having been stuck here for over a week with this sprained ankle, I keep getting "ideas".Firstly, may I apologize to all of those people that sent me 8 E-mails this afternoon from 3 different countries. The computer was on.......that was until my "idea" of the day led to me switching some electric plugs around, neatly forgetting one powered the computer.....DOH!
So, what bright
idea did I have today?The 5 Sewellia lineolata have been doing nicely in the 30 x 12 x 12 quarantine tank. This has a couple of small HOBs on the back and a couple of those little mini powerhead pumps providing some reasonable current.
I had an empty 30 gallon Breeder tank in the closet and it fits nicely on top of the big oak dresser where the Q-tank sits......plus there's room beside it for a 10 gallon.......that would be the 'empty' stashed in the bathroom. Now to set that up as a pukka River-Tank I need an old trusty Aquaclear 802 powerhead, but I'm not in a postion to go spending money at present.
There's one in the 30 high in the lounge.......sitting on a River-Tank manifold....how convenient. An evil plan hatched in my bored brain.
I caught the 15 or so Danio kyathit out of the 30 and put them in with the Clowns and Tiger Barbs in the 6 footer. Now there's TWO shoals of dither fish....nice! Lets the Danios have their legs too.
Caught the Gastromyzon ocellatus, (maybe) G. ridens, Homaloptera smithi and Aborichthys elongatus and put them all into the 65 gallon main River-Tank. The A. elongatus can go nuts digging in there.Now the tank is empty of fish......remove the manifold, and go to bedroom.
Flush out the empty 10 gallon. Syphon water from Q-tank into it and catch the Sewellia, place in tank. Empty the Q-tank and remove. Place 30 Breeder in position, throw in R/T manifold, position powerhead and intake sponge. decant mature gravel from QT into the tank. Add more gravel/sand mix from stock stash, plus a half bag of Estes river stones (around 1/2" size) ....bury R/T manifold. Arrange bogwood, stones Windelov fern and Crypts. Buried a Rena 4" ceramic airstone in amongst rocks in blast from powerhead. Pump in a bit of fresh water, most from the 10 gallon, top off with water pumped from Clown tank. Catch fish from 10, place in newly set up tank. Plug everything in and whoopedo.
Pick up still partially filled 10 gallon and place beside the Breeder tank, across the width of the dresser, so it effectively forms an 'L'. Fill up the tank with water from Clown tank, adjust temperature. Dive into big stock of aquarium equipment and dig out a 1" bore clear plastic U-bend. It's a monster syphon. Fill under water, cap and then bridge both tanks. I added a 5/8" piece of flexible tube as back-up, cable-wrap tied to it. Let syphon equalize tank levels then top up.
Hooked up the largest of the little mini-powerheads to some flexy tube and
placed it in the Breeder tank, other end of hose in 10 gallon, cable-wrap tied to a stone to keep in it position. Plug in powerhead and you have instant circulation between the tanks. So now the Sewellia are effectively living in 40 gallons of water. Stuck the other mini powerhead in the 30 for good measure. The two small HOBs are on the back. I can do water changes without disturbing the Breeder tank.
An hour later, it looked like this....
The Breeder tank (that's B_R_E_E_D_E_R Sewellia, if you're reading) will give these guys more footprint, more decor for cover, more current and aeration.....who knows...maybe they'll get frisky? They will have the tank to themselves.
So now there's a yucked up 30 high sitting in the lounge. So I emptied that, threw in a whole wack of lovely clean black quartz gravel that I shipped from England in 2001 and have never used here. Some bogwood from the 120, some black pebbles which are part of a whole load I shipped with fish stuff when I emigrated also. Filled it up with water from the Clown tank, hooked up the filters, and THEN....finally filled up the Clown tank again. Those guys have had 3 water-changes in 3 days. They must think it's Christmas or something.
I guess this 30 H just became my Q-tank?
Martin.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
.
.............Da-Da...Da-Da......Da-Da...Da-Da....You're my first, my last, my every...thing, the answer to a-a-all my...........dreams.