Changing My Substrate What's The Best Way?

[marieukxx]

I wanna get rid of my pink gravel for black. I don't know what i was thinking when I put that in! My idea of how to do it is:

Get the new black gravel ready and washed
Take out 50% water in the tank
Remove all the decorations and plants, leave fish in
Gently cup out the gravel into a bucket until it's mostly gone
Gently cup in the new gravel
Replace decs and plants

Any ideas if this is the best way to do it or should I go about it another way?

 

[fluttermoth]

Either; syphon the gravel (and all the gunk that's stuck down there, and believe me there will be huge amounts of gunk stuck down there!) out with a wide bore pipe, like a piece of hose,

OR, take all the fish out and scoop the old gravel out.

The only time I've tried to change substrate in a set up tank, I did it exactly the way you're thinking of and it was a nightmare; the amount of s*** was unbelievable, and I'm pretty concientious about my gravel cleaning!

And the very next day my fish came out in my only outbreak of whitespot for over 20 years; I was not happy (and nor were the fish!).

 

[marieukxx]

Oh this seems harder than I thought then. So you think I'd best syphon it with a big pipe? Ws it bad cos you stirred up loads of s***?

So what maybe just take everything out but leave fish in. And with a wide pipe syphon it all out. I suppose the water will go right down anyway doing it that way so no need to take some out first?

I really want rid of the pink for black

 

[fluttermoth]

Take the fish out. They'll be fine in a bucket for 4 or 5 hours while you do the substrate,

It's not hard, it's just such a messy job.

 

[marieukxx]

So what stick em in a bucket of tank water? Do I just net them back in after? Or pour it back in??

Thanks mate for the advice. I'll have to get myself another bucket and get all prepared and do it like you said.

 

[holidayinn]

Could use a large net to quickly and easily collect the gravel, messier then syphon, but imo easier and quicker.

 

[minnnt]

I use four buckets for the fish to go in, use old tank water. Then siphon as much water as you can then remove old gravel. Then use a towel to soak up the water that is left. This should remove all the gunk too. Clean all the tank inside and out.

Then add new gravel after rinsing, add decor, plants and whatever else you want in the tank. Then fill with warm water, turn heater and filter back on. Let it clear for about half an hour then add the fish back in. I did mine on Monday night (see planted section) and it took four hours from start to finish.

Good luck

P.S. I knew the pink wouldn't last.

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes; start by syphoning out a clean bucket of water; cary on syphoning until the tank is about half full. Then start catching the fish and removing the ornaments and plants (it's easie to catch the fish if there's less water).

Use two nets if you can; a large one held still and a smaller one to herd them into the big one. The trick with catching fish is to go really, really slowly; and herd, don't chase, as they can move a heck of a lot faster than you!

If you can find a flower pot (no holes!) or a margarine tub or something, you can chase them into that instead of a net; I prefer not to take fish out of the water 'cos they flap and it makes me panicky; I'm sure the fish are fine!

The Rodda's Cornish ice cream tubs are the best 'cos they're black and the fishh are happy to go in there thinking it's a safe cave

If your bucket's small enough, then just 'sink it' into the tank (don't fill the tank up fully!) and let the fish swim out in their own time; I have poured fish in before, but it makes me worry, even though I've never had a problem doing it.

This is all making it sound terribly complicated; it's really not; just set a side a whole afternoon, go slowly and it'll be fine, I promise!