# Killies Import > Planted Tanks >  Tearing down my old for a new lazy man's tank

## strung_0ut

Hey Everyone,

Basically I just wanted to get this post going first and foremost. I tore down my tank back in December and was trying to get a huge post with a bunch of pictures on how everything was done, but never really got around to it. This first post is to keep me to keep updating it. I just want to show pictures around of my old to new tank. The tank looks totally different now and I'll do my next update monday.

Here is what I started out with:

The tank was a mess, it was never maintained, it went through spurts of no co2 to having co2, stuff was all over, I had crud growing on top of other crud, but it still remained easily fixable.


As you can see here, its pretty messy.


A even closer look


Had some crypts in there, I was unsure what to do with them, so they eventually dried and died.


Moss growin on top of the filter outlet (cannister)


More junk, more like a duplicate picture


Another angle of all the crypts...


What a great find! clearing through all the junk moss, I found some willow moss that I thought died out awhile back. 



Downoi on the otherside of town.


An Sword I believe something in the lines of Harbich Grun(green)

Anyways, that is all for today, for monday I'll show uglier pictures of the tank being torn down and cycled and putting ocean sand in as well as give an update on how I store my mosses.

Thanks for looking, best regards,

Dennis

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## strung_0ut

Hi everyone,

I apologize for not being able to update this post these past couple of days, I have been really busy with work. So, you've seen how the tank was...now here is the tearing down. Forgive the limited picture potentials, these were taking months back, so no better pictures than this. Its all I had but I'll try and explain what I did best I can. Pretty much, what I did first was pull all my mosses out and driftwoods. This was a long tiresome process, and I even rested from it for days to let the water clear up or just plain laziness. My main focus was on preserving what mosses I still had, and keeping them seperate from other mosses so I could start anew with generally the whole species to assigned to each of its' own driftwood. After clearing the mosses and woods, I had to clear what plants I had, keeping them in the tank or taking them out for the period. The crypts suffered, as I had kept them out to long and just let them dry out. Once everything was clear or clear enough I could put the sand (I got from the beach-had to rinse it out very very well) into the tank. Here are pictures:


Clear mosses! and wood!


Long view


Another view


Strip the mosses.






Let the water clear up


And what is left


Now to put the sand in. I believe I turned off the filter before I dumped, but still there was still plenty and plenty of debris that the filter consumed.

Here is the sand:


Putting little by little in.


My temporary layout before I figure out what the heck I am doing.




Let the water clear up and step whatever is complete.


That was tearing down my tank, and I apologize if I am not more detailed about it.

Regards,

Dennis

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## FC

Dennis,

That reminds me the fun I went through, I was a very active tanker tearer before where I did it every 3 months or so. I am a person who do not know when to stop when I started something. Knowing that, I always start in the morning, often forgoten meals and finish normally near dinner time. The next day, the tank looked so fresh, it was refreshing.

BTW, the light coloured sand you pour over brighten the tank alot. Do keep some of them as spare, you will need it to cover exposed area later.

Do keep us updated.

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## strung_0ut

Thanks for looking Freddie, I have enjoyed pictures of your tanks very much. Nice, lovely scapes they are, and great looking at newer plants in the scene. 

As far as my tank goes, I am currently in process at getting a new computer so I can update more and more regularly, I have pictures to share and will try and get to it as soon as I can, I have plenty of sand to cover it all up. Will keep updated.

Regards,

Dennis

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## strung_0ut

Hi Everybody,

After tearing everything down, it was all just a matter of time of letting things clear up and doing a little more work like cleaning my filter media, clearing all the debris around, refillings of the sand to cover up the base, calm myself from wetting my socks, and planning out which mosses I want to which wood & providing enough space for all of the different species (I still don't have enough room). All the rest that got the tank to this point and period was tyings of mosses and driftwoods with cotton thread, planting a few plants and just adding the driftwoods.

Here are some pictures:

The full tank, the big sword is an echinodorus 'jaguar', takes up a lot of light space.



Flaming moss that I received from a buddy of mine ready to grow.



Weeping Moss starting to grow, I placed it in a well lit spot.

http://www.killies.com/forum/albums/album46/tank3.jpg[img]

Fissidens 'Singapore', After seeing it from Bioplast I had to plant a lot of it.

http://www.killies.com/forum/albums/album46/tank4.jpg[/img]

Erect Moss in the corner of my tank.



Unknown moss I got from a buddy in the USA. Its died out, I'll show a updated picture of the dead capsules that still remain.



Thats all for now.  :Very Happy:  

Dennis

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## timebomb

Dennis,

I see you still have lots of the Erect Moss. That's great. Because here in Singapore, we're desperately short of this moss. I probably have to ask you to send some over to me later. 

By the way, your Downoi's look terribly undernourished. You better start feeding your plants  :Laughing: 

Loh K L

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## strung_0ut

Hi Loh,

Yeah, no doubt  :Smile:  , can you figure out what ingredients are lacking? For the erect moss, how much do you need?

Heres a picture of erect moss, some of it was growing emmersed as my water level was topped off, not sure if you can see it:



And here is a current, starting to catch up


And here is a picture of the dead capsules from last post, no relevance at all but I like to share  :Rolling Eyes:  



I will update this post once more as I am sure I keep uploading too much. For anyone that looked, thanks for looking. Until then,

Dennis

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## timebomb

> Yeah, no doubt  , can you figure out what ingredients are lacking? For the erect moss, how much do you need?


I really don't have a clue, Dennis. It's a great mystery to me why the Erect Moss has all but died out in our Singapore tanks but the same hasn't happened in the tanks of hobbyists in other parts of the world. My guess is there's some kind of a moss disease that is being spread from tank to tank in Singapore. The moment it hits a tank, all the Erect moss turns brown in a matter of a few days. I've seen it happened to my tank and also in the tanks of many others.

Keep your fingers crossed it doesn't happen to your tank.

Loh K L

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