I'm afraid it's time to take it down! The 150 planted tank is scheduled for a makeover. I really hate to do it but I have to admit I'm bored. The setup practically runs itself and all I do is feed and do water changes. The fish are healthy and they all get along great. I've built my stock up and it is a very agreeable community. To recap, the inhabitants include:
- 5 wild caught P. leopoldi angels (2 males, 3 females as far as I can tell)
- 1 wild-type domestic silver leftover from some I bred
- 1 festivus cichlid (plant eater to some degree!)
- School of loretto tetras that inhabit the upper strata
- School of cardinal tetras and rummynose tetras that inhabit the mid and lower regions
- School of C. trilineatus
- School of C. sterbai
The plan will be to remove everything from the current setup (always save your decor, even if you don't think you'll use it again - you likely will) and net out the darling fishies. I would love to sell them to a hobbyist but I don't want to ship them and if I don't hear anything from my ad on Craig's List and the Exotic Fish Forum (many members local to me) then I'll take them to my LFS for credit. This is the shop where I got the leopoldi in the first place, so I know he knows how to care for them properly, and will hopefully find a proper home for them.
These are not very commonly imported and I would love someone to have them that knew about them and could look after them properly. If they are to spawn (which would be a real boon since the babies would go for a great price with their heritage) then you'd need to get the pH down, way down, in the 5's, and that would likely do the trick, at least according to Heiko Bleher, who was the one to positively ID these fish for me when he happened upon pics of them on a forum. If they are kept in higher pH they won't spawn, but they school together and live quite well in a group. For anyone who knows angels this is pretty much impossible when you have a group of mixed sexes. It is really neat to be able to keep a graceful group of good-sized angels together.
Anyway, after the fish are out and the sand is mostly scooped out I can then take a hose and flush out the last of the playsand down the drain my husband most thoughtfully installed in the bottom of the tank, since it had a hole drilled there already. It has a spigot on the side of the tank stand and if you attach a hose to that and run it out the door, you can scrub and flush out the tank to your heart's delight and not have to do any siphoning. I don't want a single speck of white sand to remain. In my 37g goldfish tank I had the same idea but was not quite able to get every bit of white sand out, and even though it looked like I had, now that I have black sand in there the white flecks are everywhere.
Then, I want to tip the tank on its side on the stand with the back of the tank facing down, and the top of the tank facing the room. This way I can silicone large flat, thin rocks to the back of the tank. I have visited the local landscape supply and they have some very nice rocks used as a veneer for faux rock walls and for fireplaces and such, and though they are heavy they would be appropriate. They will also create very subtle cave structures for the Altolaprologus calvus (or compressiceps) that I plan to add.
Where things get creative and perhaps impractical is that I plan to reinstall one of the overflow boxes in a rear corner to hide the filter intakes, outflows and the heater. It is black acrylic and was in place when I bought the tank, since it was drilled for a sump. I took out the boxes and siliconed thick glass over the holes since I was not planning that type of filtration due to my plans for plants. Now I plan to reinstall one of the boxes after sawing slits or drilling holes into it at the location of the intakes. There are already slots in the top where the outflow would be. I'm not sure if this will work or if it will impede filtration too much. I have a Fluval FX5 and a Filstar XP4 for filtration. I can also install a powerhead at the opposite rear corner to improve flow if that is a concern.
This overflow box I plan to disguise by either spreading it with silicone and sprinkling black sand on it, or gluing flat rocks to it like the background (that sounds better). This really depends on what rocks I plan to go with and how smoothly that procedure goes. I have read so many articles and forum threads about DIY backgrounds that I'm exhausted with the possibilities. Many people create them using styrofoam, using knives or saws to carve rocky shapes into it, going over it with a heat gun to soften the edges, then coating it with pigmented concrete or the like, to have a lightweight and removable background. Truth be told, if I'm going to be laying tarps down, with dust and bits of stuff flying around the house, cutting, drilling, sawing and mixing concrete I'd at least like to have a new kitchen when I'm done!!
This type of project is definitely up my alley, I must say, but these days I just don't have the energy or time to do it right. I also very much prefer the idea of natural rock. I know this is a somewhat permanent addition to the back of the tank, but I am not concerned. I can razor the rocks off just like I razored the overflow boxes off, and even if I go back to a planted tank the rocks will certainly be appropriate there as well, or even if I kept oscars or goldfish, for that matter.
So, I will then have black sand and a rocky background, and hidden equipment (huge, huge issue for me when aquascaping!). Next I will need a few large rocks for decor for the open part of the tank. This tank is going to have a simple, spare look to it, however, so I don't need much. What I'd like to use is limestone, since it will buffer the water and perhaps obviate the need for additives to boost the alkalinity. The tap water is already moderately hard with a pH of 7.4, so it won't take much to get things up to 8, but that's where I'll need to be.
At the same landscape supply yard (Pete Rose's in Richmond - awesome place) I found some limestone rocks that would be perfect, and they also contain tiny fossils that would likely show up very well when wet. These rocks are variable in height and dimension, but look easily stackable. I want to be sure to get at least one relatively tall rock or rock stack, since in such a deep tank you need something to draw the eye up to the top of the tank. I don't need but a few of these rocks, then I'll be done.
We are heading up to the mountains of Virginia for a day hike on Sunday and I hope to collect some rocks there as well, so my final decision will depend on what I see up there. Mostly what you see there are round river rocks, which may or may not work for me, but I'll see what I can find.
Once the tank is up and running I will want to stock with about 8 frontosa (not sure which type) as well as calvus or compressiceps, depending on availability and variety. I much prefer inkfin calvus but they might be practically invisible in this dark tank, so I'm leaning towards some of the lighter morphs, or the compressiceps species. This is going to be costly! I might have to do it in phases, depending on available funds and what I can get for my current stock upon turning them in.
I will take pictures along the way and we will see how it goes!
