Re-Scaping Tank

[Rover fish]

hi guys,

so i bought a 270ltr tank about a month ago which came with the fish i currently have in it apart from 4 black widows.
the fish are:

common plec
7 black widow tetra
2 clown loach
2 orange fin loach
rosy barb
tiger barb
polka dot loach
chinese sucking loach
red phantom tetra
bronze cory

At the minute the gravel is plain regular size which i would have thought isn't realy suitable for the bottom feeders i have. I would like a fine gravel or sand and want to take all the current tank furniture out and replace with rocks and live plants. i have not got a clue what the best way of doing this is. this is my first time re-scaping a tank can anyone help me by suggesting the best ways, hints and tips for doing this.
one thought i had was to change the gravel to begin then over time add the rocks and live plants but im not sure wether to do it all in one go.

cheers
Chris

 

[thereverendturtle]

Change one wait two weeks change the other. The bigger problem imo, is that you have a bunch OS schooling fish, but only the widows are in a school.

 

[Rover fish]

yes im still undecided about what to do with the other fish i didnt realy want any of these but had no choice as they came with the tank, they all seam happy enough even though they're not in schools. I may get around to swapping them eventually but would still like bottom feeders. Any scape is better than the current one. you can tell the tank was set up for a child and the fella i bought off was a bit clueless when it came to fish, nice bloke though. The longer i take to think what to do the more i get attached to the fish.

My plan was at first to get rid of the plec, barbs and sucking loach and put the polka dot and cory in my other tank. Then get some gold laser cory and a small plec then consider getting something for the middle to top of tank.

So how would you suggest i change the gravel do you think i will need to take the fish out?

 

[Louiseness]

So how would you suggest i change the gravel do you think i will need to take the fish out?

Yeah I definitely would, gravel tends to kick up a lot of gunk into the water, plus it's easier just to clear out the whole lot, water and all. When I changed from gravel to sand in one of my tanks I netted out all the fish into a spare tank and left the filter running in with them (big bucket or storage box would work too). Then I siphoned out all the water and as much gravel as I could with it. The last bits I used a big plastic kitchen spoon to scoop the gravel up, but a net, flat-sided tupperware type box or whatever else would work. Then sand in, fresh water in, fish back in, sorted

 

[Rover fish]

So how would you suggest i change the gravel do you think i will need to take the fish out?

Yeah I definitely would, gravel tends to kick up a lot of gunk into the water, plus it's easier just to clear out the whole lot, water and all. When I changed from gravel to sand in one of my tanks I netted out all the fish into a spare tank and left the filter running in with them (big bucket or storage box would work too). Then I siphoned out all the water and as much gravel as I could with it. The last bits I used a big plastic kitchen spoon to scoop the gravel up, but a net, flat-sided tupperware type box or whatever else would work. Then sand in, fresh water in, fish back in, sorted

will taking all the water out and gravel at once not upset the bacterial balance in the tank. will i need to do regular partial water changes for a while after?

cheers for the advise btw

 

[the_lock_man]

So how would you suggest i change the gravel do you think i will need to take the fish out?

Yeah I definitely would, gravel tends to kick up a lot of gunk into the water, plus it's easier just to clear out the whole lot, water and all. When I changed from gravel to sand in one of my tanks I netted out all the fish into a spare tank and left the filter running in with them (big bucket or storage box would work too). Then I siphoned out all the water and as much gravel as I could with it. The last bits I used a big plastic kitchen spoon to scoop the gravel up, but a net, flat-sided tupperware type box or whatever else would work. Then sand in, fresh water in, fish back in, sorted

will taking all the water out and gravel at once not upset the bacterial balance in the tank. will i need to do regular partial water changes for a while after?

cheers for the advise btw

The bacteria live in the filter, not the water or the gravel (or at least not in any significant quantities), so no, you should not suffer any filtration issues.

 

[Louiseness]

will taking all the water out and gravel at once not upset the bacterial balance in the tank. will i need to do regular partial water changes for a while after?

cheers for the advise btw

As the lock man said, your bacteria are in your filter so it shouldn't upset your bacteria at all (unless you're using an undergravel filter but I doubt you are). If you're worried that there is a big difference in hardness/ph between your tap water and tank water, you can always keep some water in a bucket at do 50/50 tap water to old tank water or similar. But I've done 100% tap before and it's never caused me any problems (as long as it's a similar temp and dechlorinated ).

 

[Rover fish]

cheers guys much appreciated. I just remember reading somewhere that the more surface area's within a tank the more places bacteria have to grow and that gravel plays a big part but i do admit ive only ever read this in one place. Cant wait to start now but unfortunately its going to have to wait till after crimbo.

Cheers again guys

 

[eaglesaquarium]

cheers guys much appreciated. I just remember reading somewhere that the more surface area's within a tank the more places bacteria have to grow and that gravel plays a big part but i do admit ive only ever read this in one place. Cant wait to start now but unfortunately its going to have to wait till after crimbo.

Cheers again guys

That is true, but the other thing about the bacteria is that they need oxygen and ammonia flowing over them constantly to 'eat'. So, the filter is their primary place of residence, by far. Generally, people put media into the filter with a high ratio of surface area though (like ceramics) to allow for more bacterial growth in the filter.




And on the subject of going 100% fresh water, I would lean against that. It's not that you can't do it, or that it wouldn't be successful, but as pointed out by someone above, if your tap and tank water conditions are far apart in hardness, pH, etc. the fish will have a fairly rude change from one environment to the other. In my opinion, it would be best to reserve some of the tank water, sufficient to put the fish back into the tank with enough room to swim upright, if possible. If not, then enough to be mixed with your tap water to allow for the fish to swim upright with as much of the original water as possible. Then, I would slowly refill the tank with temp matched, dechlorinated tap water. Slower is usually better for the fish, even if it does take a little longer.

 

[Rover fish]

great stuff, i can save as much of the water as i need as i have 300ltr worth of containers so in this case i think ill return about half the water so it will be like doing a 50% water change.

Cant wait till january, bring on the new year.