rearranging my plants

W

Wildiana

wildiana
Sep 27, 2004
486
0
0
55
Syracuse, New York
can i do this? i mean all of my plants, causing lots of dibre to come out of the gravel. will this be safe for my fish? or should i take all my fish out?


29g heavy planted
co2 (pressure)

2 rams
1 oto
5 neons
5 rummy nose
1 red claw crab
5 algae eating shrimps
lots and lots of MTS
 
The best time to move any plants is right before a large water change. This will alleviate most of the loose stuff that is kicked up with the moves.
Moving plants gently will also hold down debris.

Len
 
Well, your better half ;) will think you spend too much time alone but when I pull plants out of the substrate, i use repeated short pulls, letting the loose stuff settle down. To pull a plant in one pull sure creates a mess. You might think, pull a little, wait a minute, pull a little more, but you really can just give a tug (you'll feel more resistance at the height of the pull) and let it back, then give another short pull. If you do really short/quick pulls (think of a jackhammer), it goes pretty quick.
On the bright side, time alone is time with your tank! :D

I agree with Len too, do a water change after.
 
Get ready for a huge GW problem after though.
I rearranged my crystal clear tank and developed a severe gw outbreak about 4 days later, ended up getting a uv steriliser to get it under control.
From this:
greentank.jpg


To this in a few days:
bettertank.jpg


I did a huge water change moving teh planst to remove as much debris as I could.

My advice? If you have a uv steriliser get it running as soon as the tank is refilled.

Mke
 
I moved a couple plants in my 10 gallon a little while ago. Very cloudy water. The cool thing was, a few hours later it was clear. The secret? I added some uh... what's it called.. i got it at the LFS.. o i gotta go check.. (he checks) well, its called crystal clear, it doesnt say who makes it. It looks like the brown stuff after a positive test for starches using lugols iodine. Its in a little 3/4 ounce bottle, and works like a charm.
 
Noddy65, that's why we recommend a water change afterwards, to get rid of or dilute nutrients that were possibly pulled up out of the substrate.
Be careful of products that cause particles to flocculate (gather together and settle). They clear the water, but in the case of green water, the living organisms die and the nutrients are just re-released into the water and it happens all over again! :mad:
I would recommend a thorough gravel vaccum (just skim the surface) after using such a product.

Luckily for Wil, he has a rentable UV Sterilizer nearby. Although with his money, I wouldn't be surprised if he had 2 or 3 already! ;)
 
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