A very Important question

[Dave]

I am going to move my tank soon (I keep saying this but really I am now). During the move I will be changing about 3/4 of my gravel substrate for sand. The othe 1/4 will be the old gravel.

Do you think this will mess up my cycling of the tank? I do plan to keep all the old water and the pump will be the same.

I cant really afford to recycle my whole tank as this would take far to long while my fish are all in polystierene boxes.

 

[Nik]

Dave

I have undertaken quite a few tank moves from house to house or room to room. I guess there is no exact answer to your question other than to say that the gravel does hold/house some of the bacteria/organisms required to keep the chemistry of your tank at its best.

Therefore it will effect the water chemistry to some degree and thus there will be a risk to the health of your current stock. In my mind it is a minor risk. I would leave the pump running for sometime without a clean up and hope that a dirty pump will help cope with the inbalance that maybe created by the loss of 75% of your substrate.

Other point is how are you going to use the sand and yet still keep 25% of the gravel? I tried laying a gravel base and then covering with sand and eventually had to give up. The sand sealed in all the gases trapped in the gravel and this became a problem. In addition hoovering the tank during water changes just started to mix the gravel and sand together anyway.

Hope this babble may help you come to some sort of conclusion and level of risk assessment.

Let us know how your project goes.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

You could place a few spare filter sponge blocks in the tank for a few weeks prior to the move (not sure how long it will take though). Place them in the flow of the outlet from the filter and they should house a fair colony of bacteria.
You could also start removing some of the gravel, a bit at a time. The balance of bacteria should move from the gravel to the extra filter material. When it comes to starting the new tank you could theoretically use sterile gravel, the matured filter from the old tank and the filter media you added before the move. That way you should have a full strength starting colony! Over the next few weeks you could slowly remove the extra filter media bit by bit as the bacteria re-colonises the substrate.

By doing this you will not only move your fish but the bacteria too!

WK

 

[Moe]

I changed the gravel in my tank. LFS told me to keep a large amount of the old gravel in a nylon stocking in the tank for a week after the change. All went well and the tank did not recycle.

 

[Dave]

Nik

how are you going to use the sand and yet still keep 25% of the gravel?

I was thinking of leaving about 25% of the old gravel at the back of the tank this will be for the plants to give them stability and its better for growth. I never thought about the sand trapping the gases in the gravel. What if I hoover it regularly? I know the sand should only be approx 1" deep to stop death spots

I quite like Moe's idea sounds kinky Anyone else had experience doing this.

 

[Rose]

Dave here's what I do when ever I move a tank or start a new one. On a majority of my tanks I have multiple filters. Meaning I have the main filter then I have a power head with a sponge attachment on it. I can't remember the last time I cycled a tank in the traditional way.

New tank:
1. Put tank where you want it in the house
2. Put the gravel (or sand) down.
3. Put filter together
4. Get a bucket
5. Get nasty water from all the other tanks in the house
6. Fill new tank at least 1/2 way full this way.
7. Put plants in if you are using them
8. If not plants then finish filling with other tanks water (if possible).
9. If #8 isn't plausable then use tap water and finnish filling
10. Get powerhead and sponge off another tank (depending on the size I might use 2 or more of them) put on new tank.
11. Plug in all tank hardware (heater, lights, filters...ect)
12. Put fish in.
13. 2-4 days later test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates


Old tank, new look:
Follow the above but put the old tank water in buckets till you are ready to fill the tank with water. Your tank most likely won't know what hit it when you are done. (I mean that in a good way.) I did this last method when I moved from my old house to the new one this last Dec. I took 10g of old tank water for both 30g tanks, 20g for my 55g tank, 15g for my 46g tank. Set it all up put old water in put the new water in, pluged everything in, tested for 2 weeks. Tanks didn't show any ammonia, or nitrIte spikes of any kind. The Nitrates stayed right where they were when the move happend. None of the fish new they were in a new place either.

Now that you know my secrets to moving and setting up tanks try it and see how they work.

Rose