Downsizing

Except for one year—1993—I've owned a freshwater aquarium in one form or another since I was a child. About three weeks ago I made a decision that I had been questioning up until last night. No, I didn't get rid of my tank altogether; I downsized from a 29-gallon to a 17.

This 17-gallon, all-glass tank which had a built-in filtration system in the back had captured my eye on my last trip to The Ocean Floor.  Faced with an upcoming semi-annual "big clean" teardown of my existing tank, I decided it was time to pull the plug and downsize.

The moment I got it home, I had buyer's remorse. I hadn't realized exactly how much smaller it was. Still, I was determined to make it work. My old all glass 29-gallon tank was just getting too damn heavy to haul outside every six months to clean. (I could've gone with a new acrylic tank of the same size and a fraction of the weight—which I've owned in the past with great success—but the front of the acrylics always end up bowing out after a few years and they scratch so damn easily.)

After getting the 17 set up and the few remaining fish I had transferred into it, I knew I'd made a grave mistake. The 4-year-old red tail shark that I had raised from a tiny 2-inch juvenile to a 5-inch behemoth was definitely unhappy in the new surroundings.

After stewing over this for a week, I decided that if I wanted to keep the tank (and frankly there was no returning it at this point) I needed to let go of the shark. I transferred him into a big plastic bag and took him back to the Ocean Floor (where I'd purchased him initially), knowing that even if they didn't give me any money for the beast, at least he would end up going to a good home.

Turns out that once they saw him, I did get a store credit, which allowed me to buy a few smaller fish that are quite happy in these surroundings. The only problem remaining was that the water had gotten kind of cloudy and the tank was growing brown algae like crazy. A few days ago I decided what  I needed to do was tear the tank down, install the under-gravel filter from my old tank, and start fresh. (It had been my experience over the years that either an under-gravel or an external filter didn't work well enough on their own, but in combination guaranteed crystal clear water.)

I was not looking forward to this, despite the tank's much smaller size.

While I was out a few days ago getting anti-algae solution, I picked up a box of carbon filter media and when I got home threw one of the packs in the rear filter, hoping this would at least help somewhat with the water issue. To be honest I wasn't expecting much.

But then something happened. I don't know if it was the added filter pack or if the tank's nitrogen cycle finally kicked in, but since yesterday morning the water (even without an under-gravel filter) has been crystal clear. I'm taking a wait and see approach at this point, hoping that no further intervention will be required beyond normal maintenance until I do the "big" clean six months from now.