Aquarium Upgrade

The picture on left is the last photo I'll ever take of my 10 gallon setup. That's because I dismantled this aquarium and upgraded it to a 20 gallon tank. In other words, I took all the plants and fish and simply added them to a larger tank with a larger filter and new substrate.

In the next days, I'll probably write about this new setup a bit more extensively. First, the amount of plant material I removed from the 10 gallon setup was simply astonishing. I separated each plant group and laid them down on my washer and dryer. It took the entire surface of the washer AND the dryer to lay out all the plants that had grown in that cramped little 10 gallon aquarium.

There are three reasons why I upgraded. First, I added fish. The new residents, 10 Red Cheek Cichlids overwhelmed the small setup. This caused a surge of algae and green water despite the overwhelming amount of healthy plant growth. The effect of adding fish was quite immediate. Within the first week, I observed the surge in greenish water and accelerated algae growth.

Secondly, I moved to a bigger setup because the plants were just too cramped. I was no longer able to provide growth space to all the different types of plants that I had initially rooted in that tank.

Thirdly, space was so limited that I feared it would be too cramped in there when the fish reached adult size.

Since I don't have room for any other aquariums except for the three I have currently, I will donate the 10 gallon tank at the local aquarium gardener's club.

Below is a picture of all the plant material I recovered from the 10 gallon aquarium. Notice plants are grouped together by type.

More to come on my new 20 gallon setup next week.

Comments

[Kris]

I'm looking forward to see your progress on the 20G.

[Marc]

Hi Kris, Thanks for the comments. My new 20G setup is somewhat of a disaster. It filled up rather quickly with green water. I've been trying to stabilize this but no luck so far. I may have to start over. I have plenty of material to post about this project and will do so soon.

PS. I took a look at your website today. Amazing photos on there. Very nice!