Changing To Black Gravel

[BryceHockey]

Hey all, my Christmas gift this year is to remodel my 10 gallon aquarium. Last month I stocked my 46 gallon bowfront (see stocking of both tanks in my profile). Since I made both tanks to my style, the 10 gallon now looks like a shrunk version of the 46. I figured it might as well have different gravel, and give live plants another try.

Yesterday I bought a bag of TopFin black aquarium gravel. My plan was to wait until I can buy the plants to add it. I would put the fish in a bucket as I don't feel safe changing the gravel with 3 otos swimming about in that small of a tank. Would it harm the bacteria in any way to change all of the gravel at once? I don't want to shock the tank inhabitants either with a big change, but I was thinking that changing everything at once might just get it over with rather than stressing them on multiple occasions.

I know that people change from gravel to sand all the time, and this shouldn't be any different (considering very little bacteria lives in the gravel when compared to the filter), but with it being such a small tank I just wanted a second opinion. Another potential problem was that the bag says the gravel could alter the pH. Would this happen too quickly for the fish if all was added at once? Thanks in advance!

Also as a side note, I have two pieces of driftwood in the tank that I'd like to keep, but was thinking they might not look very good with black gravel. Anyone have this combo before?

 

[MyraAlam]

Hey all, my Christmas gift this year is to remodel my 10 gallon aquarium. Last month I stocked my 46 gallon bowfront (see stocking of both tanks in my profile). Since I made both tanks to my style, the 10 gallon now looks like a shrunk version of the 46. I figured it might as well have different gravel, and give live plants another try.

Yesterday I bought a bag of TopFin black aquarium gravel. My plan was to wait until I can buy the plants to add it. I would put the fish in a bucket as I don't feel safe changing the gravel with 3 otos swimming about in that small of a tank. Would it harm the bacteria in any way to change all of the gravel at once? I don't want to shock the tank inhabitants either with a big change, but I was thinking that changing everything at once might just get it over with rather than stressing them on multiple occasions.

I know that people change from gravel to sand all the time, and this shouldn't be any different (considering very little bacteria lives in the gravel when compared to the filter), but with it being such a small tank I just wanted a second opinion. Another potential problem was that the bag says the gravel could alter the pH. Would this happen too quickly for the fish if all was added at once? Thanks in advance!

Also as a side note, I have two pieces of driftwood in the tank that I'd like to keep, but was thinking they might not look very good with black gravel. Anyone have this combo before?

Unfortunately, I don't have any expert advice to offer you but your thread caught my attention because I'm trying to do something similar. I finally decided on sand for my 10 (and 20) gallon tanks, but am trying to figure out whether silica sand or black Tahitian moon sand is a better choice.

Is it really true that a darker substrate brings out a fish's colors more? (Is that why you're going with black gravel?

)

Sorry I don't have the advice you're seeking!

 

[BryceHockey]

Is it really true that a darker substrate brings out a fish's colors more? (Is that why you're going with black gravel?

)

I don't have any knowledge of the types of sand to help, I've only had gravel. I do believe that darker substrate/backgrounds make you notice the fish more. I have 5 cardinal tetras in the tank and was thinking that a darker setup would pull out their color. The only downside (again, I've never had black substrate so just a guess), would be that the black would show fish waste more easily. I doubt it would be too bad though.

 

[erk628]

My buddy put put purple gravel in his tank once right before he did the fish were full over color a day after he did it the fishes color faded. We were thinking it was due to the darkness of the gravel. There could of been other reasons though.

 

[loraxchick]

so long as the filter is doing its thing well (converting ammonia) then do it all in one go. the new gravel probably wont instantly change the pH so the fish should be fine. if you are worried about it, then simply re-acclimate them. do daily water testing on the pH for a few days and see what is happening there. a pH change generally is not so harmful to most species of fish (folks who use CO2 have vastly differing pH thru out the day.).
and you are right in thinking to remove the fish. draining the whole tank makes the switch sooooooo much easier! you could then even use some of the old tankwater to help refill the new setup.
as far as the driftwood, i think it will look great! especially once the plants go in
post up some before and afters. im sure the difference will be dramatic.
cheers

 

[Channti]

In the summer, I changed a 15 gallon from a hot pink gravel to a black gravel as part of my plan to de-tacky-mess-ify my community tank (made the mistake of letting my mother choose the gravel... she's got awful taste in colours!). Not sure if this is how everyone would do it, but it worked fine for me, it got the job done, and I didn't lose any fish in the process.

Basically, I used a couple buckets. drained 50% of the tank water into one bucket and moved all the fish into that bucket. I hooked the filter and heater into this bucket, and continued to allow them to run while I completed the gravel-change process.

Next I drained the rest of the water into another bucket. This was my "Crud" bucket. In the crud bucket, I scrubbed all the tacky ornments and plants my mother filled the tank with. The crud-bucket water was thrown away after I was done.

Next I pulled all of the gross gravel out of the tank, with about a half-inch of water left in the bottom of the tank. Once all the gravel was out, I used a whole lot of paper towels to pull the disgusting water and the dust from the pink-gravel.

I washed the new gravel REALLY well.... REALLY! well. and then added it to the tank after it was totally drained. I refilled it 50% with new tank water (like I would with a water change, re-planted my plants and put my ornaments back in. And then added half of the water from the "fish" bucket. I moved the filter and heater back into the tank, and then re-acclimated the fish to the tank. Then I added the rest of the water from the "fish bucket", dumped the "crud-bucket" water down the drain. And Voila! I had a tank with a completely different look.

Stocking at the time was:
Glolight danios
Neon tetras
Mollys
Swordtails
Peppered (or Panda, can't remember...) Corydoras
Cherry barbs