Hi guys, need a little advice. My low tech 20 long has been doing good for a couple years now, but my black eco-complete is a getting some build up down in it and needs to be cleaned. (I'm sure i overfeed, i've always had saltwater tanks and fed them heavily, still trying break the habit.) I also want to clean the glass really well and thought maybe this would be easiest to do by emptying the tank.
Any issues if I empty the tank, take the eco to the hose/bathtub, and rinse it all clean with tapwater before putting it back into the tank?
I would consider using a different substrata since you are going through the trouble of tearing it down. They say eco complete exhausts pretty quick and is probably inert
Can't you just siphon parts of it with each water change? Is it planted much so that you would have to uproot many plants and replant them again? Sounds like a lot of trouble to me. I've had eco in a couple of tanks for years. Mine are all low tech, with too many plants and I don't add anything to the tank. I think all that "stuff" down in the substrate keeps the planted pieces going and the others attached to driftwood must get some wastes from the water column. (not to mention I hate catching fish - but that's just me)
I also have an old overplanted eco tank, set up maybe 7 years ago. The substrate has a nasty looking mulm on the bottom that does not vacuum up but plants and fish seem happy. I hate to rescape the tank just to make the substrate prettier.
That said, if you want to rescape your plan should be fine. The glass does get pretty funky down there near the substrate.
thanks for the replies. going to tear it down and clean top to bottom soon, i'm actually looking forward to it. for some reason i enjoy stuff like that.
It shouldn't be an issue, it's rock. You do know that you'll wipe out all the beneficial bacteria in the process and will have to cycle the tank again? Beyond that, it's an opportunity to possibly sprinkle some dry ferts on the bottom of the glass before adding the substrate back in.
I would not even if I enjoyed the process. Kind of hard for me to think in that line!
I would far prefer to do a small section at a time IF I felt I needed to redo the whole substrate. I think of tanks as things that work far better if I only rock the boat gently rather than tipping it over to start again.
Many things can go wrong in doing too much at one time. If I felt the sub was totally useless, I would favor removing a bit and adding more of the new. In that way the bacteria, fish and plants are not abused totally and can recover before I do another section.
Yes, I work very slowly and it takes patience. I like patience better than medicine or death?
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