How to do a gravel switch without homicide.

branflake12

branflake12

yeah, thats right-purple ROPE
Sep 20, 2005
180
0
0
Iowa City
Ok, My 29G community needs a sprucing up. I have had it for 6 years now. WHen it was first set up, i had black gravel with bright red and green sprinkled through it and crazy colored plants. I was 14-crazy stuff was "in". fast forward. Now its all naturan stuff (minus the black and white rock which will leave, see pic). java moss and real looking plants, but that gravel is pretty darn far from nature. Ok.
So, i go buy decend grain sized .25" gravel (have some from the 7 i took down) of beautiful natural gravel and some real rocks i have sitting around. I know how to rinse and properly prepair it, but what is the easiest way to get it in the tank? the fish can rock the bucket for a little bit just fine im sure, but id guess a substantial part of my bio filter lies in those ugly rocks. I thre some filter floss in the back of my power HOB over 2 months ago just for this occaion. Its nice and ...bio colored. the filter carts. are well established too, and the plants and later rocks will all stay. SO~
Can i change the gravel without draining the tank? a 25-50% change is ok, ill maybe make room to work?
I was thinking just a square cup i have and start tossing it out untill the tank is bare(gonna suck i know) then add the new gravel (LFS gravel).
Couple ?'s- how deep is a gravel bed that is astetically nice but effective? THe junk is pricey, but how much do i need?
Anyone who has done this please chime in, Thanks,
Brandon



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Well, I just switched out some gravel from my 29 just Thursday evening. I setup a 10 gallon tank on the floor next to the 29. I filled the 10 with water from the 29 and put all the plants in and then the fish, filter and heater. I let the filter and heater run in the 10 while I drained the 29 and removed the gravel.

I was having a hair algae issue in the 29 so I scrubbed the tank down and removed EVERYTHING. The filter is a 170 bio-wheel and the substrate I added in is echo complete for planted tanks and has some biostuff in it to ease a cycle....so I'm not too concerned with the cycle issue being a problem, even though I took all the gravel out. I'll keep an eye on it though.

I suppose, what you could do is take some of the old gravel and put it in a nylon bag in the tank with the new stuff. Leave it in there for a good few weeks to give the new gravel a chance to grow some of it's own beneficial bacteria. When you feel it's been long enough and your tank's parameters are good, you can easily remove the nylon bag of gravel.
 
just think how neat it will be when you get the gravel you really like in there...!
Some folk do half a tank at a time so as not to freak out the fish.it is gonna stir up allot of crap. Then an inch to two is enough to anchor plants if you want. !1 good luck! how about a before and after photo?
 
The bag idea is stellar, ill do that for sure. The photo in the first post isnt great, it was just to show the color issue, ill take a good one before this all starts up. Keep the ideas rollin in (all i have is a bucket, no extra tanks or ways to filter said bucket)
 
Most of the bacteria is located in your filter setup.So you shouldn't need to worry about a cycle,throw the bag of gravel in if you'd feel safer,it can't hurt.

You said you can't filter the bucket? Why not just put the filter on the bucket?

As for how deep you should make it...Most people in this forum say about 3 inches,from posts I've read,some say to slope it from 4 inches in the back to 2 inches in the front.

Personally when i get my new tank up I plan on most of the plants to be along the back and sides with a ground cover in the front.My substrate will be 3/3.5 inches in back/sides and sloping down to 1.5/2 in the front.
 
No suggestions here, just had to say nice toliet Ice!!!
 
My power filter is a double waterfall and its a 3 gallon bucket, its too wide to even rest on the rim of the bucket without falling backwards (messy id guess).
I was just informed by email that my eclipse 3 hood finally shipped from petsmart, should i do the gravel before the filter/other way around?. is there a best way to set up a new filter like that?

The afforementioned filter floss has a healthy community on it, just sit some of that on the new (horizontal) filter cartridge maybe?
THanks again.
 
i agree with iceH20, if you have an old biofilter going then you can change all the gravel at once. and just boost your bacteria jus in case. that's all you need, but do know that your plants will loose some leeves before they adjust, or not. don't think that they are going to die if that appens, they will get back to normal as soon as they reroot. i have changed my gravel more than once in a last few years.
 
The other suggestions sound good and it looks like you are getting great advice from the experts here. I'm definitely no expert, but I would go buy a 10 gallon tank to use while doing the change. I think they are less than $10 and you could use it as a QT or hospital or fry tank when you get done with the gravel change.

bogey77
 
Yeah, definately go with a 10 gal as a spare tank.

The Eclipse will need to cycle to develop the good bacteria in the biowheel.

When you get the eclipse system and your old filter has a biowheel, see if that will fit the eclipse and use the established biowheel if possible. that will help ease the transition.
 
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