Changing Gravel

[kingjim9]

Hello, this is my first post here so I was hoping someone could help me out with my situation. I'm tired of looking at the old dirty algae covered gravel in my tank which is a mixture of blue / white (which looked really nice when the tank was new but now that its going on its 5th year or so the white looks horrible) so i plan to replace all the gravel with new. I have a 50 gallon tank with a set of undergravel filters that run for about 8-9 hours during the day (don't run them overnight cause there so loud), and I have an AquaClear 70 powerfilter which runs 24/7

I have 2 Giant danios, 1 red tail shark, and 1 pleco. I don't have any live plants anymore, but plan on getting some more of them sometime (not sure if I should just get them with the gravel or not)

Here's what my plan was:

buy some gravel & buckets & rinse it off pretty good,

Siphon out some water to fill up this old 5gal. tank I have stored away. & Set up the heater, main filter, and this artificial rock that the fish love in that tank.

Transfer the fish into that tank. & drain the rest of the water into my buckets (I planned on getting 8 -5gal. buckets so I recovered & re-used 40 gallons of the water)

get all the gravel out of the big tank, clean the tank & the tubes used for the undergravel filters. Then put the new gravel in

Refill all the water from my buckets into the tank, then set up the heater and make sure the temp is where it usually is at. Then just transfer the fish back into the tank & top off the water.

Does this sound like a good plan to you guys?

Thanks for your time,

Jim

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kingjim9

Welcome to the forum!

Yes, if the tank is healthy, that sounds like a good plan, except that there is no need to keep and replace more than 1/4 to 1/3 of the original water. Since you have an older set up and you didn't mention the results of any recent water tests, let me give you an article to read before you clean your tank. If water tests show the symptoms described, it would be better to follow the instructions for rehabilitating the tank before you do anything as drastic as a complete cleaning.

http/www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html

 

[kingjim9]

Thanks for the response. I just changed the water in the tank a couple of days ago, which was when I developed this plan. I tested the water earlier today and found:

pH of 6.6
Ammonia: Very far under 0.25ppm but a little greater than 0
Nitrate: Far under 0.25ppm but slightly higher than 0
Nitrate: 40ppm

I've read that article and I don't think that applies to my situation. What do you think?