Replacing Substrate

[los]

hi at the moment i have a coarse marble substrate (about 10mm) its a planted tank ...150l with about 15 smallish fish in it, including a few bottom dwellers

i wana change to a sand substrate for more of a natural aquascape look. I was just wondering what the best way to do this is? (fish wise) whether i take the fish out, or leave them in there and carefully change the substrate bits at a time? id rather leave the fish in there though but dont want to stress them out to much or bury them

any ideas or tips would be awesome

 

[kiriyama]

Hi, you can remove fish to temp. tank/container till job done, or can remove about 75% water and replace patial amount of substrate over a period of time, think the first option is best as can be messy job and cloud water

 

[Paradise3]

When i changed mine over to sand i just cleaned the sand and got it ready to be put in, then when i cleaned my tank out completely Instead of putting the gravel back in i put the sand in.
Though you could just do what kiriyama says. I did it this wy because my tank needed cleaning and i wanted sand in it.

Xxx~misscosmo~xxX

 

[raptorrex]

hi at the moment i have a coarse marble substrate (about 10mm) its a planted tank ...150l with about 15 smallish fish in it, including a few bottom dwellers

i wana change to a sand substrate for more of a natural aquascape look. I was just wondering what the best way to do this is? (fish wise) whether i take the fish out, or leave them in there and carefully change the substrate bits at a time? id rather leave the fish in there though but dont want to stress them out to much or bury them

any ideas or tips would be awesome

to me, there is no need to remove your fish. personally, i cant think of a more stressful thing to do, to them.

well first, i started to remove the gravel, making sure i rinsed it well, in the tank, before taking it out. and gave the filters chance to collect as much of the debris, as possible. then i switched off my filters. (a, potentially, expensive mistake, if you don't). i removed, just over 40% of the water. after that i poured the sand, from a small container, onto the tank base. if you pour it like i suggest, there is far less sand, floating, about in the water. after, about, 20 minutes i switched my filter, back, on. replace the, water and deccor. there you go, BoBs your uncle. couldn't be, much quicker, or simple.

When i changed mine over to sand i just cleaned the sand and got it ready to be put in, then when i cleaned my tank out completely Instead of putting the gravel back in i put the sand in.
Though you could just do what kiriyama says. I did it this wy because my tank needed cleaning and i wanted sand in it.

Xxx~misscosmo~xxX

you say you empty you tank, completely, and clean it? how then will it ever become mature?
sorry but i am shocked, to me, this makes no sense.

 

[OldMan47]

A filter can easily be matured and left on a newly cleaned tank for the fish. The tank as a whole will never be as settled as one that is cleaned in place but can be a healthy environment for the fish Raptorrex. I can't say I was shocked but it did strike me as extra work that would make it harder to establish plantings and such. The real fun one to do that requires a complete emptying of the tank is cleaning under a UGF filter. There you try to preserve the bio-filter in the gravel by moving it to a bucket with an air stone in it while you quickly clean under the filter plate and then restore everything.
The best technique that I have read about for sand was to use a tube like a funnel to get the clean sand to the tank bottom without it having to fall through the open water. By confining it to the tube, the sand could settle in place before being exposed to the general tank water column.

 

[arron]

i can only go from my own expirence when i did the same on my 6 footer but it didn't have any plants in it ..... i took the fish out and put them in a spare 3 foot tank filled from the original tank moved one of the filters over with bogwood etc then emptyed the tank down to about a 1/4 took out the gravel cleaned the sand and popped it in filled it up again then left it a week then moved everything back in and added the old water that was in the 3 foot tank left it for another week then carried on with the 2 weekly water changes as before ..... didn't lose any fish and it all went smoothly ........ only bad thing was gaining a sand bed that is constantly gettin churrned up by my plecs and is a nightmare to keep clean .... kinda wish i'd gone for plan B and got black fine quartz instead i also have problems with it settling on any plant i put in there and killin it ......

Azz

 

[los]

Thanks alot yea im going for a fine crushed marble, about 1mm in size so hopefully it wont get stirred up too much, i might see how it goes leaving the fish in there, ill remove all the gravel then carefully put the new substrate in parts at a time without burring my little loaches alive hah

sounds like fun thanks for the help, Los

 

[OldMan47]

That sounds like a good size Los. It won't get stirred up as easily as some of the very fine sand that I have seen used but will be small enough for things like cories to enjoy it.

 

[raptorrex]

A filter can easily be matured and left on a newly cleaned tank for the fish. The tank as a whole will never be as settled as one that is cleaned in place but can be a healthy environment for the fish Raptorrex. I can't say I was shocked but it did strike me as extra work that would make it harder to establish plantings and such. The real fun one to do that requires a complete emptying of the tank is cleaning under a UGF filter. There you try to preserve the bio-filter in the gravel by moving it to a bucket with and air stone in it while you quickly clean under the filter plate and then restore everything.
The best technique that I have read about for sand was to use a tube like a funnel to get the clean sand to the tank bottom without it having to fall through the open water. By confining it to the tube, the sand could settle in place before being exposed to the general tank water column.

i do understand a filter can be mature, whaterver the tank cleaning regime. but the tank will never be. i was just surprised anyone would do it that way! one of the reason i never consider the UGF (aside from the fact that form of filtration is not, beneficial, to any of my stock) is just as you state.
I like the "tube" idea. but, for less hassle, the system, i use is a good half way. i think.

 

[OldMan47]

I have no argument with your approach raptorrex. The comment was more that I find alternate methods acceptable but perhaps more work than your approach.

 

[los]

just replaced it...with the fish in there, made hell of a mess removing the old gravel, couldnt see any of my fish haha but there algood now and the tank looks much better, can i half submerge my heater in the substrate?

 

[OldMan47]

The typical heater is a heating element inside a glass or plastic tube. One of those needs to have free water flow around it to avoid the build up of a hot spot in the case. If the heat is not free to move out into the water, the heater will fail. I have some where the bottom of the glass tube rests on the substrate, not down into it, and they seem to be OK. On glass heaters, you can see where the actual heating element is located so you can cheat them a bit without having failures but even there I would be quite cautious about covering the glass. Instead, why not put the heater at an angle to get it lower in the tank while retaining good water flow around the heater and thus good heat transfer.

 

[raptorrex]

I have no argument with your approach raptorrex. The comment was more that I find alternate methods acceptable but perhaps more work than your approach.

indeed! but, on that. how do you stop the water coming in the bottom of the pipe? (lol, you can tell i have tried) every time, no matter what diameter pipe i use, as soon as i take my hand off the top of the tube, water flows up the pipe. this is causing it to clog or, on bigger pipes, just fill with water. just, what, I'm i doing wrong?