[joetaff]

Ok well this happened a few weeks ago. As some of you may know, we threw a big party at my place, and someone (read: ***hole) decided to pour either a beer or hooch or some of both, into my aquarium. I wake up the next day to gasping fish and cloudy water. I did a big water change, but that didn't help. I decided to wait a few days and see how the tank handled everything. At first I though it was a bacterial bloom. Then I though well maybe its greenwater. Then, I started noticing a bad smell. I turned on the lights (they were off because I didn't want to encourage what I thought was greenwater.) and all of my wonderful HC that was FINALLY growing had melted entirely. All of my stems were covered in bacterial filth and I found a few dead fish.

I hate even looking at that picture.

Anyways, I drained the tank and took everything out. Now I have this empty eyesore where my oasis used to be.

I will get it back up and running, and from this point forward I will be treating this as a blessing in disguise. I did alot of things right my first go round and the tank looked great the week before this happened.

I also made some mistakes though. My aquascape never really came to be and I went through some tough times trying to get the thing lit up to my taste. I battled BBA that would never come out of my moss. Hopefully these will all be things I can fix on this go round.

The temperature has been close to 100 degrees for the past week and before that it hasn't dropped below the 90's. But today it was 60 and I think the rest of the month we will be in the 70's to low 80's. Perfect for shipping plants! So Hopefully I can get some cash together and start getting this aquarium back up and running. But I would love some ideas/recommendations for what to do this time.

Here is an evolution of this past tank over the two months it was set up

Here's the Plants I definitely want for this new tank. (disregard spelling :hihi
-HC
-Dwarf HG
-Blyxa J.
-L. Arcuata (really exited for this one)
-R. indica
-L. Aromatica

What are a few suggestions you would recommend for this set up? I really want a great green plant for the center focal point. of course I will be running pressurized co2 and T5Ho lighting, as well as dosing EI.

Should I keep the driftwood?? I a really debating getting rid of it...hmmm

well thanks for any input, It sucks to loose something after so much hard work. But sometimes things like this can be a blessing in disguise, and I have a chance at a fresh start while being able to retain everything that I learned since I started.

P.s. Driftwood? does it stay or go?? haha

-cheers

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

i personally love driftwood... it adds definition and color to any tank.. urs is nice.. I LIKE branchy pieces like that


edit.. this is my tank regrowing a death attack.. my ludwigia barely made it.. same with my bacopa... lost my cabomba. and i also can't get rid of the diatom algae in the front.. weird... anyways i just added that wood two weeks ago

 

[radioman]

Definitely keep the wood. I just had to reset my tank because of a small leak coming out of the bottom. Thankfully it is only a 2.5g. Good luck. It can only get better.

 

[Pooch]

I had a tank that met a similar fate in the dorms of Winona State University in 1993. "Somehow" an entire tube of tooth paste was squeezed out into the tank. Needless to say I did not set up another aquarium whilst living in the dorms. Sorry for your loss. The wood is OK, but if you are in a position to get something a bit more interesting and to balance the scape, I wouldn't disagree.

 

[WallaceGrover]

I would have been PISSED...

 

[CKJ]

Think your tank "WAS" beautiful! What kind of friend does that kinda stuff?

Anyways I can't wait to see what you come up with this time around.

I really like the branchy wood too. But i just wonder if that wood is safe to use. could it have soaked up what ever was put in there?

Any Stocking ideas for this one yet?

Good luck to you!

 

[wendyjo]

I would boil the wood to sterilize it.