About my old, 10-gal aquarium......

[Suzie-Q]

Once I get my 55-gal aquarium going I'd like to completely "disassemble"
and clean the old aquarium. I've learned from you folks that I have way
too much gravel in there, and I think that's contributing to the muck that
accumulates on the bottom of the aquarium. So my primary purpose will be
to remove some of the gravel. Everything will be thoroughly cleaned and
then about half of the gravel will be replaced.

My only dilemma is that I have two healthy, live plants growing in that
aquarium. One is some sort of sword. The other is something I grew from
a seed/bulb that I bought at Wal-Mart. I don't know what it's called.

Anyway, is this a bad idea? Will I be able to save the plant to put into
the old aquarium once it has been cleaned?

Thanks,
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
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[netDenizen]

Suzie-Q wrote:
> Once I get my 55-gal aquarium going I'd like to completely "disassemble"
> and clean the old aquarium. I've learned from you folks that I have way
> too much gravel in there, and I think that's contributing to the muck that
> accumulates on the bottom of the aquarium. So my primary purpose will be
> to remove some of the gravel. Everything will be thoroughly cleaned and
> then about half of the gravel will be replaced.
>
> My only dilemma is that I have two healthy, live plants growing in that
> aquarium. One is some sort of sword. The other is something I grew from
> a seed/bulb that I bought at Wal-Mart. I don't know what it's called.
>
> Anyway, is this a bad idea? Will I be able to save the plant to put into
> the old aquarium once it has been cleaned?
>
> Thanks,

Your bulb plant sounds like some sort of Aponogeton. Does the following
link show your plant? http://www.tropica.dk/productcard_1.asp?id=083

Sure, it's a great idea to transfer your plants unless they're all
covered in bad algae. It would be good to add more plants to the 55-gal
too, along with enough light to grow them.

[Charles]

On Sat, 06 May 2006 14:31:48 GMT, Suzie-Q >
wrote:

>Once I get my 55-gal aquarium going I'd like to completely "disassemble"
>and clean the old aquarium. I've learned from you folks that I have way
>too much gravel in there, and I think that's contributing to the muck that
>accumulates on the bottom of the aquarium. So my primary purpose will be
>to remove some of the gravel. Everything will be thoroughly cleaned and
>then about half of the gravel will be replaced.
>
>My only dilemma is that I have two healthy, live plants growing in that
>aquarium. One is some sort of sword. The other is something I grew from
>a seed/bulb that I bought at Wal-Mart. I don't know what it's called.
>
>Anyway, is this a bad idea? Will I be able to save the plant to put into
>the old aquarium once it has been cleaned?
>
>Thanks,


You should be able to safe the plants with no problem.

The bulbs you got were either a water lily or an aponogeton. Google
search for images brings up lots of pictures.

[Altum]

Suzie-Q wrote:
> Once I get my 55-gal aquarium going I'd like to completely "disassemble"
> and clean the old aquarium. I've learned from you folks that I have way
> too much gravel in there, and I think that's contributing to the muck that
> accumulates on the bottom of the aquarium. So my primary purpose will be
> to remove some of the gravel. Everything will be thoroughly cleaned and
> then about half of the gravel will be replaced.
>
> My only dilemma is that I have two healthy, live plants growing in that
> aquarium. One is some sort of sword. The other is something I grew from
> a seed/bulb that I bought at Wal-Mart. I don't know what it's called.
>
> Anyway, is this a bad idea? Will I be able to save the plant to put into
> the old aquarium once it has been cleaned?
>
> Thanks,

Aquatic plants are much like houseplants. Transplanting them shocks
them a little but they recover fine. The Wal-Mart plant is either a
lily an aponogeton hybrid.

You will find that the plants are a bit delicate out of water so handle
them gently to avoid breaking leaves. Gently uproot the plants and put
them in a bucket of water while you clean the tank and set it up again.
If the roots are a matted tangle and you can't spread them out to
replant, you can trim them back as you would a houseplant. Remove any
dead or dying leaves too.

After you've replanted, put some fertilizer tablets in the gravel so the
don't suffer for lack of nutrients in the clean gravel. Swords, lilies,
and aponogetons are all heavy feeders. I used to use AP Plantabbs in
new tanks, but my LFS switched over to the timed release Hagen
fertilizer sticks so I'm using those now. My swords seem happy with either.

--
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[Koi-Lo]

"netDenizen" > wrote in message
.. .
> Sure, it's a great idea to transfer your plants unless they're all covered
> in bad algae. It would be good to add more plants to the 55-gal too, along
> with enough light to grow them.
========================
And an algae eater or two to keep them clean. ;-)
--
Koi-Lo....
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
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