First filter

[toomanyfishes]

Very funny story
more pics and bits of hillarity please!
I can't remember the last time I had a good laugh

Thanks Burko

 

[wow_it_esploded]

Driftwood... He has a bunch of it, which is why I am worried about the africans in this tank.

 

[Burko]

No problem mate, glad you enjoyed the read.

More pics...sorry I was a bit busy for blow by blow photography.

 

[Burko]

Hmmm you call that dark water, I'll post a pic or two of the old tank before the forced 90% water change.

Ohhh and I have removed the offending tree limb, might plonk it in the goldfish pond for a year to let it leach its tannin.

 

[wizardslovak]

nice fish tho

 

[Burko]

I hate tank leaks! They got me out of the hobby a few years ago, and about 6 months ago I didn't even have a tank

Good to see it worked out, the new tank looks much better! Why don't you have it filled to the top?

The only thing I would suggest is to get rid of the driftwood because driftwood softens water and africans come from very hard, alkaline water while driftwood will cause very soft acidic water.

yeah tank leaks suck. Its my third in 7 years but i will by second hand tanks...

Hey I agree the new tank rocks. I didn't have much old water to put in only what was in the sump and some from the other tanks, so I thought it best to fill it up slowly. (60-100 ltrs per day???)

I'm down to two sizable but hollow pieces of driftwood. Do you think thats OK? The main reason I placed them in was so the pleco had some shade from the light and the feather tails had something to be in.

 

[toomanyfishes]

yeah tank leaks suck. Its my third in 7 years but i will by second hand tanks...

Hey I agree the new tank rocks. I didn't have much old water to put in only what was in the sump and some from the other tanks, so I thought it best to fill it up slowly. (60-100 ltrs per day???)

I'm down to two sizable but hollow pieces of driftwood. Do you think thats OK? The main reason I placed them in was so the pleco had some shade from the light and the feather tails had something to be in.

I wood go ahead and just do it. The africans do appreciate the harder water, although in my experience, these are some tough fish and should be able to handle the softer water conditions without any issues. I'm not sure if they will breed in this evironment although they should be fine. Just monitor them and move them to a more habitable environment if need be.

 

[Burko]

nice fish tho

Cheers I'm looking forward to them growing and colouring up.

"The africans do appreciate the harder water"

Our local water is pretty hard so they should be OK with frequent W/Cs.

 

[wow_it_esploded]

Old water is almost useless in cycles. It just brings nutrients and other crudd into the new tank. Bacteria grow on surfaces in the aquarium and are not free floating. That is why surface area of media is so important/worried over. Make sure to move all the media from your old tank to this one and you should be able to avoid a cycle.

 

[Burko]

Old water is almost useless in cycles. It just brings nutrients and other crudd into the new tank. Bacteria grow on surfaces in the aquarium and are not free floating. That is why surface area of media is so important/worried over. Make sure to move all the media from your old tank to this one and you should be able to avoid a cycle.

I am under the impression that the higher % of old water the less tramatic the move is for the fish.

As for the media the large rocks and wood where taken outside and had dried by the time the new tank was in. The river gravel on the bottom was left wet and moved with its muck.

The filter isn't running and hasn't been run for 2 days, most of it has stayed moist however. 2 internal power heads and a small external (fluval 304?) are running for now.