Changing Substrate In Established Tank

[ChilversI]

Hi all,

I have an established 212L tank, stocked with fish, fully cycled, all occupants happy.
(I will try to put up a picture of the current layout as soon as I can)

For my sins I have decided to disrupt their peaceful lives and change the substrate.
Ok - the problem - how to do this without killing them!

The reason first ..
The substrate at the moment is small (approx 3mm) gravel - the standard mixed brown-coloured gravel.
I think this is too harsh for the Sterbai Cory's, plus I want to add in a lot of live plants.

To aid plant growth/life, plus it helps with water chemistry .. I want to change it for Eco-complete black substrate.

I intend to have the rear half of the tank, plus a large section of the front half, layered with Eco-Complete Live Planted, mixed 4:1 with Eco-Complete Fine Grade Cichlid. Then the remaining section at the front Tropical Black Sand.

I am thinking of doing this ... (all in the same day)
1. moving fish (and tank water) into some polystyrene fish transporter boxes I have.
2. Removing all the rocks and as much gravel as I can
3. Put in the Eco-Complete (mixed plant & cichlid) substrate and the sand
4. putting the rocks back in place
5. putting in the plants
6. returning the fish (and tank water) to the newly refurbished tank

Regular water checks with water changes as required until tank stabilises again.

Thoughts please?

 

[Tizer]

crack on, sounds good enough.

 

[Akasha72]

sounds okay to me too. You could get a small bacterial bloom (I did when I changed mine) and cloudy water but lots of water changes will sort that out.

Good luck with it and we'll look forward to pics lol (a before and after would be nice )

 

[ChilversI]

Thanks for vote of confidence.

Only worry I have is that sand will mix in with gravel over time.
I know some will, but I would like to keep a 'beach' effect in one corner if I can.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Thanks for vote of confidence.

Only worry I have is that sand will mix in with gravel over time.
I know some will, but I would like to keep a 'beach' effect in one corner if I can.

I would, personally, put them in fresh, temperature matched dechlorinated water. Hopefully the stress of all this would be minimum to them, but you might as well put them in fresh water whilst you are making their new home

Hope it works for you, remember to put some pics up, black substrate looks awesome.

Terry.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

When I changed from gravel to sand I put my guys in a bucket of tank water with their filter and heater running in it. I removed everything from the tank. Used a flat sided scoop (like a chinese takeaway dish) and removed all of the gravel. Every. Single. Piece. (Don't be a wimp, get it all out!)

Added my (well washed) sand back in, decor, filter and heater, fish.

Easy peasy lemon squeasy!

Oh and I had no bacterial bloom or upset to my bacteria. If your filter is well established (to be honest, mine was only a couple weeks post cycle) it'll be fine. Not much helpful bacteria lives in the substrate anyway apparently.

 

[Tizer]

they must have had fun in a bucket with a filter battering them around

 

[Akasha72]

I put all mine in a 30 litre plastic storage box with the filter and heater, layed the lid on the top and covered it in towels to keep it in darkness - minimising stress.

And, yes, I agree about getting all the old gravel out. My old stuff was white/grey mix. I rushed putting in the black and I'm still picking the old stuff out when I do my maintenance ... it's driving me so mad I often wonder about stripping it back and starting again ... if I could be bothered and had an entire day to spare (yeah, right lol)

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

they must have had fun in a bucket with a filter battering them around

It did not, thank you very much! It's just a little interpet PF1 - gah!

 

[ChilversI]

An update.

I completed the change over from gravel to Eco Complete and black sand.
Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10, PH 7.5, Temp 26C.

All did not go to plan though - does it ever when fish are concerned??

Of the 6 angels I had, they were all fine in their temporary home, but three of them died overnight after going back into the main tank.
I would like to say I know why, but I haven't a clue. They all had the same symptoms - lying on side at bottom of tank.
Water parameters same then as they are now (see above). No spikes. Staged introduction back to tank. Bit of a mystery.
The other 3 angels, the 3 dwarf gouramis, all the cories and the loach were fine.
Guess they just didn't acclimatise.

Anyways, since then and tank being stable I have introduced 4 pearl gourami with no problems.
Despite the problems/fish loss, the black substrate look is fantastic, especially with live plants (which was the plan/reason for the makeover). Am sad about the fish, but glad I did the swap.

I will post pictures of the before and after of the tank when I get a chance.

Have some stock questions and will open new thread for that.

Cheers all