change the subtrate in a fishtank

naliel

naliel

AC Members
Apr 19, 2009
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Hey Guys,
I want to change the gravel in my 29 gl planted tank (java moss, java fern and look-like criptocoryne (not good with I.D's). I want to change it for sand. The tanks it's been running for almorst 6 months. I am a little worried that it would disrupt the biological filter and kill my fishes (6 cardinal tetra, 1 neon, 7 ottos, 5 guppys and 20(+/-) red cherry shrimps). Any suggestion on how to do this without killing them?
 
Move the fish to another tank, and work on the 29, just be sure to really wash the sand good and let it settle
 
Jerzboi said:
Move the fish to another tank, and work on the 29, just be sure to really wash the sand good and let it settle
Click to expand...
Like that simple?
Well, I know that I need to rise the sand, but nothing to worry about killing the biological filter?
 
don't run the filter while the sand is setteling in, as the sand can break an impellar fairly easily
 
move all the fish, decor, filters, etc over to another tank or even a rubbermaid tub. move everything but the gravel. drain tank, scoop out old gravel, dump in rinsed sand (did ya rinse it at least 600 times? lol), refill tank, run spare filter filled with just filter floss for a few days until water clears (you'll probably have to do a water change or two on the tank to aid in clearing), then move fish, decor, filters, etc back to tank. tada! lol.

a trick i heard about to keep sand out of the filter is to wrap a paper towel around the end of the intake tube and secure with rubber band. if you have no fish in the tank while the sand is settling/water is clearing then no worries on fish potentially picking at and eating paper towel.
 
I don't think you necessarily need to remove everything. As long as you rinse the sand thoroughly (like you mention) you can remove the gravel in chunks and add the sand with minimal disruption. What I would do...

1. Rinse sand thoroughly :)
2. Turn off filters
3. Move everything away from left 1/3 of tank
4. Remove gravel from that 1/3rd (if you have a large enough tube you can syphon out the gravel as part of a WC)
5. Add sand to the empty space (lowering carefully so as not to cloud water)
6. Turn on filter
7. Wait 2 days
8. Repeats steps for middle 1/3
9. Wait 2 days
10. Repeat steps for final 1/3

Here's a link to one of my threads where I did this with sand and eco-complete: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197348&page=4

Good luck!
 
What I did when I changed my 20H from gravel to sand.

Rinsed sand I was going to use completely, until minimal clouding when adding water.
Turned filter off. Removed gravel to an unused 5g bucket. Added sand and let sit for 30 minutes. Restart filter.

Add Malaysian Trumpet Snails for added benefit to sand.
 
I know how that in order to change the substrate I need to take the inhabitants out of the tank and rinse the sand really good before I put in the tank, but my main concern is about the beneficial bacteria. What steps do I need to follow after changing the gravel?
 
test your water parameters daily, or even twice daily, for ammonia and nitrites. if you see either of those show up on tests then you are most likely going through a mini cycle due to the beneficial bacteria playing catch up, since the gravel did house some of the bacteria. daily large water changes if this happens, to keep ammonia and nitrites at zero.
 
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