I saw a couple of these threads today so I thought i would share my remodel too.
I recently made the switch from gravel (Vigoro Pea Gravel) to sand (pool filter sand). I really like the result. I had thought of waiting until I move to make the switch but I had a misbehaving fish I was trying to get an attitude change out of. The thought occured to me after a post here that changing the enviornment might change his demeanor. It didn't. I finally returned him to the LFS. I miss him but my community is very active and peaceful now.
Anyways, here is the before. All the structures came with the tank when I bought it. I never really loved them but it was a start. Then I added the gravel and plastic plants. Didn't love any of those either. This was my first large tank in many years so I started slow with regards to decor.
Here is the after. I still have a few changes to make before I'm done. I decided to finally give live plants a try and got duped in to the Petco tubes that apparently are not underwater plants. I am going to try some java fern since it's supposed to work well with low light and possibly my oscar too. I am really loving the sand in here!
You can see the white ribbon and kyoto grass plants. If you didn't already know, learn from my, and others, mistake. It says 'Aquarium Plant' on the tube and even gives you directions for planting them but they are bog plants. After I got home and planted them, I went online to learn a little more about them and that's when I learned of the scam. It was a cheap lesson anyways and for the next week or two while I come up with an alternative, they will look nice.
I also replaced an ugly tree trunk structure with the one in this photo. You can see the one I didn't like in the first picture all the way on the right.
When I went to replace that trunk from the previous picture, one of my clown loaches was stuck in it! I'm not exagerating either. I had only noticed three at a time for a couple days swimming around.
When I picked up the structure, I saw the tail of one of the loaches sticking out of a small tunnel inside a root. I thought he was just hiding. I shook it a little and tried to coax him out. I noticed he was coated with a very thick sticky slimecoat. It didn't seem right. He was still moving but hadn't backed out at all.
I try to hit the structure with a hammer to crack it but it was made of some kind of indestructable plastic. I grabbed a saw and carefully cut of the limb that he was stuck in. Once that was done, I could get my fingers on his tail. I tried to pull him out and he would not budge! Finally, i got some pliers and began opening the root like a crab leg. Once I got down about half way, I tried pulling him again. It was tight but he finally came out...and fell right to the bottom of the tank
. I reached in and nudged him and he reacted. It took about 4 more nudges before he swam and stayed upright. I thought he may not make it but by the next day, he was ok. Whew. I almost lost the guy. And yes, I was very nervous when I was excavating him.
In honer of him, I removed another structure that looked like it may trap my loaches and replaced it with three artificial logs from Petsmart. I stacked them like you see in the photo. There is enough darkness for them to hide but there is no labrinyth of tunnels for them to get stuck in.
Has anyone tried that ehiem battery operated vacuum? How does it work for removing waste from sand? I have a gravity vac and a python but they don't seem to be able to lift some of the heavier waste from the pleco especially.
I recently made the switch from gravel (Vigoro Pea Gravel) to sand (pool filter sand). I really like the result. I had thought of waiting until I move to make the switch but I had a misbehaving fish I was trying to get an attitude change out of. The thought occured to me after a post here that changing the enviornment might change his demeanor. It didn't. I finally returned him to the LFS. I miss him but my community is very active and peaceful now.
Anyways, here is the before. All the structures came with the tank when I bought it. I never really loved them but it was a start. Then I added the gravel and plastic plants. Didn't love any of those either. This was my first large tank in many years so I started slow with regards to decor.
Here is the after. I still have a few changes to make before I'm done. I decided to finally give live plants a try and got duped in to the Petco tubes that apparently are not underwater plants. I am going to try some java fern since it's supposed to work well with low light and possibly my oscar too. I am really loving the sand in here!
You can see the white ribbon and kyoto grass plants. If you didn't already know, learn from my, and others, mistake. It says 'Aquarium Plant' on the tube and even gives you directions for planting them but they are bog plants. After I got home and planted them, I went online to learn a little more about them and that's when I learned of the scam. It was a cheap lesson anyways and for the next week or two while I come up with an alternative, they will look nice.
I also replaced an ugly tree trunk structure with the one in this photo. You can see the one I didn't like in the first picture all the way on the right.
When I went to replace that trunk from the previous picture, one of my clown loaches was stuck in it! I'm not exagerating either. I had only noticed three at a time for a couple days swimming around.
When I picked up the structure, I saw the tail of one of the loaches sticking out of a small tunnel inside a root. I thought he was just hiding. I shook it a little and tried to coax him out. I noticed he was coated with a very thick sticky slimecoat. It didn't seem right. He was still moving but hadn't backed out at all.
I try to hit the structure with a hammer to crack it but it was made of some kind of indestructable plastic. I grabbed a saw and carefully cut of the limb that he was stuck in. Once that was done, I could get my fingers on his tail. I tried to pull him out and he would not budge! Finally, i got some pliers and began opening the root like a crab leg. Once I got down about half way, I tried pulling him again. It was tight but he finally came out...and fell right to the bottom of the tank
. I reached in and nudged him and he reacted. It took about 4 more nudges before he swam and stayed upright. I thought he may not make it but by the next day, he was ok. Whew. I almost lost the guy. And yes, I was very nervous when I was excavating him.In honer of him, I removed another structure that looked like it may trap my loaches and replaced it with three artificial logs from Petsmart. I stacked them like you see in the photo. There is enough darkness for them to hide but there is no labrinyth of tunnels for them to get stuck in.
Has anyone tried that ehiem battery operated vacuum? How does it work for removing waste from sand? I have a gravity vac and a python but they don't seem to be able to lift some of the heavier waste from the pleco especially.
