Gravel - Tricky

[puppyjess123]

Is it okay to do a full water change? If so I should :

1. Put all fish in a bucket
2. Empty water
3. Pick all gravel out put in bin bag
4. (Do I have to wash sides, if so wot with?)
5. Add washed sand and put decor back in
6. Fill up with water and palce fish back in

 

[ailiyanna]

I have a huge fish tank and just went through a similar problem, me and my husband placed our fish in a cooler and drained our tank of almost all water and then took a strainer and bucket and scooped out all of our gravel (about three 10 pound bags of it) and replaced it with sand it took awhile our tank was set back in the cycle phase a bit but all of our fish survived none of the biological bacteria in our filters was hurt and now we have pristine sand instead of mixed up gravel

 

[Just_Another_One]

I dont think its recommended to do a full 100% water change but theres really not much choise when you need to change your substrate. Just make sure you work quickly and keep your filters wet so you keep your bacteria alive...

You could keep all the water in and empty out the gravel then put the sand with water in there but I could see that getting really messy and you ending up with mucky gross water for a while.

You dont HAVE to wash the sides but U might as well since the tank is gonna be empty and you dont get that chance too often. All I did was go over the sides a few times with a wet paper towel.

Your plan looks fine to me - thats basically how I did it yesterday and my fish are all fine today.

 

[puppyjess123]

How about I leave a bit of water in their and put some old tank water in a bucket with the fish and filter

 

[Truck]

How about I leave a bit of water in their and put some old tank water in a bucket with the fish and filter

save about 50% of the water in buckets, and plastic storage boxes

 

[puppyjess123]

OKay just found out I wont have enough sand, so I'm going to wait to see If my dads mate is going to sell us his 5 footer or not.