# Tank Rehab



## kmw1954 (5 mo ago)

Well folks this ol tank isn't so old. Maybe 6 months. 
This tank was my first attempt at a planted tank and certainly made some boo-boo's the first time around. Hopefully the rehab does better!






















Top tank was the original and the only thing thriving are the Gourami and shrimp. All plants are struggling badly. Water has turned very dark so decided to break it all down and start over. Going to proceed the same way with the major changes being substrate depth with root tabs and now filtered water. Not sure if I am going to be adding the large piece of driftwood back in. It was tea staining the water heavily. Even after 6months of being submerged and regular water changes.

So the fish are out and relocated, the shrimp are being collected and retained in a separate tank. Still working on that. The Java ferns and rocks have all been rinsed and the defective leaves removed along with about 5 or 6 baby offshoots. The Amazon sword was removed and replanted in a separate container. Hoping it recovers as well. then all the other rooted plants have been pulled up and are currently floating submerged in another container until I can get them replanted in my nursery tank.

After I get the Bow front emptied it will get a good scrubbing to remove the hard water stains and then I will be replanting it. Or at least that is the plan.


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## Deathdealer91 (Jul 23, 2014)

Can't wait to see the makeover. Post pics cause I'd definitely like to see. And good luck on the makeover. Hope all goes to planning


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## Plecosbill (6 mo ago)

Would love to see when ur done


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Try lower light plants, a good fert tab and a good liquid fertilizer. What kind of light are you running? What is your ph? GH? KH?


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## kmw1954 (5 mo ago)

susankat said:


> Try lower light plants, a good fert tab and a good liquid fertilizer. What kind of light are you running? What is your ph? GH? KH?


All three from the tap are off the charts. Private well. High in lime and calcium. Some in our area are also high in iron. Tried collecting rain water tocut the tap water with but was using more than I could collect. So out of curiosity I tried two different pitcher water filters. One is a PUR and the other is a Zero.. GH is still in the very hard range though the KH has dropped to the 180 area and the ph is now down to the 7.0 area. and that is by mixing equal parts from both filters.

If I measure straight from the ZERO it is ph below 6.2, KH around 40 and GH is below 75

For lights I started with two fluorescent one with a full spectrum bulb and the other with a ZooMed 5.0 reptile bulb. I am now using a Hyggar LED running a 24hr cycle. Plants were doing well under the Fluorescents.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

You can buy ro water fairly cheap from Walmart. I pay $3.50 for 10 gals. Just have buy jugs for water, my jugs are 5 gal each.


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## kmw1954 (5 mo ago)

Water filter pitchers seem to be working well enough and easy enough to use and can do about 10gl per hour. Which is more than a water change. Been looking also at a RO system just not ready to buy that yet.

Trying to get some good pictures of the temp tanks and the nursery plant tank. As soon as I get good ones I will post them.


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## kmw1954 (5 mo ago)

Was finally able to get the empty tank outside for cleaning. Troweled out the dirt substrate and then lift the Under-gravel filter plate to look'n see how much dirt had migrated under it. Honestly I was expecting to see much more than there was from the way the tank was behaving.

Some pictures of what I found;
As of right now the tank is outside upside down drying so I can see how well the Barkeepers Friend worked at removing the water stains. Then to determine if I need to do it again.


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## kmw1954 (5 mo ago)

Finally back to this though progressing slowly. Know some really frown on dirted soil substrate while others believe in it so I am going to try one more time. Then to top it off with an under gravel plenum plate so I know, that is two strikes against me from the start.

Tank has been scrubbed out with Bar Keepers to remove hard water marks. Old substrate has been flushed with clean water to remove some of the junk and new mix of kitty litter and potting soil mixed in after flooding the potting soil to remove all the big pieces of wood/mulch.

The plenum plate this time was first covered with fiberglass screening and then the wet dirt was troweled onto the plate then water was added via a siphon hose at a slow rate which reduced the disturbance of the dirt and filled pretty clearly. The dirt layer is about 4" deep and I will also be adding fert tabs.

Right now I have 7" of water added and the air pump to the lift tubes are running. The water is already pretty clear. Next I believe I will order some Eco-Complete to cap off the dirt and hopefully keep the cloudiness down. 

Water is actually clearer than what it appears in these pictures.


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## Deathdealer91 (Jul 23, 2014)

Wish you luck


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## kmw1954 (5 mo ago)

Deathdealer91 said:


> Wish you luck


Retired and bored so it gives me something to do.
After running the air pumps and circulating the water it is very clear today already. 
Also look to see what else I can use as a cap so I don't have to order and have shipped the Eco-Complete. Have thought about harvesting some beach sand from Lake Michigan.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I have seen a lot of people will use unscented clay litter as a cap, or use pool filter sand, its clean and no need to rinse.


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## kmw1954 (5 mo ago)

The uncented, nonclumping clay kitty litter is what I have been using to mix the potting soil. That mix is about 50/50.

When I first set up this tank the 1st time I didn't dirt it very deep which made it very difficult to add fert tabs. The the 2 CAE that were in the tank kept uprooting everything and exposing the dirt which was covered by small pea gravel so then the dirt leached tannins. I think that was worse than the wood I had in there.


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