Re: Accidental tank acquisition
#18
by Candle321 on 2019/9/23 17:19:01
Oh good Lordy, discovered today that we actually have a Juwel 350 not a 240!!
The new tank wasn't up to temp this morning (by less than a degree, pfft) so I ambled off to the lfs (I'm even getting in with the lingo now see) for a browse, to kill some time and take my mind off the fact I was starving the fishys in preparation for the tank move.
I was peering into an established 'show' tank, admiring the planting when I saw that it was a Juwel 240 but seemed much shorter than our new tank. Seeing me looking perplexed a staff member came over. After me doing a little arm stretchy, tippy toe representation of the size of the new tank, I was shown a brochure. Low and behold we have a larger tank than we thought!
With this news I walked around the rest of the place, dribbling slightly at the stocking potential, then chided myself and promised not to return before the new tank is settled for a few months.
So by this afto, both tanks were temperature (and Ph) matched so I went for it!
Moved the plants and decor first, I'd already planned where they were going so that didn't take long. Then I spent a few minutes netting all the darn debris from moving the plants - few broken stems and leaves.
I girded my loins and got all prepped for the filter media change. Towels, tubs and buckets, it must have looked like I was preparing to deliver a baby. I filled a tub with old tank water, turned off and disconnected the old filter and lifted out the trays and popped them in the tank water, leaving the air stone going in the old tank (I read that was a good idea).
Then I turned off the new filter, and found I could just swap the trays, I didn't realise they were the same size! Very pleased with that. The new filter is way more powerful, the flow rate is definitely higher, which I guess is better with a much larger tank? I didn't wash or agitate any of the media in the tank water, desperately trying to keep as much good bacteria as possible. So when I turned the new filter back on, whoosh, a load of cloudy water came out.
By this point it was too late to turn back so I braced myself for moving the fishys. The beautiful little beings that this whole crazy adventure has really been about.
Would you believe it, hubby arrived home at that very second and offered to do it for me. He is way calmer than me and more dexterous. He 'jugged' them one by one while I took myself off to the kitchen to clean the cooker hob, which was already spotless; just about vibrating with fear that someone would get mortally injured. Nobody did and all minnows and loaches were moved successfully.
By the time he had finished moving the fishys the water was clear of the 'cloud' and now just has a little detritus flowing about. I'm guessing that will clear.
So in terms of fishy status, the minnows are LOST in this tank, they are so tiny! They seem to be schooling in the filter current more, then breaking off to explore, then re-schooling. The loaches hid for about 10 minutes then started exploring. Dave, the one with the damaged dorsal fin, has been popping up to the top (for air?) so I've adjusted the spray bar to agitate the surface more.
We are now only two hours into the new tank and I'm feeling like I'm on amber alert. Hopefully all the fishys will survive the immense stress of what we have inflicted on them.
Next step is to gradually change over with RO water to get it within the hardness parameters for the loaches. I'm planning on doing that minimally as part of the daily 10% water changes, over the next few weeks.
Anyhoo, we shall see how it goes, any problems you guys will be the first to know!