New Tank Log: VikingMummy

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VikingMummy2015
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I seem to spend most of the log apologising for the absences :grin:

So - my water clearly doesn't agree with honey gourami's as they all died off the same way slowly over the summer. Upon googling, it seems a common pattern....losing colour and then basically sticking at substrate level and wasting away. So no more of them for us. I've also lost Pumpkin the nerite and one more of the cory to that same growth issue as before, despite worming 3 times in the past year (I took Pumpkin out each time, just before anyone thinks that was the issue!). There's one more cory with the start of the growths but the others are all healthy, even the solitary one I couldn't catch from the 240L tank.

I'm now full time home educating my boy, after a long and stressful battle with the council and school. It means I'm looking at my tanks and considering how to make them more low maintenance as I can't spend hours each week pruning, dosing etc. I'm really struggling with the tufts of BBA cropping up all over the place. I know it's "simply" working on my lighting/feeding/ferts routine, but that's just too much for my brain to handle right now. My own executive function issues mean I just want to feed the fish (and because I tend to overfeed, that counts as my ferts :angel: ) and do a water change once a week, then enjoy the tank the rest of the time.

So - I'm thinking a big rescape might be my best bet, switching the substrate entirely to the Barlow's sand and moving the cory's back over from the Flex and closing that tank down. I do love seeing them in there, but it's harder to keep that tank stable without two water changes a week. I would keep some plants, probably the crypt ballansae, frogbit and hygrophila as they seem to be less affected by the BBA (well, the ballansae can be but it's easier to trim the affected leaf). I'd add in all the dragon stone and wood I have in storage to help provide cover. However, that would involve catching all the fish and temporarily homing them while I moved everything around, and I suck at catching fish. Like, really suck. It just makes it to stressful for the fish and me....so I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to empty the tank without emptying the tank...I just don't think I can because of the soil that's in there under the current sand.
240L Fluval Roma with Oase 600 Biomaster: 1 German red bristlenose, 4 male cherry barbs, 6 standard rummynose, 3 golden rummynose tetra, 9 emperor tetra, 14 cardinal tetra, 2 hengeli rasbora, 3 nerite snails, 1 adult Sulawesi snail and multiple juveniles continually appearing.

Parameters: gH2, kH1, pH7.4 (tap).
Fish fiend since October 2017.
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plankton
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Shame there's no-one nearer to help out while you get "back to basics".....
Hope you and your son are doing ok, considering the upheavals.
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fr499y
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I've removed substrate with fish still in using a pipe.
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VikingMummy2015
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plankton wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:29 am Shame there's no-one nearer to help out while you get "back to basics".....
Hope you and your son are doing ok, considering the upheavals.
We're doing really well, thanks. So much less anxiety for both of us and he's now able to do things like going to the supermarket because he's not worn out and overloaded from school. We're actually getting out and about much more, and then able to do pj days in between. But it's messed up my regular Monday/Thursday water changes because yesterday, for example, we were at soft play with another Home Ed family, so I had to do the water change this morning but my boy was needing more TV time after the socialising yesterday...and the TV is on the same plugs as the Flex.

I could potentially ask some local guys to help out but I'd rather do it myself and not feed into their egos (the local pages are very alpha male and full of really bad advice!).
240L Fluval Roma with Oase 600 Biomaster: 1 German red bristlenose, 4 male cherry barbs, 6 standard rummynose, 3 golden rummynose tetra, 9 emperor tetra, 14 cardinal tetra, 2 hengeli rasbora, 3 nerite snails, 1 adult Sulawesi snail and multiple juveniles continually appearing.

Parameters: gH2, kH1, pH7.4 (tap).
Fish fiend since October 2017.
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VikingMummy2015
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fr499y wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:33 am I've removed substrate with fish still in using a pipe.
I've tried similar when clearing out the old, smaller tanks. The soil tends to clog up in the pipes I have though. Would need a wider diameter pipe...possible....it would irritate me buying it just for the one job but I'll take a look on ebay. I could remove the plants I don't want to keep, lift out the hardscape, and remove sections of the substrate over a few days. It would turn into a tank a bit like a shop one for a week but I could keep the lights off to prevent too much glare etc...
240L Fluval Roma with Oase 600 Biomaster: 1 German red bristlenose, 4 male cherry barbs, 6 standard rummynose, 3 golden rummynose tetra, 9 emperor tetra, 14 cardinal tetra, 2 hengeli rasbora, 3 nerite snails, 1 adult Sulawesi snail and multiple juveniles continually appearing.

Parameters: gH2, kH1, pH7.4 (tap).
Fish fiend since October 2017.
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Martinspuddle
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VikingMummy2015 wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:14 am I suck at catching fish. Like, really suck. It just makes it to stressful for the fish and me
Two nets are better than one. :]
WARNING - DO NOT BREED, FEED OR PET THE PUDDLE! :dodgy2:
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:swim2: :swim2: :swim2: :swim2: :swim2: :woo: :swim2: :swim2: :swim2:
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VikingMummy2015
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Martinspuddle wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:56 am
VikingMummy2015 wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:14 am I suck at catching fish. Like, really suck. It just makes it to stressful for the fish and me
Two nets are better than one. :]
Tried that….still suck 🤣
240L Fluval Roma with Oase 600 Biomaster: 1 German red bristlenose, 4 male cherry barbs, 6 standard rummynose, 3 golden rummynose tetra, 9 emperor tetra, 14 cardinal tetra, 2 hengeli rasbora, 3 nerite snails, 1 adult Sulawesi snail and multiple juveniles continually appearing.

Parameters: gH2, kH1, pH7.4 (tap).
Fish fiend since October 2017.
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Wishafish
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I’m probably being a bit thick here, but why does changing the substrate reduce maintenance?

Closing down one tank would definitely help I think, less pressure and if you get behind much easier to catch up!
:] 🦐 🐌
125L: Corydoras trilineatus, Endlers, celestial pearl danios, Amano shrimp, nerite snails, MTS
25L: cherry shrimp, nerite snails, MTS
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fr499y
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Fish poo and dirt sits on top of finer substrates, thus making it less maintenance to keep clean.
LookoutTrout
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I can vouch for that, I haven't needed to vacuum the substrate since I put sand in. The fish agitate the waste and it all slowly drifts down the tank until it ends up in the filter.
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