I have not been on these forums in forever. Had two really busy "fish tank-oriented days" on Friday and Saturday.
Friday afternoon, I noticed a substantial leak on my 100-gallon glass tank, left side vertical seam, about halfway up the glass from bottom to top. Oh, man. ???
Got busy. Drained water into several clean buckets, used these as "refugee camps" for the fish. Nearly all of our fish are "rescues." Whenever somebody moves and can't take their fish, we take them. 7 Serpae tetras, 5 small goldfish, 4 corydoras, 1 clown loach, 1 pictus cat, 1 pleco. Got a big tote to house the plants, which luckily I keep potted in a long, rectangular window box with substrate....the window box (rectangular plastic) made saving the plants easy. ???
Fortunately, we had a 55-gallon tank I was going to build for my wife. Took the better part of Saturday, on and off, to get it all moved over. Used the same gravel, re-used a bit of the other tank's water, about a 50% water change at the end of transfer.
I have two buckets of gravel that I'm going to have to rinse and dry out, but it's summer, and I have a lot of buckets, now.
The fish are probably thinking, "Hey, we moved from a spacious house, and into a condo!" ?
________________________________________
On a separate note: I had been running a UGF for fifteen years continuously, with a Marineland Magnum 350 pulling through it (not reverse). I thought the strong filter would do the job to keep the area under the plates clean....it did not. I've always been conscientious with water changes and changing/cleaning filter media, but I was unprepared by the sheer volume of foul-smelling muck that was there when I broke down that 100-gallon tank. ???
The 55-gallon tank I used to house the fish that were living in the 100-gallon...NO UGF. Just smooth gravel, sponge prefilter, micron pleated filter, cheesy Bio-Wheel. That's it. Not going back to UGF's. Just water changes, regular gravel cleaning (as I've always done combined with water changes) and PM for the filters (media changes when needed).
When I rebuild the 100-gallon tank, no UGF.
Just glad my fish are healthy, okay, eating, and back to their original hijinks as "television for my cats."
NA
Friday afternoon, I noticed a substantial leak on my 100-gallon glass tank, left side vertical seam, about halfway up the glass from bottom to top. Oh, man. ???
Got busy. Drained water into several clean buckets, used these as "refugee camps" for the fish. Nearly all of our fish are "rescues." Whenever somebody moves and can't take their fish, we take them. 7 Serpae tetras, 5 small goldfish, 4 corydoras, 1 clown loach, 1 pictus cat, 1 pleco. Got a big tote to house the plants, which luckily I keep potted in a long, rectangular window box with substrate....the window box (rectangular plastic) made saving the plants easy. ???
Fortunately, we had a 55-gallon tank I was going to build for my wife. Took the better part of Saturday, on and off, to get it all moved over. Used the same gravel, re-used a bit of the other tank's water, about a 50% water change at the end of transfer.
I have two buckets of gravel that I'm going to have to rinse and dry out, but it's summer, and I have a lot of buckets, now.
The fish are probably thinking, "Hey, we moved from a spacious house, and into a condo!" ?
________________________________________
On a separate note: I had been running a UGF for fifteen years continuously, with a Marineland Magnum 350 pulling through it (not reverse). I thought the strong filter would do the job to keep the area under the plates clean....it did not. I've always been conscientious with water changes and changing/cleaning filter media, but I was unprepared by the sheer volume of foul-smelling muck that was there when I broke down that 100-gallon tank. ???
The 55-gallon tank I used to house the fish that were living in the 100-gallon...NO UGF. Just smooth gravel, sponge prefilter, micron pleated filter, cheesy Bio-Wheel. That's it. Not going back to UGF's. Just water changes, regular gravel cleaning (as I've always done combined with water changes) and PM for the filters (media changes when needed).
When I rebuild the 100-gallon tank, no UGF.
Just glad my fish are healthy, okay, eating, and back to their original hijinks as "television for my cats."
NA
