Having lots of trouble, 2 problems.. help?

[CBTF]

Alright here's the story.

Tank (listed below) has been set up for about a month or two now, and everything is getting along great. Had some initial problems with tankmates but everything is finally settled down. No fish illness, good water quality.. so my problems are a thing of the past- or so I thought!

My beach sand substrate is wreaking havok on my filter. It's making grinding noises and accumulating in the media. I need to make a change, Im thinking of changing to gravel (the sand isnt even stirred up often, nor does it cloud the water.. nevertheless, it's clogging the filter.)

So there's a substrate change that needs to take place.

Now I encounter another problem. My water is FULL of tannin. I put two pieces of treated driftwood in assuming they'd be ok but they weren't. The water is turd brown, and although I dont mind it id like to have some clear water. (Also- question: Can tannin produce a sludge, by any chance? Brown sludge in the filter, buildup?)

Soooo.. Ive come to a point where my stable, cycled 10G must have a substrate change and a water change. As you know, this is a big BIG headache for me!

I started to freak out.. but came up with this solution. PLease add on to it, or change it if you feel like im doing something wrong.

Ive decided in order to calm the tannin down, im doing 25-30% water changes. I've been doing them daily and they havent worked but im gonna tone it down to every two days in order to not stress my fish out too much. Will this be ok?

After this, I plan on saving all the water I can in to put into the tank with the new substrate (because sand will require me hosing the whole tank out and cleaning.) I will try and keep the same filter media, clogged with sand, for as long as I can to help in the mini cycle. The substrate change should be in about five days, or a week.

Does this sound like a good plan? Im trying to approach this calmly and with a good attitude, in order to reduce the chances of losing a fish but because im new to the hobby it's hard.

No extra cash so setting up a temp tank is not an option.

 

[budrecki]

Where to start? What kind of a filter do you have? It will determine the best way to go about this.

 

[CBTF]

It's a normal over the side/top type made by topfin.

 

[budrecki]

I think thats what I have. White biofiber in the front and blue filter cart. in the back?

If so, this is what I would suggest.
-Place fish is a bucket/bowl with 3-4 gallons of the tank water.
-Empty the tank.
-Don't do a scrub down, just empty the water and sand.
-Rinse and add gravel, not mush 1/2 or so.
-Refill tank with treatedwater, do not add saved water from bucket.
-Do not return driftwood to tank. Boil for 20 minutes, drain, boil again. It could take as many as 5 or more boils to leech most of the tannins out. Boil untill the water is clear/very lightly tinted.
-Do not change the filter cartridge. Leave it in place for 1-2 weeks untill your numbers are stable.

If your tank is cycled completely, you should have enough bacteria in your filter to prevent a mini cycle.

 

[CBTF]

Alright thanks for all those tips. My filter is pretty much the same but it hasn't got a blue backing.. Just teh white, filled with carbon I think.

The one thing im afraid of, though, is that I cleaned out my filter (jammed with gunk) about 2-3 days ago. I also rinsed the filter media because it was covered too. Im assuming that after Its been in the tank for a week (since im not changing all the stuff until next weekend) that it should hold enough bacteria for the new setup?

 

[budrecki]

Should be ok if you wait untill next weekend.

 

[rrkss]

I am sure you are aware of this but remember to place the filter on the container holding the fish in order to keep the filter alive and waste levels at a minimum in the container. Also make sure you cover this temporary holding tank to prevent fish from jumping out. When I had to tear down one of my tanks and flush the substrate, I stored my fish in a 3 gallon white garbage container to which I attached the filter and covered it. I even attached the heater to the container to maintain a stable temperature. The fish did fine in that garbage can while their home had a big workup done on it. I then refilled the tank, got everything stable and transferred the fish back into the tank. Did not lose a single fish in the process and never saw any ammonia or nitrites.