gravel transfer-- how much?

Lauren

Lauren

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Aug 9, 2003
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I got my sister a 10g for Christmas, which we will be setting up tonight. I will be giving her some of my gravel on top of the new gravel I bought her. How much is a good amount to transfer over? I will also be giving her the last of the fake plants still hanging around in my tank.
 
How much is there already? 10 to 15 pounds of gravel is about right for a 10 gallon tank.
 
I'm not sure how much I bought for her. Two bags, I just can't recall the weight. I think there is 15 pounds, that’s a good estimate. If so, then I won't use all of her new gravel, probably take 2-5 pounds off of each bag and replace that with my gravel. I'll be switching my gravel out shortly anyways. I'd give her all of it if she wanted it. But it’s not a color she would like as much as what I bought her, so I'm sure she'd rather just have a little of mine mixed in.

What do you think is the bare minimum of my gravel that I should use in hers? Not because I want to give her the bare min, but so I know I have passed it.
 
No one else? We're setting this up sometime this afternoon, I guess I'll give her about 5 lbs of my gravel and a plant then.
 
5 pounds of gravel plus the plastic plants is more than enough. For a 10 gallon, I usually transfer over 2 cups of gravel from one of my established tanks, and that usually jump starts the new tank pretty well. I'd say your sister's tank is off to a very good start.
 
Almost forgot, 15lbs of substrate in a 10 gallon tank is two inches high. I would go with 10lbs in her tank and the top layer of substrate from your tank. It should be plenty for any plant to root properly.
 
I transferred over quite a bit. Unfortunately, I did the transfer right after posting again (too anxious to wait any longer) I did dig a little deep while transferring my gravel over, so her water got a little cloudy. We got the filter going, and now the water is nearly clear.

Lucky for me, my sister was able to grasp the waiting before getting fish thing. I pulled out the book that helped me get my aquarium started and showed her how to set up an aquarium, and how you have to do it slowly, and she didn’t get upset. Her beta will go in as soon as the water is livable, then we will get her some tetras after that.

When I told her that other fish could live with betas she didn’t believe me. But now she’s very excited that her beta can have tank mates. We flipped through the book and when ever she saw a fish she liked she asked if she could have one. I told her which fish she could and couldn’t have, and she’s pretty happy with the possibilities.
 
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