10 gallon clean up: Summer Tank. Update Aug 19 pg 5

[BullDog]

So my niece is off for a great adventure this summer. My parents get the honour of looking after the "grandog", and my niece asked me to look after what's left of her fish. 42 internets to someone who can come up for a good name for the fish, like "grandog".

But I tell you, this little 10 gal is going to be a bit of a project for me, just to clean it up basically.

Thought I'd keep a journal of how it is now, and see what it's like in 2 months, when she gets back.


Here's how they transported it. All decorations/substrate still in it, and about 50% full of water.


Filled it up with some fresh water.


And an improvised guppy fry home. Deli cup that bettas come in with a lid with holes on it:

(Not a great pic, I left the light off when I took this one).

So, in this tank are a couple of live plants (which are really the only source of filtration right now), a tiger barb, 2 of some other fish, possibly a different kind of barb, and a danio (I think).
She had a guppy tank, and scooped most of them out and took them to the pet store, but she missed a few, so she threw them in bag in the tank. So there's maybe half a dozen guppy fry, and one medium sized guppy. The medium guppy I put in with the other fish.

The guppies are going to be turtle food (and my niece knows this and is just fine with it). But I figured at their current size, they'd just get sucked right into the ol' FX5 if I put them in the turtle tank. So I'm hoping to get them to grow a bit before they get to meet Ralpheal and Frankie Plus, I wanted to make sure they didn't have any parasites or anything.

First thing I've got to do with this tank is change the filter cartridge and clean the filter. Looks like it hasn't been changed yet this year I think I'll just stuff some filter floss in a bag.

Also, I know for a fact the gravel has never been cleaned, so I figured I'd give that a good clean at some point.

I'll post pics of the fish once they get settled a bit, and maybe get you guys to help identify them, and I'll keep this thread updated as a clean it up

[kelly528]

I can't wait to see how it turns out!!! I'm sure she'll be surprised when she gets back! I vote you screw some CFLs into the hood and make it a NPT so it will be nice any low maintenance for her when she gets back.

And you probably already figured this, but I would remove the fish before you tackle the gravel. I have even had problems with hydrogen sulphide gas buildup in fine gravel. If there is a solid enough layer of crud at the bottom it will cut oxygen off creating an anaerobic environment.

Have fun and keep us posted!

[BullDog]

I'm not sure what kind of bulbs the hood has. They're sort of skinny little ones, so I don't know if CFLs will fit.

Thanks for the tip on the gravel! I wasn't sure how I was going to do that just yet. Probably won't be doing that for a couple weeks. Filter first, then I'll get some good bacteria going in the new media before I tear up the gravel.

There's also at least 2 different kinds of snails in there. I'll post those up soon to see if anyone can ID them too

[neven]

low wattage CFLs will fit, i've done it when i had my first 10 gallon. sometimes a bit of torque on the socket will keep slightly downwards to make room for the bulb.

as for the gravel. you might want to replace with various grades of pea gravel, gives nice texture and look, and will match whatever pretty stones she wants to put in the tank to make it her own. if she's young a walk on a rocky trail or river will give a nice outting with that purpose in mind. a little water will show her rocks can be pretty without being crystal :P the main goal of the gravel is getting those plants rooted right and the gravel is easy to vac

[gimlid]

I've seen guppys last awhile in turtle tanks before, maybe they will still be there when she gets home.

[BullDog]

Thanks Nevel I'm don't want to really add or change anything in this tank. Basically, just going to get it looking nice again, and try to get the fish healthy.

Gimild - Yeah, I was wondering how long they might last... Frankie is smart, but lazy. Ralph is fast, but dumb. So I'll be taking bets who takes the longest to finish off the guppies

As promised, a few pics. Haven't done anything with the tank yet.

Firstly, there's 4 different kinds of snails in there!
1. Domed on the top, swirly on the bottom:


#2


#3

And another one on the gravel:


#4, similar to #3 but not as pointy of shell.


Question: With the snails rooting around in the gravel, is it possible that the toxic buildup isn't as bad as it otherwise could be?

Fishies: Most pics are with flash, since they're some fast moving fish!

The tiger barb already has brightened up since yesterday:


The danio:


Guppy:


These two silver fish, I don't know what they are. Can someone ID them?



And here you can just see one of the guppy fry in the little hatchery.

Question - About how long before these guys are big enough to actually recognize as guppies? Or how long before they won't get sucked into the filter? I'm thinking I might have to set up something different so they can get some water flow.

[eternity302]

ID - Pristella Tetras
Correct me if I'm wrong! =)

[BullDog]

That's exactly what they look like! I bet that's what they are Thanks!

[kelly528]

Here's the style of CFL I use:



The unconventional format allows for less light bounce than a spiral and since they are oblong they fit nicely into most standard hoods.

The Hagen Life Glos pictures are 15W so 2 of them may be a little high unless you want to do some minor ferts and excel but Coralife sells 10W ones and I have also seen the same type at some hardware stores.

[neven]

i call those the retro style rather then unconventional :P since they were around before twister CFLs came into the picture.