A few weeks ago I converted my previously Walstad goldfish aquarium over to a barebottom tank. So that I wasn’t staring at a white foam base up through the glass I used my old background to attach to the bottom of the tank to shield the foam out and then needed to attach a new background to the rear of the aquarium.

I’ve had the pleasure of attaching a background to an aquarium twice now and both times I had the misfortune of doing so with the tank full of water. Make no mistake attaching a background to an aquarium full of water with only a few centimeters clearance at the back is a nightmare job.

If you’re like me though spending half an hour swearing blindly at the tank resisting the urge to punch a hole in it seems easier then draining it, moving it out a bit, attaching the background at your own leisure and then filling the tank up again.

Here’s the two methods I’ve successfully used to attach backgrounds to my aquariums.

Double sided tape

Using double sided tape to attach a background to an aquarium seemed an obvious choice. Unfortunately finding clear double sided tape was another matter, all I could find was white.

I found the easiest way to fit a background using tape was first to make sure the background was cut appropriately. Usually length requires a bit of trimming and height about 10-15cm off.

The first side of the background you want to attach will be one of the sides. Having only been able to find white double sided tape I used electrical tape for the sides instead. My aquarium has black corner covers to protect the glass so what I did was place the tape so that half sat on these covers and half on the background.

I use either dark blue or black as a background so it didn’t matter to much if the background wasn’t dead on.

I’m right handed so found it easier to attach the left hand side and work my way across towards the right. To do this you’ll either need blue tack (sticky putty), some normal tape or a friend to hold the other end up.

Whatever you do don’t let the background sag or just fall as it can easily rip under it’s own weight, crease or worst still develop a tear which lets the wall behind the background shine through. Note that if this does happen if your background is dark you can usually get away by taping some black electrical (or suitable colored) electrical tape across the tear on the wall facing side of the background.

Once this is done I measured out enough double sided tape to do the top and then cut it width wise in half. The tape was about 3/4 of an inch wide and being white I wanted to use as thin a strip as possible.

On my aquarium I have a wooden canopy which hides about 3/4 of an inch off the top of the tank, had it have been less I’d have probably cut the tape again as you only need a tiny strip width wise to hold a poster paper background up.

After the top do the other side which is basically the same process as the first side.

Finally you can either leave the bottom it looks to be sitting against the tank or some double sided tape to stick it on. If you’re planning on running a barebottom tank and don’t want a strip of tape showing, alternatively use electrical tape to tape the bottom of the background down.

This process is incredibly hard to do with a tank full of water and does take patience and some time. If you don’t have either of these things it’s probably best you drain the tank till you can move the stand and give yourself some room to maneuver around.

Spraying cooking oil

Full credit for this method goes to my local aquarium. I was in there the other week buying some background and I was helpfully given the advice to spray cooking oil either onto the back wall of the tank or onto the background itself before applying.

This apparently would be enough to have the background stick to the glass.

I tried this method this afternoon and was impressed at how well the background stuck.

First I laid out the background on the kitchen floor and gave it a light spray over. Note that you don’t want a puddle of oil on the background as this will all run off the second you pick it up. All you want is a light spray, to achieve this spray from a minimum of 30cm distance.

I just used whatever was lying around to hold the ends down.

Attaching the background to the aquarium is then simply just a matter of literally sticking it on. Be careful when positioning the background as you don’t want it curling the wrong way and getting oil all over your wall.

After some playing around I got the background this far at which point the swearing started as I had to twist myself into all sorts of awkward angles to pull the background down from underneath the stand. To make matters worse by this point your hands are oily and so is the background, you virtually have no traction. Also note the air wave on the bottom I was talking about earlier.

I eventually got around the slipperiness by using a tea towel between my hands and the background. This then gave me enough traction to gently ease the background into position.

Overall this was much easier to do then the tape with the tank already full of water. I imagine being able to move the tank attaching a background using spray on cooking oil would take a whole 20 seconds.

It has left a few noticeable pockets of air/oil though (same thing that happens when water gets trapped between the background and the tank glass) but hopefully over time they disappear. Long term I’m not sure if the oil will break down and detach the background but seeing as the tank will be in storage I’m not terribly fussed.

After about a half hour of swearing and fussing about here’s the end result:

So much nicer then staring at a white wall through the glass, I love how the fish and plants pop to life against a dark background.

Previously I’ve used the dark blue which is on the other side of the black background. I find the black looks a bit too drab although it might be because I’m used to looking inside a jungle of a Walstad aquarium. As you can see my bunches of java ferns and Hornwort went a bit brown after the change as they adapt to a mechanically filtered aquarium again.

If I’ve learnt anything since converting a few weeks ago it’s that a barebottom tank, whilst also not requiring much maintenance (that brown stuff on the bottom of the tank is the last bit of soil from the Walstad substrate I couldn’t be bothered removing by hand), isn’t for me.

It’s been 9 months now and over that period of time and I’ve learnt a lot about running a goldfish tank using Walstad. Unfortunately due to relocating overseas I will shortly have to tear down my tank and put it into storage.

Today I’m going to share my conclusions as I come to an end with my Walstad tank so that anyone looking to set an aquarium up using Walstad can benefit from my experience, mistakes and observations.

Water Quality

Water quality for me has never really been an issue when using the Walstad method. When I initially set my aquarium alongside my Fluval 305 canister filter I did have a slight ammonia blip but this was quickly utilised by the filter bacteria and plants.

Running the tank without a filter for the past two months or so I’ve yet to have any ammonia show up in my tests. Having said that I think the reason for this might be that the plants were fairly well established when I disconnected the filter, as opposed to when I initially set up the tank back in February.

One thing that has been an ongoing problem and is one of the things I’d like to experiment with over time is algae in the water. When I disconnected the filter it wasn’t long before I started to notice a green tint in the water. For the most part the tint was remained slight but then after going on holidays for a week when I came back and the water algae had truly taken over.

This is what prompted me to start again with fresh soil and gravel and run the tank without a canister filter from the beginning. Currently I still have green algae water in the tank but without a filter I was expecting this due to the initial abundance of nutrients leeched from the soil.

Due to already having fish I haven’t been able to do so, but what I’d like to do (and will do if I set up a tank in the future) is to run a soil based aquarium without any fish for a month or so and see what happens with the water quality.

Alternatively with fish I guess you could just do water changes say once a week but this probably isn’t a good idea as the idea behind Walstad is to keep the water stable and let a natural ecosystem occur.

However a month of weekly water changes (60-80%) just to see if the green algae water subsides would be interesting.

I believe it is possible to balance out the large amounts of nutrients that goldfish deposit into the tank but as with anything in an aquarium it takes time to play around and see what works and doesn’t work. Not only should you only change one thing at a time but then to truly see the effect of what you changed can take anywhere up to a month itself.

One final interesting observation is that when running a filter alongside the tank, I had eventual black beard algae problems inside the tank. Upon disconnecting the filter the algae growing on the substrate, plants, aquarium glass and wood ornaments eventually died off and I was left with just the water algae.

I’m not exactly sure of the reason to this but I’d assume it’s something to do with the water algae having a preference to ammonia and the surface algae favouring nitrates from the filter.

In any case it’s never been so bad that I can’t see the back of the tank so I haven’t worried about it too much.

To use a filter or not?

There are two major factors in my personal experience that should come into consideration when deciding whether to run a filter or not with a Walstad tank.


Ammonia as a food source or nitrates?

With an adequate filter attached to an aquarium I found that the filter bacteria were easily able to outcompete plants for ammonia consumption. This was evidenced by the production of Nitrates in the aquarium as plants don’t produce Nitrates when they consume ammonia.

Whilst the bacteria held off any water algae from developing (I never had a problem with clear water when using a filter) I found that surface algae was then able to outcompete plants for nutrients and flourish.

Part of the problem here I think was that instead of 100% of the waste getting broken down in the soil and replenishing the substrate most of it was getting mechanically trapped in the filter and being broken down there.

On top of this when I did my monthly filter cleanout, I’d then lose alot of the decomposing waste when I cleaned the sponges. Over time I believe this starved the soil substrate of micro nutrients and this is most likely what caused the surface algae to thrive.

When I disconnected the filter and started again with fresh soil and gravel I was hit with green water algae whilst nearly all of the surface algae died off and vanished.

Between the two scenarios it’s much, much easier to deal with algae suspended in the water. If I had another 12 months or so to play around with my tank I’m convinced that the green algae in the water would eventually consume the initial excess burst and start to die off.

Also as the plants propagated and take off again this would also squeeze out the algae water, but again time is needed to observe this in action.


Water current

One of the unavoidable aspects of having a filter attached to a Wastad aquarium is water current. The positives of which are an even distribution of water temperature and oxygenation of the water as it passes through the filter.

Unfortunately I’ve found that in the case of a Walstad aquarium, the negatives outweigh these positives.

Temperature wise I keep a heater on the left rear wall of my tank and have it set to 22deg. My tank has coverglass and a wooden canopy so I hardly ever see the heater light come on. I also have a thermometer way over on the otherside of the tank and have never seen it drop below 22 degrees, even throughout winter.

Whilst I’m not saying coldspots might not happen, I’ve yet to see evidence of it being a problem without water current. Perhaps if you live somewhere really cold it might be more of an issue.

The other major problem with current is losing carbon dioxide. Invariably when you move water around you lose any excess as the level in the water tries to reach equilibrium with the air outside. In a Walstad tank there is no artificial carbon dioxide so you need to retain as much as you can. Having a filter push water around everywhere I feel is counter productive to this.

Whether I was running a filter or not, I’ve never had any problems with oxygenation of the water. To date I’ve never seen any of my fish gasping at the surface.

The final effect of water current I noticed when I was using the filter was the build up of debris in certain hotspots. As the plants establish themselves they become debris traps and what happens over time is you get mounds of debris appearing at the base of plants that grow densely together. I found this to be particularly noticeable with my corkscrew vallisneria bunches.

As the debris winds up being concentrated in certain spots (if it isn’t sucked up by the filter intake) you potentially wind up ‘starving’ certain areas of the substrate which isn’t a good idea.

Whether this is drastically detrimental to the theory of a Walstad tank I don’t know but the levels of trapped debris certainly were noticeable. Now without a filter I find that the decomposing debris is much more evenly spread and this in theory I’d imagine would be much better for the replenishment of the soil substrate.

Fish health

Since starting my Walstad tank I’ve lost three goldfish. One had a pre-existing swim bladder problem, one died due to a fungus infection (which occurred while I was away on holiday) and the other of pinecone disease shortly after being added to the tank (which I think was thus a pre-existing condition).

Using a proper 30 day quarantine tank before adding fish to the tank I haven’t experienced any other disease outbreaks in my tank. The remaining fish seem to have thrived and haven’t shown any signs of illness.

When starting the tank I was initially worried about an ammonia cycle but thankfully this hasn’t been a problem. I do however run a 255 litre (66 gallon) tank though so this might be a result of the large water volume, obviously if you run a smaller aquarium you have less of an error threshold.

On these results I’d say fish health problems aren’t really in issue in a Walstad tank (despite the decomposing matter along the substrate), unless you introduce new diseased fish from a fish shop without proper quarantine.

Plant health and selection

I’ve tried a fair few plants in my Walstad tank and feel I can safely say that you can forget about using any ornamental plants. Whichever plants you use need to be rugged and easy growers, moreso if you’re keeping goldfish with them.

This pretty much leaves the cheap common plants for you to stock your aquarium with.

For me this isn’t a problem but as I just love to see green in my tank to contrast the goldfish and love the natural jungle look. If you’re wanting to aquascape at all and/or try growing some of the more difficult plants you might want to instead go down the injected carbon dioxide route.

The plants I’ve had success with are Corkscrew Vallisneria, Amazon Swords, Chain swords, Crypts (great root systems to oxygenate the substrate), Java ferns, Hornwort and to a limited extent dwarf Anubias (algae loves this plant).

I did have initial success with Wisteria but I think after the initial excess nutrients were used up it had problems surviving due to a limited root system.

I’ve found that stem plants don’t seem to like the Walstad and tank and that your best bet are plants that have some sort of root system. I’ve found, and this is probably due to goldfish producing a lot of waste, that fast growers are essential.

When I turned off my filter I stocked the tank with hornwort, which I originally planted but now let float around so at to better utilise the light. I’ve found hornwort to be a great indicator of nutrients.

If there are excess it grows ridiculously fast and then slows down as things balance out. It does need to be continually trimmed though due to it’s growth speed but this doesn’t take long. If you keep it floating you also don’t have to worry about it being pulled out and disturbing the substrate.

At the moment I am trying to carpet the substrate with some hairgrass. It is growing but it’s extremely slow. I don’t know if it will eventually pickup and take off but for now (2-3 weeks) not much is happening.

Again I’d love to see how it goes over 6 months but due to time constraints that won’t be possible. The goldfish seem to leave it alone though so I imagine if given the time it would eventually cover the substrate.

Lighting

Initially I ran 3x55w T5HO tubes which wound up being 2.5WPG of light and was probably too much for my tank (hence the surface algae). Currently I run only 2 of the tubes and have them quite spaced apart (I have 1.5ft wide tank as opposed to the standard 1ft) which comes in at 1.6wpg and seems to be much more suitable.

Note that my aquarium doesn’t see any sunlight, if you have sunlight available you can probably get by with even less light.

The light system is on for 12 hours a day 10am-10pm and run on a timer. This seems to keep the plants happy so I’d say is a good starting point. If I had the time I wouldn’t mind running the tank for a month at 8 hours to see if this had any effect on the algae water (after I’d waited sufficient time to see if the algae died out on its own).

Conclusions

My experience shows that a Walstad tank can be done with goldfish and for someone thinking about it I’d highly recommend it. If for nothing then to gain a better appreciation of water chemistry and the various relationships between the different components of your fish tank.

I keep fancy goldfish though and for someone keeping single tails (comets), unless you’re particularly lucky with fish that don’t eat plants I’d probably give Walstad a miss.

If I ever to get back into the hobby (I’m sure I will) I plan to pick it up where I left off and further experiment with goldfish and Walstad in an effort to perfect it. There’s still a fair few things I’m interested in trying but for now they’ll have to wait.

In any case hopefully my experiences with Goldfish and the Walstad method are thus far enough to be of benefit to anyone looking at starting their own tank up. At the end of the day there’s nothing quite as rewarding as kicking back and observing a well stocked, plant flourishing aquarium.

For a complete rundown (including running journal of my tank) of my Walstad articles, it might be of interest to checkout my Walstad topic index page.

The last time I was away I came back and Tiger had a white patch of fuzz on her and died shortly afterwards. This time when I came back I was greeted with a lovely tank full of green algae water.

I decided this would be a great opportunity to do some replanting and re-arranging inside the tank.

First I got rid of the amazon sword in the tank and replaced it with my largest crypt. Even in a 4ft tank the sword was simply just too big and whilst the crypt was almost as large, grows much more compact then the sword which liked to spread out and completely take over the center foreground.

I also thinned out the other crypts which due to their size were crowding eachother out. I was very happy with the corkscrew vallisneria at the rear right so I pulled out the plants I had growing on the rear left and after dividing up the vallisneria I had, spread it out on either side.

Corkscrew vallisneria grows quite densely and after seeing what happens when the plants take off and how much room they can potentially take up I’d rather have thin plants then the bushy ones so that the fish have more room to swim.

I also rearranged some of the java ferns on the driftwood centerpiece and spread them out a bit, they’ve got a much better shot at completely covering it now. After doing all this and despite a 100% water change, within days the green water came back as strong as ever.

At this point I’m not sure what was causing it. As far as I could tell green water happened when there was excess nutrients or a nutrient imbalance, which made no sense seeing as nobody fed the fish while I was away. I’d have thought a Walstad tank setup for 5-6 months would be capable of producing enough ammonia on its own to keep the plants going for 5 days, apparently not.

When I rearranged the tank and refilled it I’m also not sure as to what brought the green water back so quickly.

In any case I decided that another water change wasn’t going to do much so I started a course of treatment known as the ‘blackout method’. I’ll write a more detailed article on it in the future but the gist of it is you completely cover the tank for a few days and this light starvation clears the water.

When I completed the treatment the water was still a bit cloudy, but looking much better.

That was about a week ago now and I’ve watched the water seems to be slowly heading back to green again. I’ve since also thinned out the floating hornwort I’ve got in there to promote new growth and compete with the water algae. Here’s what it looks like this morning:

This time I’d probably leave it for a month and see if whatever the green alagae water is feasting on runs out (it can’t all be ammonia as I’m getting plant growth and no new algae growth on the glass or plants). Replacing the water seems to have hurt the hornwort somewhat in that it’s gone yellow while it adapts to the new water.

At this stage I’d love to experiment some more with the walstad method and goldfish but my time is running out. I plan to move overseas by the end of November and sadly I think at this stage I’m going to be surrendering the goldfish to an aquarium and tearing down the tank.

I didn’t have any green algae water problems with a canister filter running in the tank but I have a feeling the cannister filter starved the plants somewhat and was counter productive to having soil in there which is supposed to do the filtering job. What I’d like to see is if a small internal filter placed near the top of the water so as to trap as little as possible of the mulm on the gravel, would have any effect.

I’m most likely just going to leave the tank now until I’m ready to leave and see if the water clears up on its own and how the plants react, just as an experiment so if I ever get back into it at a later stage I know whether waiting or not is going to achieve anything.

While I’m overseas I might set up a tank once I’ve got my accommodation somewhat stable but it won’t be anywhere near as big as the tank I’ve got now. I’d also probably stock it with tropical fish seeing as without further investigation I’m not entirely sure a 100% filterless Walstad tank with goldfish is possible to maintain.

The good news is my tank is going into storage here so when I do make my way back I can always get back into it. Unless anything amazing happens over the next month and a half this will most likely be my last entry into my Walstad tank journal for a while.

Thanks for reading and hopefully my experiences help anyone else out there who’s willing to try the Walstad method with goldfish in the future.

It’s not just relocating overseas when the time comes that you have to worry about what to do with your goldfish. You could be moving house, going on a holiday, an emergency could pop up or for whatever reason there might just be an extended period of time where you simply won’t be home.

Sometime over the next few months I plan to relocate overseas and unfortunately this means there are certain things I can’t take with me.

The car, cats, furniture and obviously, my goldfish.

Whilst I’ve found suitable solutions to all my other items my goldfish and their tank was still something I haven’t finalised.

Unlike cats or a car, goldfish do need some extra care knowledge to look after them. A goldfish keeper needs to have a basic understanding of aquarium water chemistry or at least the ability to hit the internet for answers if something goes wrong.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been considering my options and thought I’d put up some suggestions for anyone else in a similar situation.

1. Family and friends

Family and friends are the obvious choice when it comes to relocating your goldfish. Often there’s that one family member or friend who comments positively whenever they see your aquarium or goes on about how one day they wouldn’t mind setting their own up.

Now is the perfect time!

For me this was my dad and I’m currently waiting on him to make a decision if he wants to take over caring for them while I’m gone.

To make the deal sweeter offer to ‘train’ them up and get them involved with the moving process so that they’re familiar with all the different bits and pieces that come with a fish tank.

Oh and obviously offer to set the aquarium up for them too.

The basics you should teach a family member who is taking over your fish tank are

• Cleaning the filter
• Cleaning the tank. Gravel vacuum, water changes, cleaning the glass etc. Obviously this will vary depending on your tank setup.
• Establishing a feeding schedule
• How to dose water conditioner


Those are the absolute basics someone needs to know to maintain a goldfish aquarium. For anything else there’s always the internet or like I’m doing, mention that your expertise is just a phone call away.

Currently I run a Walstad type setup and despite how relatively low maintenance it is, if I leave the goldfish with my dad I’m probably going to convert to a barebottom while I’m away. Although you’re reintroducing a filter, barebottom minimises the plant aspect of goldfish keeping and with a decent filter is quite straightforward.

The key here is to make it sound as straightforward and appealing as possible. The last thing you want is a family member to lose interest after a few months and neglect your goldfish!

2. Donating to a local aquarium

If your goldfish are healthy and happy then I see no reason why a local fish shop wouldn’t take them off your hands. Unfortunately if you have single tail goldfish they might be a bit more reluctant.

I keep fancy goldfish and whilst they certainly aren’t show pieces or anything, I have become very attached to them and their sentimental value is quite high to me.

A good local aquarium will quarantine your goldfish before releasing them into their stocks for sale and for this reason they might knock you back. As an incentive try offering them a bit of money.

It might seem strange to offer a shop money so that they take your fish and then make more money re-selling them, but remember they are doing you a favour in the end. I have a few aquariums local to me and if things don’t work out with my dad plan to offer $50 as compensation for taking my goldfish off my hands.

Obviously the problem here is after you give up your goldfish there’s no way of ensuring some customer will rockup and take them home for their fish bowl where they’ll live a miserable existence.

I’m not 100% keen on this but I feel at least you did your best while you looked after them. I suppose you could minimise the chance of this happening by trying the more reputable local aquariums over the more dodgier looking ones.

3. Euthanasia

I definitely don’t advocate euthanizing your goldfish just because you can’t look after them anymore but I can also appreciate the need as an absolute last resort.

If you live in a remote area or simply don’t have any family nearby then sometimes it’s the only option available to you. I guess it’s the dog/cat equivalent of surrendering your pet to the pound and knowing in the back of your head it’s probably going to be put down.

It’s not an easy decision to make (well if you’re attached to your pets anyway) but if you do have to go down this path I only ask that you euthanize your goldfish humanely and painlessly.

Clove oil is relatively cheap so there’s no excuse not to.


Either of the above options have their ups and downs and without doubt getting a family member or friend to look after your fish is the most ideal. In my particular case I’m storing the aquarium at my dad’s house in any case so really it’s just a choice between storing the tank empty with boxes of equipment inside it or running stocked with fish.

Hopefully he decides to look after them otherwise it’s off the the local fish shops with $50 to see who will take them. Good luck to anyone else in this situation, it’s not a nice or easy decision to make but hopefully you get some ideas from what I’ve shared.

A fish tank should have a regular cleaning schedule, be free of sick fish and any disease in the water treated. If the tank hasn’t been used for a long time, even though any waterborn threat might have long since perished there’s always the risk of the tank being exposed to toxins in the air that will pollute the tank.

Additionally you also might want to ‘nuke’ your main tank if there’s been a disease breakout that you can’t get to the bottom of. Sometimes the only way to get rid of a re-occuring disease is to tear an aquarium down and to start again.

These situations require a bit more cleaning power then a simple rinse off with some fresh water. Thankfully whichever product you use the cost is relatively cheap.

Bleach

Bleach I’ve found is the most effective, probably because it’s the most harsh. Having said that I’d only use a bleach solution to clean an empty fish tank. Although you can rinse off ornaments, driftwood and gravel there’s always a chance some residual bleach will remain and this is disastrous for your fish.

Make sure you never run a filter hooked up to a bleach tank either. The last thing you want is residual bleach absorbed into your filter media or stuck in your filter sponges.

To use bleach to clean an aquarium disconnect any filters and take everything out of the aquarium. Then fill the tank with a bleach solution and let it sit 24 hours.

Empty the solution (you’ll probably want to drain it down a sink then over the garden) and then thoroughly rinse the tank with new water. After that fill it up with fresh water, reconnect the filter  and add 3-4 times the amount of dechlorinator you normally use and allow this to run through the system for a few hours.

Drain again and fill up with fresh water treating it with 2-3 times the amount of dechlorinator normally used. At this point it should be safe to add the rest of your equipment, decor and fish back into the tank.

As to how much bleach to use, there’s usually directions for soaking on the bottle (it varies slightly from manufacturer) or as a general rule of thumb a 1:10 water ratio will do the job.

Potassium Permanganate

I personally haven’t bothered with Potassium Permanganate but I’ve heard good things about it’s use for cleaning plants and equipment. Being less toxic then Bleach Potassium Permanganate is able to be used to clean aquariums as well as filters. It’s also a little more forgiving then bleach if you don’t thoroughly get all of it rinsed off.

Potassium Permanganate stains pink so be sure to use some throwaway dishwashing gloves when using it and clothes you don’t mind potentially ruining. Also be aware of this staining if you’re going to use it to clean decor and gravel.

For a tank you want to use about 5 tablespoons per 10 gallons (38-40L) and use the same rinse instructions as per bleach above.

Salt

Salt is the least toxic of effective materials you can use to clean out a tank. Although it might not be as thorough as bleach or potassium permanganate (this might be a psychological thing though!) salt is pretty effective in concentrated form against parasites and other nasties.

Salt is also safe to use with a filter although be aware it will obliterate your bacteria colony and you will want to remove your sponges as they might be a problem to rinse properly.

To soak an aquarium you want to be using 3 teaspoons of salt per gallon of water (3.8L). Again rinse instructions are the same as bleach but you can skip the overdose of dechlorinator (double the normal dose when filling up with water for the fish at the end though).

In addition to a soak you can also use a concentrated salt solution to scrub the glass if need be. Be aware if you have an acyrlic tank that any scrubbing will probably make your tank look like you rubbed it on some concrete.

Sea, rock and kosher salt are fine to use. Cooking salt should be avoided as well as any salt with additives (usually an anti-caking agent). Aquarium salt is also fine to use but can be expensive for when compared to sea/rock salt which is readily available and cheap.


Totally sterilizing a tank shouldn’t be something you need to do regularly but it should definitely be a thought if you’ve just brought home a second hand tank. At most you’re looking at 24 hours of soak time and a few hours extra work of rinsing/scrubbing.

All three materials are relatively cheap too so it’s worthwhile putting the effort in to ensure the peace of mind that you’re introducing your fish to as clean an environment as possible. Obviously what happens after your fish are in the tank is unavoidable.

I’m happy to report that thus far this has been a success. I had a mild ammonia blip but that settled down pretty fast.

Currently the tank has a slight ammonia reading (the test kit isn’t completely yellow but isn’t green enough to register on the test card) with 0 nitrites or nitrates.

Here’s what we looked like at the end of September:

As you can see the new plants I added from Livefish on the rear left have really taken off. Out of the new plants I added I’ve found Hornwort to be the most dominant and fast growing.

Given my aquarium is a goldfish tank and is now running filterless I’ve decided to work on propagating the Hornwort to the rear left of the tank to balance out that last bit of excess ammonia.

The other plants I got were growing but none came close to the Hornwort which has flourished and the goldfish do not touch it.

I gave the tank a trim, removed all the plants in the rear left, trimmed and replanted the Hornwort along with the giant grassy looking plant which seems to do ok.

It’s kind of looking a bit bare at the moment but it shouldn’t take too long for the Hornwort to colonise the rear left. That growth you see in the first photo came from just 3 small bunches of the stuff so I can’t wait to see what happens over the next month with all the trimmings I planted.

Algae is slowly receding but is still generally making the tank look ‘dirty’. The plants are pushing out new leaves and discarding the old ones. I’m really tempted to just get in there and remove all the algae leaves with my clippers but I’ve decided to just let nature take its course.

As the plant leaves are discarded they break down into nutrients so best I not disturb the ecosystem in there, the algae leaves also give the bristle noses something to much on too.

I’ve also decided to be less aggressive with the Corkscrew Vallisneria pruning so I’m going to let it grow nuts. I really liked the shade the overgrown hornwort provided on the rear right prior to pruning so I’d like to emulate that on the right side as well.

This should protect the slower growing plants in the foreground from algae and further slow it down due to reduced light availability.

All in all I’m glad I’ve gone filterless as it seems to be working and balanced. My only regret at this stage is not going filterless to begin with. I imagine it’s going to take months before my tank fully balances itself out and the plants become truly dominant.

Ah well, considering I’m keeping goldfish I guess I should be happy with the fact that things are coming along nicely and let’s face it – could have been much worse. I’ll post another update in a month.

Smaller sand based gravels give a tropical feel to the aquarium, pea sized gravel offers a more traditional setting and larger pebbles still can give you an aesthetically pleasing riverbed.

Focusing primarily on goldfish tank, here’s a run down on the pros and cons of the various sizes of gravel available for aquarium use.

Sand

by cjdevesa

Sand can be very pleasing to the eye in an aquarium. You know how some people put up those giant photos of exotic sandy beaches in their office to remind them they hate their jobs?

Same concept applies. A sandy oasis aquarium full of fish can be a wonderful escape to lose yourself in.

Unfortunately for goldfish, sand isn't so good.

Goldfish are notorious gravel pickers. They will eat all the food available and then charge headstrong into the gravel throwing it around everywhere searching for that elusive last morsel.

Sand, whilst small and in no danger of getting stuck in a goldfish's mouth does irritate the gills. Being so small it's easy for goldfish to throw it around and long term this gill irritation isn't healthy for your fish.

Cleaning can also be a bit of a pain with sand as the particles are so light they often get sucked up into your syphon along with all the crud. Goldfish produce a lot of crud which means it's probably not worth your time salvaging the sand mixed in with it at the bottom of the bucket.

Worse still if you're using a python, well the sand is going straight down the drain.

When keeping plants it is also possible to note that because sand is so fine and dense, it's actually possible to crush plant roots rather then support them.

Finally because sand is so fine it's possible that without adequate aeration (either via mixing up the substrate yourself or through plant roots), pockets of toxic gas can form in the sand.

Over time these turn anaerobic (lack of oxygen in the pocket) and hydrogen sulfide can be produced. When released, this gas is extremely toxic to fish should they expose one of these pockets via substrate digging.

Despite looking nice, I'd recommend staying away from aquarium sand for a goldfish tank.

2-3mm "pea sized" gravel

In a goldfish tank this sized gravel is my preferred choice and is the most widely available. Pea sized gravel is small enough to not pose a threat of getting stuck in your goldfish's mouth and large enough to avoid the problems associated with sand.

It can however be kind of boring if you stick with the standard colours, I think every beginner fish keeper starts off with the bog standard brown pea gravel. To get around this have a hunt around and see the various colours pea sized gravel is available in.

Personally I like to stick to the darker colours. I find this gives the most contrast between plants and fish and doesn't give off a glare into the water like lighter gravels do.

Oh and please please avoid the rainbow coloured fluro gravel. I don't know who's using this in their fish tanks but it looks horrible!

Pebbles

by deconstructing jen

With pea sized gravel some people still worry about it getting caught in their goldfish's mouth so that's where pebble gravel comes into it. Pebble gravel is typically large enough to not fit into a goldfish's mouth entirely.

Available in various sizes from a 20c piece right up to large riverbed style pebbles, Pebble gravel makes a good choice for the fish keeper that wants to create a natural look but isn't looking to grow plants in the substrate.

Keep in mind that plants can still be grown in a pebble substrate tank but are typically grown in pots (a layer of soil covered by pea size gravel), which are then buried in the pebbles.

One drawback of the pebble substrate is that crud can very easily fall down between the pebbles. Being so large you don't have the compactness of smaller substrates so it's not uncommon for waste to simply fall through to the bottom of the tank.

When cleaning the tank with a syphon this can be tricky.

Another consideration is that if you keep smaller fish alongside larger fish it's highly unlikely but still possible that one of the smaller fish could get trapped under a pebble. My goldfish go crazy at dinnertime and it due to their size wouldn't take much to move pebbles around.

If a smaller bristlenose pleco happened to be hiding in one of these gaps well you can guess what might happen.

An additional option is to use pea sized gravel as your main substrate with pebbles on top to discourage fish digging into the gravel in specific areas, for example where plants are rooted.


At the end of the day like all aquarium decor what you choose to go with is a personal choice and is determined by what you want to see in your fish tank. All three gravel sizes can work with goldfish but each has advantages and disadvantages to consider.

When choosing your size being aware of these considerations will go a long way in maintaining the health of your fish and longevity of your aquarium.

In coming to this decision I decided to add some extra plants to cover myself in case there wasn’t enough in there to pick up the bioload the filter had been processing.

Running a goldfish aquarium and adding new plants is always a risky business. You never know what new plants they will eat and also what will or won’t grow in a Walstad soil based tank.

In purchasing my aquarium plants I had two options:

1. buying from local aquariums and relying on what they had in stock with varying prices or
2. buying online with a huge range to select from at lower prices and hoping that postage costs still made it worthwhile.


I will admit I was a bit worried about buying the shipping of live plants but I’m happy to report the process was painless, hassle free and notably cheaper.

My company of choice was Livefish.com.au (not that we have many choices here in Australia) and I found them to be very responsive in processing the order. Payment was processed in within 24 hours of making the order and I was then advised that

Orders are shipped as soon as possible after your order is placed, which is generally within 2-3 weeks.


I presume this is because we’re dealing with live plants here and if all of a sudden they get a whole bunch of orders on one specific plant they might temporarily run out. It’s probably the biggest potential drawback to ordering aquarium plants online but I don’t imagine they run out often.

7 days from initially placing the order I was advised it had been shipped. Livefish use overnight courier Australian Air Express and provide you with a tracking number. Shipping is a blanket $15.95 no matter how much you order (this includes shipping live fish too).

The package arrived 8:30am the following morning I received the shipping letter. The plants were sealed inside an airtight bag, wrapped in a few sheets of plastic packed inside a sealed styrofoam box.

Upon delivery the plants looked healthy and vibrant and the bunches were large. I have no complaints about the quality of plants from Livefish.

There is a dark green plant in the top left inside the box (I think that’s the Hydrilla) that looks a bit out of shape but that’s just the color of the plant.

All up I ordered:

2 x Hornwort Bunch
2 x Dwarf Green Rush Bunch
3 x Gold Pennywort Bunch
2 x Cardamine lyrata Bunch
3 x Hydrilla Bunch

This came to $64.91 including shipping which is $5.40 each plant. Most local aquariums around me seem to sell a limited variety of plants at around the $5-$10 mark, given the range I had to choose from I was more then happy with Livefish’s prices.

Highly recommended if you’re looking at buying plants in bulk or looking to stock a new aquarium with fresh plants. The more you buy the more the fixed postage price beats out buying plants locally.

On the bonnet is a goldfish in a water filled lightbulb (eek!) and there’s goldfish detailing on the rear and rear sides of the car. The car itself is a Mazda I think (I forget to check) and needed a clean!

It belongs to Zoom Sign Company (they seem to have a goldfish motif running through their site), and is definately a great example of an attention getter.

Goldfish and cars. Brilliant.

Here’s what the tank looked like early July:

As you can see the plant at the front, which I believe came as a hitchhiker with some other plants has grown completely out of control and is not a suitable for the foreground. I also started to notice my stem plants, particularly the ludwigia in the corner and to a lesser extent the wisteria in the middle had started to become ‘leggy’ (ie. they were turning into leafless stalks with a bit of growth at the top).

Algae also gradually seemed to get worse and I even had a mini bloom out of noweher of the green variety mid July which I wasn’t too happy about.

I started to think about why this was happening and I’ve reasoned that with the canister filter running, the canister bio bacteria were probably out competing the plants for ammonia and nitrite. Then the nitrate was being consumed by the algae faster then the plants could absorb it.

I didn’t have any fast growers in there so I ordered some plants from livefish.com.au and have now have planted them amongst the established plants in there. I’m going to play survival of the fittest and keep whichever ones dominate.

To combat the nutrient problem I’ve decided to cut out the bio bacteria altogether.

Yes you read that right, I plan to run my goldfish tank without a filter.

Anyone who has kept goldfish will tell you they are masters of water pollution so I’ve set myself up for a nervous few weeks of water testing ahead while I ascertain whether the tank is up to it or not.

I’m also a little concerned about how the carbonate hardness of the water will hold up but with a drastic reduce in the bacteria biofilter eating up kh hopefully it stays high. The soil is mixed with crushed oyster shell although with little water movement down there I doubt it will do much.

If all goes well the bulk of the ammonia produced will go to the plants (a little will be processed by the tank bacteria) as well as any nitrite produced. Plants prefer ammonia and nitrite over nitrate so they should hopefully have no problem out competing algae for it.

Currently I’m also running it without a powerhead to see how that goes. So far I haven’t had any oxygen issues, I’ve increased the lighting duration back to 12 hours and have gone back to my starting watts per gallon of 2.4 (up from 10 hours of light and 1.6wpg over the last 2 months).

My next update will be at the end of August with hopefully good news.

Finally, since my last update I’m sad to report that Patch passed away. Swimbladder must have got him in the end. He was eating and behaving normally till he died so at least he was somewhat comfortable.

I also lost the big black unnamed fish I got due to dropsy. The onset of this was drastically sudden, I remember noticing his scales pineconing one evening at feeding time and over the next five or so days he lost his black colouring for silver/white. After he started floating near the top I figured it was time to put him out of his misery.

I’m assuming the sudden loss of color to white had something perhaps to do with internal organ failure. Why this happened I have no idea but it was painful to watch.

If the tank goes well over the next month I’ll look at replacing them sometime in September which will nicely co-incide with the goldfish breeding season! Anyway, here’s a snapshot of the tank as it is at the start of August (note the slightly cloudy water as the in-tank bacteria adjust to life without a filter colony):

Primarily the nitrifying bacteria need oxygen, a food source and water movement to survive – you tell me how all this provided inside a sealed unrefrigerated bottle full of goop!

A much cheaper alternative is the fishless cycle. All you need is a couple of dollars and some patience.

What the fishless cycle does enable you to simulate waste being produced and the establishment of the bacteria to process it in a controlled environment.

Aside from having this control the biggest advantage is that fish aren’t involved in the cycling process. When you are finished cycling using this method any fish you do add to your tank aren’t exposed to toxic water levels as a result of cycling.

Last week I posted about the importance of cycling your fish tank before adding any fish. Primarily what we are doing it establishing a nitrogen cycle which is in equilibrium with the waste your fish are going to produce.

This weekend I’m going to continue the ‘cycling you aquarium’ theme and show you just how easy it is to cycle your aquarium.

Here’s a list of things you will need:

• 1 bottle of clear ammonia (not cloudy, soaped or with any added detergents)
• 1 water test kit (of importance are ph, ammonia, nitrITE and to a lesser extent nitrATE)
• millimeter measuring container


The first thing you need to do is to set everything up like you would if you were going to add fish. If you’re unsure of what to connect up or what’s the best order to do everything in I’ve previously written a guide on setting up a goldfish tank. Note that even if you’re not keeping goldfish many of the steps are the same and it should be of some use.

Lighting and bubblers can be turned off as all we need is water flow from the filter. If you are using a heater set the temperature to 80 deg F (27 deg C), this is roughly the optimum temperature to promote optimal bacteria growth.

1. Creating an ammonia source

The main objective of fishless cycling is to create a large enough colony of bacteria inside your filter to cope with the fish as you add them. The good news is this is mostly a passive process.

What we want to do is raise the ammonia level in your fish tank to 1ppm (this is where the aquarium test kit comes in handy). Start by adding a few ml of ammonia and take a reading of the water with your test kit.

Unfortunately there’s no blanket rule as to how much ammonia will achieve a reading of 5ppm as manufacturers vary the ammonia to water ratio and obviously it’s all relative to the size of the aquarium you are cycling.

Once you’ve reached a reading of 1ppm with your water test kit record the amount of ammonia used. Using some basic maths, then proceed to add enough ammonia to achieve a reading of 5ppm.

Don’t worry if you go over slightly, it’s not going to have a negative effect. If you massively go over by accident it might be a good idea to empty out half the tank, refill it with clean water, take another reading and start again.

The reason for this is too much ammonia initially can hamper the growth of the processing bacteria. I’m not sure why it happens but all we need to know is it does.

2. Monitoring the ammonia level over the next few days

Initially it’s probably going to take a few days to a week for your ammonia processing bacteria to kick in and start eating up the ammonia. What I’d advise doing is leave the tank alone for three days and then take a reading.

What you are looking for here is a drop in the ammonia level and an accompanying rise in the Nitrite level.

Remember this can take a week or so to start happening so don’t panic if after 3 days ammonia is still sitting at 5ppm. If after a week ammonia hasn’t budged there might be something prohibiting bacteria growth.

Here’s a brief checklist:

• Did you fill the tank with treated water?
• Is the filter running?
• Is your ammonia source absolutely free of chemicals and soaps? A quick check is to shake up the bottle, if it bubbles at all then it’s no good and you’ll have to start again with a different ammonia source. Note large clear bubbles that quickly disappear when you stop shaking should be ok.

3. Topping up your ammonia and watching for a nitrite spike

As ammonia is processed you want to top it up again. Initially it will take a few days for Ammonia to drop to 0-1 but after a while your ammonia consuming bacteria should be able to process 5ppm daily.

To start with though I’d wait for it to gradually hit 1ppm and then top back up to 5. Eventually your ammonia will be dropping to 0 daily and you’ll be topping up to 5ppm but this is towards the end of the cycle.

In addition to ammonia being processed you’ll also notice your nitrITEs start to spike. This is because nitrite is the by product of your ammonia consuming bacteria. It spikes intially because the nitrite eating bacteria needs a little while to establish themselves.

4. Watching Nitrite drop and the production of Nitrates

The production of nitrATEs signals you are almost done cycling your tank and should co-incide with a reduction of nitrites in your tank. At this stage don’t worry about what level the nitrates get to too much. If you’ve got plants they’ll love the extra food but insanely high levels (100+) aren’t going to hurt the bacteria we’re cultivating.

5. Knowing when your tank has finished cycling

Eventually your tank will be able to process 5ppm of ammonia daily, have a 0 nitrite reading, a high level of nitrates and possibly insane algae/plant growth!

Congratulations, at this point your tank has finished cycling.

6. Adding fish

It’s important to keep feeding your bacteria until you’re ready to add fish to your tank. For example if your tank finishes cycling during the week but you aren’t going to go buy some fish till the weekend, don’t starve your bacteria by not feeding them as they will die off and you could undo your cycle.

On the day you’re buying fish be sure to empty out the fish tank and fill it with clean water. Scrub any algae that has accumulated (most likely brown diatoms) inside the tank or on the glass and perhaps give the filter a quick clean. Your filter shouldn’t be too dirty given it has been processing liquid waste only but it doesn’t hurt to check if it needs a going over.

Once this is done fill the tank with nice clean treated water and go buy your fish. The good news is because you’ve been adding 5ppm of ammonia daily, you’re pretty much right to add the total number of fish you plan to keep without worrying about a mini cycle occurring.

A mini cycle occurs when your bioload increases suddenly and your existing bacteria have to multiple to keep up resulting in a possible small ammonia and nitrite spike.

When adding your fish be sure not to overstock your tank as this will lead to poor water quality even if you’re tank has cycled. If your bioload exceeds your filters capability then your water is going to get toxic fast.

Some additional notes


If your cycle stalls suddenly

If your cycle inexplicably stalls at any point one thing to check is the ph. Bacteria processing waste eats into the carbonate hardness of water and if this hardness level gets too low the ph can crash and then stall your bacteria.

I went a week with my cycle suddenly stalling before hitting the internet for answers.

If the ph has dropped to <6 add some baking soda to bring the kh back up and stabilise the ph again. If your tap water is prone to ph crashing and is soft (lack of kh) then it’s worth adding a stocking of crushed coral or crushed oyster shell to one of your filter compartments.

This will automatically regulate the kh (the shells will dissolve slowly as needed) and works far better then any commercial ph stabiliser.


Clear ammonia isn’t available in my country!

Living in Australia this was a problem for me as pure ammonia wasn’t commercially available. I did manage to track down one chemical supplier who wanted to sell me 1 litre for $25 but knowing that a bottle of ammonia sold in the US was a few bucks I politely declined.

Luckily you can still use the fishless cycle if ammonia isn’t available in your country. To produce ammonia simply purchase 2-3 raw prawns and tie them up into a stocking and place the stocking inside your tank.

Note when buying the prawns and stocking you might want to bring a female friend along. I felt like the biggest pervert walking around Coles carrying the cheapest pair of stockings I could find and a deli package of 3 prawns. More so when I rocked up to the register to pay.

‘Hi these are for my fish tank.’

‘…suuuuure they are.’

After a few days the prawns will start to rot (and smell a little) and the stocking will get covered in white fungus crap. This will eventually start to produce ammonia and start the cycle off. It’s a bit more imprecise then the clear ammonia method but should produce more then enough ammonia to complete a fishless cycle.

What happens over the next few weeks is a natural biological process we call ‘fish tank cycling’. During the cycling process ammonia and nitrite levels rise to toxic levels and naturally occurring nitrifying bacteria establish themselves to begin processing these toxins.

During these weeks if goldfish are present in the tank they are exposed to these toxic levels and for many fish who are already not in their best shape coming straight from a fish store, the experience is too much and they die.

Avoiding goldfish deaths from the cycling process is quite easy to do and requires little more then some patience and a inexpensive water test kit, which you should stock anyway for the long term health of your goldfish tank.

What is ammonia?

Ammonia is the byproduct of fish waste. Goldfish (and all other types of fish) release ammonia into the water through biological release. There’s no way to stop them doing it so in the aquarium hobby we have to manage ammonia levels and bring them down to 0.

Ammonia even in small concentrations is toxic to fish and can often lead to ammonia burn which presents as areas of black on the fish. Obviously not to be confused with your goldfish’s natural coloring.

What is nitrITE?

Naturally occuring bacteria will eventually establish themselves in your aquarium and start to process the ammonia your fish are producing. They feed off this waste and convert it into nitrite.

Unfortunately nitrite is even more toxic to goldfish then ammonia and also needs to be managed in our aquariums and kept at a 0 level.

What is nitrATE?

Nitrate (not to be confused with nitrITE) is the end result of a toxin conversion process in your tank that occurs naturally. A second set of bacteria will also establish themselves and feed off the nitrite produced by the first set of bacteria processing the ammonia. The end result is nitrATE and thankfully it’s nowhere near as toxic to goldfish as the first two toxins.

If left unchecked though it can be harmful to your goldfish. Usually goldfish keepers remove nitrate with regular water changes or by keeping plants which then naturally convert nitrate into plant matter.

So what does cycling my tank have to do with any of this?

Cycling your goldfish tank is to allow these natural bacteria to colonise your filter and grow large enough to process the waste your goldfish will be outputting. When you start up a tank no bacteria is present and it can take a month to two months for the bacteria to establish themselves.

If you add your goldfish from the start your essentially exposing them firstly to toxic levels of ammonia until the ammonia bacteria get it under control, and then again to toxic levels of nitrite until the nitrite feeding bacteria colony grows large enough.

This is a huge unnecessary risk to your goldfish and even if it survives the effects can be permanent and your fish might not live as long as it might have.

Thankfully as I mentioned at the start of this article cycling your goldfish tank before adding any actual live fish is an easy and inexpensive process. Next weekend I plan to cover the fishless cycle; how to do it, what you need and roughly what you can expect from the experience.

It’s also important to acknowledge that a lot of people don’t realise what cycling a tank is until they’ve already set everything up and bought fish. For this reason I’ll also cover what to do if you’re unavoidably caught in a cycle with your goldfish sometime over the next few weekends.

For many of us taking a goldfish to a vet to be put down isn’t an option and often it’s more of an emotional struggle to watch your goldfish slowly deteriorate then it is to put it down.

Thankfully for just a few bucks there’s a painless and humane method to say goodbye to your fishy friend.

To kill your goldfish guaranteeing no pain or further suffering to it you will need the following;

• A bucket or small container
• Clove oil
• A jar or similar sealable container to mix clove oil in (100-150ml)
• A timer or stopwatch


Fill the bucket or small container with one gallon (3.84 litres) or less of either dechlorinated tap water or old tank water and place your sick goldfish into it.

Measure out one teaspoon of clove oil and mix it with a small amount of water in your mixing container. Shake well until the water goes white and the clove oil has dissolved. Clove oil isn’t the most water soluble oil so it might take a bit of shaking but eventually it will mix.

Once mixed then pour this solution into the bucket or container containing your goldfish and after a few minutes it should stop breathing (gill movement). Once you have observed a period of ten minutes between gill movement you can then remove your goldfish from the solution and bury/dispose however you wish.

Please don’t flush the goldfish down the toilet to dispose of the body as it can pollute the local water system or get stuck in your plumbing which won’t be much fun to repair. Instead either bury it outside or seal it in a plastic bag and throw it out into your outside rubbish bin.

Where to get clove oil?

Clove oil (or oil of clove) is readily available from most pharmacies or chemists. Here in Australia I couldn’t find any in the local supermarket but it was available from the local chemist for a few dollars; it’s also available online.

How not to kill your goldfish

There is a ton of conflicting information on the internet about how to euthanize goldfish, here are some of the common methods floating around and why not to use them.


1. The freezer

Whilst it is true goldfish are cold blooded animals and if the temperature drops low enough they become biologically dormant and shut down, there will be a very painful period as this happens for your fish.

Ice crystals will begin to form in the tissue and blood as the temperature drops which as you can imagine will be quite painful for your goldfish before its body shuts down and it dies.


2. Stamping on it’s head / hitting it with a hammer

These options obviously have the ability to kill your goldfish instantly but there’s no guarantee they will. Can you live with yourself knowing you might not kill your goldfish first go or if you are slightly off target?

Think of the pain you’ll cause.


3. Cutting a goldfish’s spine just behind the head

I understand this is widely done in the fish for consumption trade and if you’ve got the nerves to do it then by all means but personally I could never do this to a living animal let alone one of my pets.

I’ll happily cut up meats for dinner to cook but something about cutting the spine of one of my pets doesn’t sit right mentally with me given the cheap painless alternative.


4. Flushing it down the toilet alive

Out of sight out of mind? Probably but spare a moment to think of the excruciating pain your goldfish is going to go through as it’s exposed to non-treated chlorine filled water. Human waste contains ammonia so the longer your fish survives the worse it’s going to get. If your toilet has a refresher detergent tablet then it’s going to be even more painful for your goldfish as detergents are natually poison to them.

Dying from suffocation because your gills are being chemically burnt is no way for any living animal to die.


5. Just take it out of water

Have you ever tried to hold your breath under water until your lungs feel like they’re going to burst? This is essentially what you’re putting your goldfish through.

Goldfish can extract a tiny amount of oxygen from the air to keep themselves alive for a short time but eventually will die from suffocation. Suffocation is an extremely painful way to die.


6. Dumping your goldfish in a public pond

Outside water is full of parasites, bacteria and chemicals. Dumping your goldfish who’s lived most of their life in a healthy aquarium into a pond is guaranteeing it a disease riddled painful death. That’s if the local wildlife don’t get to it first.

Unless you know the person who owns the pond and it is specifically set up for goldfish, please don’t just pick a random pond to dump your goldfish into.

Do the right thing

Given the ready availability and cheapness of clove oil and the minimal time it takes to put down your goldfish humanely there isn’t really any excuse to use any of the above methods.

Whether your a parent having to deal with a sick family friend or a goldfish keeper who’s at their wits end after trying everything to imrpove the health of a sick goldfish, please do the right thing and put your goldfish down properly and painlessly.

When choosing a goldfish aquarium lighting system the biggest deciding factor is whether you wish to keep plants in the tank with the goldfish.

If the answer is no, then the most cost effective route is to stick with standard T-8 fluorescent fixtures and globes. These are the same ones you see lighting office buildings and stores. They are dirt cheap and provide adequate light to observe your goldfish.

You can buy these pretty cheap from any hardware store such as Bunnings.

If you want to keep plants in your goldfish aquarium however, you’ll need to explore either t-5HO, compact fluorescent or metal halide lighting.

T5HO

T5HO (the HO stands for high output) is probably the most readily available and is simply a thinner brighter version of the cheaper t8 tubes. They require their own fixtures and produce a high intensity of light per watt.

Don’t do what I did and stare at the tube when you first turn them on… unless you like being blinded for five minutes or so.

t5HO bulbs are apparently water resistant and come with special splash resistant covers for the ends of the tubes. Personally I don’t trust lights and water so I always run my cover glass between the fixtures and the water.

For maximum efficiency you are supposed to change the bulbs every 6-12 months but unless it’s noticeably dimmer or you are running a co2 high tech setup I wouldn’t bother unless the bulb blows.

Compact Fluorescent

Compact fluorescent lighting is essentially a t5 tube but bent into a curved shape so as to save space. Think of them as a bigger version of the compact fluroescent light globes you can buy for your home fixtures.

Compact fluorescent tubes can be a little bit harder to find stock of, for example I was unable to find tubes locally for a t5 compact fluorescent fixture even at hardware stores. I did however eventually find an Australian dealer online who had stock but by that time I’d moved on to a t5HO setup.

The tubes are also available to fit different fixtures, there is a square fitting (square pin) and a round rectangle fitting (straight pin), so make sure you buy the appropriate tubes for your particular fixture.

If you can find the tubes though they are slightly cheaper then a t5HO setup although the tubes have a noticeably shorter life span.

Compact fluorescent fixtures generally come with a splash proof piece of perspex at the bottom of the fixture to protect the globes. This is important to check for though if you are buying a non-aquarium specific fixture.

It is also worth nothing that for smaller tanks a standard household lamp fitting can be used provided adequate wattage is applied to the tank size. This can be a very cheap DIY option for people with smaller tanks.

Metal Halide

Metal Halide isn’t something I’d personally worry about in a goldfish tank. The initial outlay is a lot, the light intensity is massive overkill and the bulbs are expensive and have comparatively short lifespans.

Not to mention that the bulbs don’t like water and have a tendency to explode from precipitation!

Personally I run two Hagen T5HO fixtures, a single and a double with 2 Life-GLO t5ho tubes total. Originally I had two in the twin unit but decided it was too much light and was promoting algae growth so I dropped down to 2.

Lighting fixtures

Whichever lighting system you decide to go for, the lighting system should be solid and non-corrosive. Even behind a perspex cover as well as your tank cover glass water is going to find it’s way into the lighting system and the last thing you want is a nasty rusty looking fixture.

Construction of the fixture should be sturdy with enough room for ventilation of heat produced by the tube. You don’t need heaps of space but so long as the tube isn’t ridiculously close to the reflector inside the fixture you should be right.

One final thing to look for is the inclusion of a splash proof cover along the bottom. This helps in maintaining the lighting tubes and is a safeguard against accidentally splashing a bit of water on the unit.

A guard is particularly important if you run an airpump with an airstone or bubblewand as the bubbles pop at the surface and splash water everywhere. You’d be quite surprised at how high splashes get from even the tiniest of bubbles.

Normal tank cover glass can be sufficient if your fixture does not have a splash cover but do make sure water isn’t splashing up from the edges of the cover glass.

Watts per gallon/litre

If you want to keep plants I’d advise to stick with low tech when it comes to goldfish. What this means is you should aim from anywhere from 0.25/1 watts per litre/gallon (wpl/wpg) to 0.5/2 wpl/wpg. 0.5/2 wpl/wpg is on the upper scale of low tech and should be suitable for moderate to high light plants, 0.25/1 wpl/wpg is fine for low light plants.

To work out the wpl of a lighting system for your tank, simply divide the total watt output of the lighting system by the litre or gallon  volume of your tank.

If plants aren’t your thing then your free to decide aesthetically the level of light you wish to have in your tank. Light isn’t essential for goldfish and they won’t mind either way so don’t be afraid to go with ambient shades if that’s your thing.

When deciding on non-planted tank lighting, be aware that t5HO and compact fluorescent tubes are much more penetrating then t8 tubes. Whilst the cheapness of t8 might be appealing you might find you need to buy several additional tubes to match the same intensity you’d get from much fewer t5HO or compact fluorescent tubes.

Having run both I wholeheartedly believe the extra outlay of a t5HO system is worth it in the long term.

Lighting timers

Any goldfish lighting system should be run on a timer. Light timers can be expensive from supermarkets but they are pretty dirt cheap at hardware stores such as Bunnings. I bought two $5 cheapies about a year ago and both of mine are silent and still going strong. The only noise they make is a click when the lights go on or off.

One thing to remember with timers is that if there’s a power out they lose their ‘clock’ and might need to be readjusted to the correct time. This just involves rotating the dial till it’s at the correct time and only takes a few seconds.

Digital timers are available but in my opinion the price difference isn’t worth it.

Lighting duration

Once you’ve got a light timer the next question is how to long to leave the lights on for. Again the answer is determined on whether or not you choose to keep live plants in your goldfish tank.

Without live plants you can leave the lights off until the evening so that you can still view the fish at night. If you are home during the day there’s nothing wrong with having the lights on either as well as into the evening.

Do allow the goldfish enough time to sleep though as they do benefit from 6-8 hours of complete darkness like the rest of us!

If you are running plants a good starting point is 10-12 hours per day. If algae shows to be a problem you can reduce the hours and reduce the lighting intensity (wpg/lpg) accordingly.

I work during the day and don’t need to see the fish in the morning so I set my light timer to come on at 12pm midday and turn off at 10pm at night. That way when I get home I can enjoy the goldfish all evening and they wind up going to bed roughly the same time I do.


That’s pretty much all there is to lighting a goldfish tank. There are a few options available to cater to almost any budget and a wide range of customisation that can be done to suit your needs from lighting intensity to the spectrum of the lighting tubes.

The most important factor is matching your lighting system to your tanks needs. This took me a few months to get right so don’t be too discouraged if you find it frustrating at times, especially if you’re trying to keep plants alive! Remember that any changes you make might take a few weeks for any changes to become apparent which can also be a tad frustrating.

Once you’ve got it right though lighting is pretty much a maintenance free ‘set and forget’ component of your goldfish aquarium and a pretty important one at that. I mean who doesn’t want to stare at their beautiful goldfish all day long?

Each has various advantages and disadvantages with the final decision resting primarily on the aesthetic you are going for. Here’s the main points for you to consider when making the decision to go barebottom or gravel:

Barebottom

by DebG

• Much easier to clean
• Slightly more swimming room for the fish
• Less bacteria colonised inside the tank without a substrate to live on
• Natural behaviour of goldfish to root around in the gravel all day isn’t observable (unless you use gravel in pots)
• Effective way to reduce dissolved organic compounds (responsible for yellow water) as there’s no debris caught in gravel
• Plants must be kept in pots and like indoor terrestrial plants are restricted in root growth.
• Algae breakouts more noticeable due to increased exposed glass areas

Substrate

by cjdevesa

• cleaning requires gravel vacuum
• bacteria able to colonise the gravel and offer additional filtration
• potential build up of debris and build up of dissolved organic compounds unless gravel itself is regularly cleaned
• ability to keep plants without pots
• goldfish able to keep themselves entertained sifting through gravel all day
• if gravel too small potential for goldfish to choke or get gravel stuck in their mouths
• if not cleaned algae can set in and take over gravel feeding on debris build up
• if sand is used as gravel potential for air pockets to develop and release harmful toxins upon escaping the substrate
• variety of colours available offer ability to customise the look of your tank


As you can see there are pros and cons of both systems and at the end of the day I really think it comes down to personal preference.

I have only ever run substrate tanks with gravel as I find the bare bottom setup a bit sterile and ‘modern’ for my tastes. I like the jungle look with lots of plants and even though you can do plants in pots with barebottom, I find it’s much easier with a gravel/soil substrate.

Colour wise I favour darker gravel (black to dark grey). Having used white before I find that it reflects light too much which washes out the fish colours and tinges the water ever so yellow.

With a regular cleaning schedule though either option can be made to look great and provide a safe and healthy environment for your goldfish. The hardest part is deciding which setup to go with!

Airpumps with an attached airstone or bubblewand aren’t a necessity and your goldfish can usually do perfectly fine without them but there are various advantages in having one in your setup.

In goldfish tanks airpumps are primarily used to drive airstones or bubble walls. These serve two purposes, primarily they provide oxygen to the tank by helping with gas exchange at the surface, secondary there is the aesthetic appeal of having a bubble wall or stream of bubbles in your tank.

Before I decided to concentrate on a Walstad tank I ran an air pump attached a bubble wand.

If you plan to run plants in your tank it’s important to note that an airstone or wand will encourage the release of co2 from your water which can potentially starve plants. Some people seem to be able to run an airstone alongside plants, I unfortunately never seemed to be able to get it to work.

A bubble wand is basically a strip of porous material which creates a wall of bubbles in the tank when air is passed through it. The effect was wonderful but I was having trouble sleeping at night with the noise of the bubble wall.

I switched the wall with some airstones and found it much more comfortable and I was still able to enjoy streams of bubbles in the tank. Airstones come in a variety of sizes, are considerably quieter then a bubble wand and should only set you back a couple of dollars.

They do clog after a while so every few months you can either replace them or take them out boil them for a bit in some water and then gently brush them with an old toothbrush.

Airpumps can be noisy so if you’re not buying online definately see if they’ll let you hear the pump first. I have an Aquaclear pump and on it’s lowest setting it is tolerable but if I had to buy another one i’d probably get something quieter.

One way around an annoying pump is to run extra long air lines and place the pump out of sight in another room in a foam box or something similar. Be careful not to place it in a completely airtight container though as obviously these pumps need to be able to suck air to work.

Ideally you want the pump to be situated above the tank water level so that if the power cuts or the pump malfunctions water will not syphon back into the airline and wind up destroying the unit or leaking all over your floor.

You can buy check valves to stop this happening for $1 or so. A checkvalve is just a one way valve which stops water backflow in the case of pump failure or a blackout.

I always had trouble with the idea that the only thing stopping lounge room from becoming a swimming pool was a 75cent bit of plastic so I ran my pump above the tank.

There hasn’t been much of a change this past month in the tank. I’m putting that down to nutrient output being balanced with plant uptake for most of the month, at least as far as Nitrates go.

I did a water test yesterday and got a reading of <5 Nitrates, 7.6ph and 12deg of kh which I'm happy with.

Now that the plants have settled my focus is on the algae that has colonised the tank in dribs and drabs. I've got green algae attacking the plants and black beard algae in random patches on the gravel bed.

A week or so back I took out one of the t5 55w HO tubes from the twin reflector that I use at the back of the tank, this dropped my watts per gallon from 2.5 down to 1.6 which I'm hoping is enough to keep everything happy and lower my algae a bit.

I did have a sad start to the month losing Tiger. I went on holiday for four days and when I came back she had a small white fungus spot on her.


All of the other fish were fine so I took her out and placed her in a hospital tank for a week treating her with quick cure. At the end of the week the week the fungus was all gone so I put her back into the main tank.

She was fine for 3 days and then began to bottom sit and was dead within 24 hours. Given that the fungus cleared and didn’t come back I’m assuming the recovery was too much for her or something else might have been happening internally.

It was slightly depressing seeing as I’d had her for a while now and she was the biggest goldfish I had with the longest tail. She’s been perfectly healthy since I got her and then goes and gets sick as soon as I go on holidays.

I’ll miss watching her eat my plants.

Patch has also developed a bit of what I think is swim bladder disease (ie. it’s not working). He’s always been an extremely weak swimmer since I got him and he balances a lot on his head. Now he can’t seem to control his floating properly and spends most of his time near the gravel where he can balance himself better.

He’s eating fine and still swims about so I’m not too concerned at this stage.

I got two new goldfish mid May and had them sitting in quarantine. I have just recently added them to the tank and they seem to bet getting along with everyone. A jet black moor and a orange/white oranda. I’ve wanted an oranda for a while now and couldn’t resist this one’s big mouth.

I also got two albino bristlenose plecos to help the other two brown ones in the tank eat away some of the algae.

I won’t be doing any pruning on the tank this month, here’s what it looks like currently:

In this cleaning guide I use a Fluval 305 but the principles can be applied to cleaning any canister filter.

1. Things you will need

Here’s a brief list of what you will need to clean out a canister filter:

• old toothbrush
• clear workspace with a sink (the laundry or bathroom are ideal choices)
• a bucket
• a syphon
• an old sock
• a rubber band or some string
• small tub of vaseline


2. Getting the filter to the workspace

If your filter allows for it block off the hoses to maintain water vacuum in the hoses. For the Fluval series of canister filters this is achieved by pulling up the black lever on the hose attachment.

If your filter does not have this capability you might need to withdraw the filter intake from the tank otherwise your intake will draw water upon disconnection from the canister unit.

Once the hose is blocked off or the intake has been removed from the tank it is then safe to turn off power to the canister unit. Once this is done disconnect the hoses (or hose unit if you’re using a Fluval) from the unit and carry the filter to the workspace.


3. Cleaning the mechanical media

Once at the workspace open up the filter (for Fluvals this is lifting the two light grey clamps on either side of the unit) and  have a look inside, it should look gunky like this:


First we will clean the mechanical media as it is easily the most dirty component of a canister filter. With the Fluval models mechanical media is attached to a tray unit. To access the media simply lift the unit as shown below:


Most manuals and fish shops recommend throwing out this media and replacing it with new media, the reason for this is money is made when you are continually buying new media. We don’t throw out kitchen sponges after one use and mechanical media is the same.

It is IMPORTANT to NEVER use TAP WATER to clean canister components as chlorine/chloramine in the tap water will wipe out your biological bacteria and render your filter temporarily useless upon reconnection.

Using your syphon fill a bucket with tank water from the aquarium and use this to rinse off the mechanical media. The bucket water will get dirty fast so use additional tank water as required, I find a bucket of water per 2 sponges is usually sufficient.

Sponges are fairly tough so make sure you clean them thoroughly. You can’t really beat the good ol’ wring it in water till it’s clean technique so I advise to just keep doing this until the sponge is clean.

Below you can see a clean sponge held up against a dirty one. A flash was used the but the dirty sponge is so dirty it still appears black.


Once all mechanical media is cleaned set it aside.


4. Rinse out the biological media (optional)

In the Fluval 05 filters with the stock mechanical media I find the biological filter baskets do get a decent amount of crud in them.

To clean them out I gently rinse them by moving the basket up and down a few times in a bucket of tank water. I use the same bucket of water for all three stacks of baskets. Once rinsed simply set aside the biological media.

If your biological media looks relatively clean and/or you don’t want to disturb it then this step can be skipped.


5. Clean the filter housing

Empty out the gunk water from inside the canister housing and give it a bit of a scrub with your fingers. It is ok for the inside of the housing to feel slimy but remove any solid build up.


6. Cleaning the propeller unit


The propeller unit can be prone to heavy clogging because water flow is at its strongest here. On most canister filters the propeller area can be a bit fiddly to clean so this is where the old toothbrush comes in handy.

If you’re using the bathroom as a workspace make sure you use an old toothbrush and not a current one, that’s a mistake you only make once!

Be especially gentle with the propeller spindle/shaft as they are prone to breaking and are usually relatively expensive to replace for what is essentially a ceramic rod.


7. Put it all back together

Once everything is clean and reassembled it should look something like this:


Nice and clean!

Before attaching the propeller unit be sure to line the rubber seal with a liberal amount of vaseline. This prolongs the life of the seal and stops it from getting brittle over time.

I strongly advise keeping a dedicated small tub of vaseline for this purpose and not just raiding the bathroom cabinet!

After it’s all assembled carry the filter unit back to the tank.


8. Restarting the filter

Before restarting the filter I advise grabbing the old sock (make sure it has been rinsed in normal water and is thoroughly free of detergent or other possible contaminants) and tying it around the filter output as shown on the right.

When the hoses are left for a while without a constant water flow through them gunk starts to fall off the insides and if not caught in an old sock will make your tank look horrible for a few hours upon filter restart.

With the sock over the output it’s now time to prime the filter. For the Fluvals this is simply a matter of clipping the hose unit back onto the top of the filter and then pushing the black lever down. You might have to pump the manual primer a few times to get it going and then water should flow until the canister is full.

For other brands the concept is the same, reconnect the hoses and prime the unit till it is full of water.

Once water stops flowing into the unit it’s time to turn the filter back on. Plug in the unit and watch the outflow, water should start pouring from the sock otherwise you might have to try a few plug/unplugs till it gets going.

One trick I’ve learnt with the Fluvals is that if you pump the primer heavily a few times and plug in the unit whilst doing this it gets it going pretty easily.

Let the flow run for a few minutes and then carefully remove the sock from the output hose being careful not to let the gunk captured escape into the tank.

All done! How easy was that.


A common perception is that goldfish are coldwater fish and therefore do not require a heater. Whilst this is true of the common single tail variety, fancy goldfish do better if the tank is maintained at around 22deg C (72deg F).

The purpose of a heater in a goldfish tank isn’t so much as to heat the water up but to ensure it stays above 22c and doesn’t wildly fluctuate in temperature. This is especially important over winter nights when air temperatures can reach bitter cold before warming up again during the day.


Heater Strength

When choosing a heater strength take into consideration how cold it will get where the tank is being housed. It might be 10 degrees outside in the middle of winter but if you’ve got heating in the house keeping the air at 20deg, then you don’t go overboard in heating your tank.

If you intend to keep a large tank often it’s advisable to keep two smaller heaters then one larger one in case of failure. My house is relatively well insulted and I find there isn’t much of a temperature swing so I only use one heater. Should I ever move to a not so well insulated house though I’ll definitely be purchasing a backup heater in case of failure.

The more your air temperature swings during the day and night the more critical heating your goldfish tank becomes to maintain a steady temperature.


Where to place an aquarium heater

Generally speaking the wattage you choose will dictate heater placement, as watts increase with the units so does length. Universally heaters tend to be mounted on the back walls of tanks and can be hidden behind plants, driftwood or ornaments.

The best placement for a heater I’ve found is either near the intake of your filter or near the output nozzle. The reason for this being that it ensures the best water movement of the heated water and results in greater temperature consistency around the tank.

A Fluval Tronic heater cover

If you’re still concerned about your goldfish potentially getting stuck behind a heater you can also buy heater guards for most models. I know that Fluval’s Triptronic range have a set of corresponding heater covers (sadly at an additional price) and I’m sure most other manufactures have options available.


Running Cost

A lot of people assume that an aquarium heater is always on and therefore consumes a huge amount of power of time. This is not true.

Like an air heater, a fish tank heater is not always on, it stays off until the water drops below a preset temperature on the unit. Once this temperature threshold is triggered the heater turns on and warms the temperature to this set unit and then shuts off again.

Aquarium heaters vary in power from 25w to 300w+. Three things to consider about the cost of running an aquarium heater are:

1. Most household electric heaters are in the vicinity of 2000w and are required to heat up and regulate much larger air spaces then an aquarium. An aquarium heater is usually around 1/10th the capacity of this and is in a much smaller environment.

2. Water holds heat twenty four times better then air, so heating efficiency is greatly increased in an aquarium environment.


Monitoring your temperature

An in-tank thermometer makes for a great inexpensive fail check to ensure your heater isn’t broken. I have one discreetly tucked away behind my output hose on the side of the tank so I can glance at it as I walk past.

With glass sealed thermometer units costing only a couple of dollars I don’t see the point in going the digital LCD route which will need batteries replaced every so often but the choice is yours, either will do a good job reporting the temp.


Heater help when treating goldfish for sickness

A temperature of around 25 deg C (78deg F) is ideal when treating goldfish of many sicknesses. At this temperature their immune systems are at their peak and the life cycle of a lot of nasties are sped up ensuring faster kill time when medication is being used.


Conclusion

Heaters certainly aren’t required for a goldfish tank but do make a difference to their comfort levels in regulating water swings. Whilst it is true that single tail goldfish are a coldwater species their fancier cousins do not occur naturally in nature, are generally weaker and benefit from a warmer temperature.

Personally I use a Fluval Tronic 300W on my 255L Walstad tank and have had no dramas whatsoever.  You do pay a premium for the Fluval heaters but similarly to heating a house I believe money spent on a good heater is money well spent.

There are cheaper options on ebay but they can be prone to dodgy thermostats that lock in the ON position and will heat up the water until you notice it’s stuck on. Obviously this isn’t good for the goldfish. In addition to this because they are completely submersible cheaper parts can also leak current into the water which is obviously not going to benefit your tanks inhabitants.

Heaters aren’t serviceable so personally I think it’s better to buy a branded one and resist the ebay $10 jobs from Hong Kong.

...time for a prune!


Pruning plants is a necessity in the Walstad tank but the need to prune does decrease in frequency as time goes on. Initially a Walstad tank contains an abundance of nutrients in the water. This happens primarily because plants take a while to establish themselves and match their rate of growth to the level of nutrients being produced in the tank.

The combination of excess nutrients being leeched from the soil, the decomposition of organic matter in the tank and plants having not established themselves will usually translate into a Nitrate spike early on in the tank’s life. I was reading 20 Nitrates by day 12 despite vigorous  plant growth and from memory it peaked about 2 weeks later at 30 or so, after which it slowly began to drop till I was reading less then 10 a month after setting up the tank.

In these early stages it is important to prune your plants to encourage new growth to continue to soak up excess nutrients. If you don’t prune, plants can hit roadblocks space wise and with excess nutrients in the water this is when algae can take over and bloom.

When pruning your plants in the early stages it is important to be ruthless. Think of plant pruning as taking a number 1 clipper to someone’s dreadlocks.

The photo on the right illustrates just how much plant matter I removed earlier this month. To give you an idea on just how much you can prune, the glass on the right is 2 foot long by 3/4 foot wide. As you can see I had no reservations about just how much plant matter I wanted out of the tank.

Don’t worry if your tank looks a little bare afterwards, that’s kind of the idea. Over time your plants will grow back and before long it will be time to prune again.

Here’s what my tank looked like after the pruning session, for comparison the photo at the beggining of this entry shows what it looked like pre-pruning.


To prune your tank all you need is a sturdy hand and a sharp pair of scissors. I suggest keeping a set of scissors specifically for pruning your fish tank to avoid possible contamination. I don’t suggest gardening clippers as usually the plants we are pruning inside the tank require fine trimming and a curved clippers can be bulky to use.

For stem plants I recommend pruning them so that there’s still plenty of leaves left on the original stem. If you wish to propagate the plant you can replant the trimmed stems as I have done with some of my Ludwigia plants in the left background.

Plants with singular leaves, such as the Corkscrew Vallisneria (rear right) can be trimmed about an inch or more below the water level. They look best I find when trimmed at a diagonal as you still get somewhat of a natural look.

Bushy plants like the green Wisteria (centre/right rear) can be trimmed slowly bit by bit from the outer areas until you are happy with how it looks. I tend to trim mine so that it looks like treetops.

I wouldn’t bother trimming foreground plants unless you are trying to propagate them.You shouldn’t really have any tall growing plants in the foreground unless you are aiming for a specific aquascape design.

Over time as the excess nutrient level is balanced and your plants adjust to the output of nutrients your tank produces you will find vigorous plant growth will ease and pruning times will become less frequent. I had to prune every few weeks initially but now I am probably looking at 2 months or so between prunings.

Pruning isn’t the most fun job in the world but it is nice to have that ‘clean’ tank feeling again and it does have the tank environment benefit of deterring algae. I spend a good 20-30 minutes pruning usually and can only imagine how much time those enthusiasts with co2 powered aquascaped tanks must spend grooming their tanks.

Anyway try to enjoy it and afterwards make sure you sit back and take some time to visually appreciate your efforts! Your fish will also thank you for the extra bit of swimming space.