Advice for over-hauling aquascape

[PhillyB]

Greetings All,

I have a 29 gallon tank which has been doing pretty well since December using EI. I believe the plants need to be up-rooted and re-planted. It has been sometime since I did this and their bottom parts are looking ratty. I would also like to slope the fluorite substrate from the front of the tank upwards towards the back... I have "flat tank" syndrome right now.

Wondering how others do this? I have purchased an additional bag of fluorite for the task as I don't think the current contents are enough. I will be rinsing and sun drying the substrate this weekend.

Is it OK to drain the tank fully before doing my up-rooting and scaping? The current tank residents could be placed in alternative homes in the mean-while. I would wait until things are settled and the temp. is back to normal before putting them back in their home. Would like to have them back home in 12-16 hours... reasonable?

Any suggestions/experiences as always are appreciated.

Cheers!
PhillyB

 

[VaughnH]

If you leave some of the existing tank water in the tank, add the extra flourite to the tank, then refill it, you should be maintaining some of the beneficial bacteria. I see no reason to dry out the new flourite in any case. I doubt that any slope in the substrate, with flourite, will stay very long. It is light, and it tends to be self-leveling, just like almost all substrates. I tried my Soilmaster with strips of acrylic to act as terracing walls, and that held the varying levels pretty well, but I did notice that at the ends of the strips the substrate was slowly self leveling anyway. For that size tank, ADA's substrate could be the best bet for holding the gradients.

 

[PhillyB]

Thanks!

I have several flat broad pieces of drift wood covered in java fern in the tank now. Perhaps I can use the drift wood as terracing borders to keep the substrate in place in specific sections. Will it give it a try!

Cheers,
John