout though.
The transfer pot arrived. Its massive!! It is twice as large as the baby tank. It does say 30 Ltrs but i didn't read it properly and didn't compute the size. When it turned up it was in a massive box what with Amazons way of packing and the Mrs thought I'd bought a new tank. Still, it will do a job but the idea of her holding it between her ankles on route will have to be re thought!
I started the clean down and was very disappointed and surprised at how much dirty water was sitting in the sand. look at below. Is that normal or simply a result of poor maintenance? i do clean every 3 weeks with a pump filter that sucks up the top dirt and with a 20% - 30% WC it comes out very clear indeed with no signs of the dirt in the pick.
I drained the rest of the tank and it's now ready to travel. Clip below of sister and brother all set.
i've also just realised, in my madness that i have to repeat Stage 1 when i move from the small tank to the transfer pot. Not very sensibel. All good plans get ruined i guess.
Hardware:
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
- plankton
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Or as they say... "D'oh!"
The filter should be ok if you leave it damp for a couple of days.
The filter should be ok if you leave it damp for a couple of days.
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- Posts: 123
- Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2020 8:12 am
- Location: Kent
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Indeed. Glutton for punishment.
Hardware:
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
- Vale!
- Super Mod - TOTM Winner
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It's perfectly normal, r72 : all sorts of processes go on in substrate. Generally, the top half-centimetre or so (depends on grain size etc.) supports aerobic processes. Below that, anaerobic processes such as the 'sulphur cycle' dominate - apart from perhaps in regions adjacent to plant roots (which pump out excess oxygen and may or may not re-use it if it's not gobbled up by local aerobic microblighters!). Both types of process generate bacteria etc. and that, in the main, is what the 'dirt' is.
The topmost layer supports a proportion of the nitrifying microblighters in the tank : the more powerful the filtration (in terms of volume of media and pumping capacity) the lower their proportion living on tank surfaces including in-and-on substrate.
A few days ago I reset two tanks that are pretty much identical apart from the fact that one has slightly more vegetation than the other. Filtration current is very slow in both tanks. I wanted to change the colour of the substrate in one tank (to better suit incoming residents) so I stripped off the top centimetre of its substrate, replaced it with new and added the same number and species of immigrants to both tanks. Next day, Total Ammonia in the tank with undisturbed substrate was zero ; in the other it was 0.30mg/l. I checked again yesterday and it was 0.16 so it's recovering slowly.
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Thanks for the note Vale. That is very reassuring. Good luck to you too btw.Vale! wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:11 pmIt's perfectly normal, r72 : all sorts of processes go on in substrate. Generally, the top half-centimetre or so (depends on grain size etc.) supports aerobic processes. Below that, anaerobic processes such as the 'sulphur cycle' dominate - apart from perhaps in regions adjacent to plant roots (which pump out excess oxygen and may or may not re-use it if it's not gobbled up by local aerobic microblighters!). Both types of process generate bacteria etc. and that, in the main, is what the 'dirt' is.
The topmost layer supports a proportion of the nitrifying microblighters in the tank : the more powerful the filtration (in terms of volume of media and pumping capacity) the lower their proportion living on tank surfaces including in-and-on substrate.
A few days ago I reset two tanks that are pretty much identical apart from the fact that one has slightly more vegetation than the other. Filtration current is very slow in both tanks. I wanted to change the colour of the substrate in one tank (to better suit incoming residents) so I stripped off the top centimetre of its substrate, replaced it with new and added the same number and species of immigrants to both tanks. Next day, Total Ammonia in the tank with undisturbed substrate was zero ; in the other it was 0.30mg/l. I checked again yesterday and it was 0.16 so it's recovering slowly.
Hardware:
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
Juwel Primo 70ltr tank,
NovoLux 60 LED light,
NICREW internal 700
AquaHeat 50 Watt heater
Askoll Sand 0.7/1.2mm
Loose aquarium Bogwood pieces
Numerous planted species
Software:
1 Orange Flag Tailed Guppies
4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
4 Zebra Danios
1 Super Red Bristlenose Pleco