Changing gravel while cycling

[kb46]

I've discovered it is my gravel raising my ph - grrrr.... sizzles away a beauty with some vinegar on it.
I can just remove the gravel from the fishless cycling tank. I only added ammonia today so it won't set anything back.

The other tank has 3 guppies in it and I have remove about half the gravel. It should be easy enough to do as the finest gravel is the inert stuff so it is just a matter of sifting. But... fish don't like rapid ph changes and I will lose precious bacteria in the process.

So, should I remove the bigger pebbles in stages? Say four steps? And over what time period - a week, 2 weeks?

Kylie

[Mgamer20o0]

yes switch it out. the sooner the better. if you just added ammonia today you really dont have most to lose.

[kb46]

Its the tank that has the guppies in that I'm worried about. It has already been cycling for two weeks.
I think taking all the big gravel out and making 10% water changes every day or 2nd day would change the ph gradually enough but losing 50% of my gravel would put a big hole in my bacteria population.
How slowly can I change the gravel? (I don't know how high my ph is as my test kit goes to 7.6 max - the LFS doesn't test. Might check the hardware to see if I can get some litmus paper...)

[Mgamer20o0]

most of the bacteria lives in the filter. i have switched out gravel and never seen any mini cycle others have. talk half out wait a week and do the other half.

[kb46]

OK thanks