Thinking About Complete Substrate Change

[Lynda B]

Hi, everybody!

I've never been completely happy with the way my 30 gallon came out. I have a great theme going but am not happy with the gravel choice I made. I have mixed color gravel in there and I'm thinking of changing it over to one solid color. My tank has been up and running for about 3 months and is completely cycled. I have 3 black mollies, 8 red eye tetras, 4 serpae tetras and 3 black phantom tetras.

My readings, consistently, are 0 for ammonia and nitrites and 20 for nitrates.

Is it safe to do a complete substrate change? Would it have any negative affect on the fish? As much as I'd love to do some redecorating, their health and well-being comes first. Thanks for any helpful hints you can offer!

 

[rsands]

i just took all my gravel out last nite after it got mixed with a load of sand! i simply put new sand in without the gravel...its only my small tank i did this in but no problems so far.

Totally rescaped it while the fish were in a big bucket with the heater.

Should be fine to do it

 

[Amunet]

When we changed gravel in our 28.. we took out all of the fish, put them into half gallon jars took out all decor, then drained the tank. You probably wouldn't have to drain it completely though, but I would still put the fish somewhere else while you exchange gravels.

 

[dthoffsett]

You'll definately want to move the fish into another tank or container, also be sure to keep your filter material wet so you don't kill off your benefical bacteria.

 

[Lynda B]

Thank you very much for your replies..... very helpful.

I figured I could put them all in a spare 10 gallon I have, after siphoning their own tank water into it, while I do the rescape. Sound like a plan?

 

[kewskills]

Sounds like a good plan, hope all goes well

 

[tropicalgirl2007]

Hi

I have replace my substrate and rescaped, took all he fish out and kept them in buckets, the whole thing from start to finish took about 3 hours, have fun and good luck

 

[Lynda B]

Oh, now that I know it won't harm the fish, I'm really itching to get going on this..... I'll be sure to do before and after pics.....

 

[rdd1952]

I have changed mine before and had no problems. First, I moved as much water as needed into the container I was going to put them in and then saved more water to put back into the tank so that when I put everything back, it was basically like I did a 25% water change. That way, you don't have to acclimate your fish again, just put them back in the water they are used to. I also dropped the filter packs (HOB filters) in the water to keep them wet.

I then removed all decorations and plants. Since I was changing sand to different sand, I then refilled the tank with water and started vacuuming out the sand. If you take the end off your gravel vac and just use the hose, it has an amazingly strong suction. I don't know if it will work for gravel or not but I have definitely sucked up snails that way. If is works, you can suck every bit of substrate out into a bucket to do with as you please. You may have to add water to the tank a couple times before you get it all out but it's really pretty quick. Gravel may be easier to get out the old fashioned way by simply scooping it out but the fine stuff is always hard to get.

I didn't do any unusual maintanence on the tank while I was doing this other than wipe down the glass a little better than during a normal WC. That was mainly because I could now get to some places that I normally couldn't get to because of plants or decorations.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

only other thing to make sure of really is your substrate is relativley clean before the change over. if there's a lot of waste then stirring it up could cause a mini cycle.

 

[Lynda B]

Thanks! I'll be careful about stirring up stuff.

rdd, great idea about siphoning up gravel, however, we use a Python, so that wouldn't work..... I'm fully prepared to scoop my little heart out.

 

[rdd1952]

I use a python for refilling the tanks but not for removing water. It just wastes too much water. Even at that. the syphon end of my python can be removed from the main hose and the tube can be taken off the hose too.

 

[Meds081603]

My suggestion assuming you have 2 five gallon buckets would be:

put the fish in a 5 gallon bucket of tank water

drain all but a few inches of water from the tank

do a light gravel cleaning, just enough to remove what easily comes off the top

then i would clean the heck out of your rocks with your gravel cleaner, the water your collecting will likely be brownish in color. this water goes into the second 5 gallon bucket

once the water is gone just remove old substrate and add new substrate

then you add the brown water and fill the tank as usual and follow standard procedure for putting the fish back in the tank

This is the way I have done it in the past w/o any issues.

 

[rdd1952]

Just out of curiousity, why would you want to put all that filthy, dirty water back in the tank? Unless it has a UGF, there isn't any bacteria to speak of in the substrate so all your adding back is dirt, not bacteria.

 

[Lynda B]

Old water will not be going back into the tank. I will not clean the decorations in the tank, as to keep whatever beneficial bacteria is on them. The filter will remain the same. The only change will be the substrate.

Thanks, everyone!