Got Some New Gravel

[Luke_e]

I have a juwel rio 125 aquarium, and i've currently got a crappy coloured gravel subtrate which since i got it a few months ago has been peeling, and now it looks aweful.
So, i bought some new gravel which isnt coloured artificially, but is just natural little pebbles.
So, how do i go about changing it? I've got a large enough tub for the fish to go in during change so thats now a problem. But what i am worried about is the bacteria in the sponges. So how can i keep the bacteria alive, is it ok just to plonk the sponges in the tank water and they'll be fine?
Also, if i add all new water (ontop of the tank water inside the container) will this be ok for the fish?

Thanks for your time, i hope to do the change this afternoon, so quick replies would be very much appreciated.

 

[Luke_e]

Ok, never mind i got it done thanks to someone who i asked..

This is how i did it anyway if anyone is interested.

I firstly siphoned out 35liter of my tank water (35ltr was the biggest tub i could find) and set up an air pump to keep the water surface moving to get oxygen into the water.
It took me like 30 mins to get my fish from the tank into the tub as they were swimming so fast, and i tried my best not to stress them out.
Once they were all in, i moved the plants into the tub so they could hide etc.
I then siphoned all the water but 1" of it, took all the gravel out and the state of the bottom was aweful, the dirt was distgusting, but this may be due to the larger gravel i had in before so dirt could work its way down more easily.
I then siphoned all the dirt off the bottom of the tank.
(prewashed gravel, took about an hour as it was so filthy).
I then put the gravel in, and the water clouded up, so i added 50% of the tanks volume and siphoned it out to get some of the cloudy ness from the water (didnt really do much tbh).
I then filed the tank up 3/4 with new water and added the fish (i acclimatised them using sandwitch bags).
And i added the filter sponges back in (i forgot to put that i took them out and placed them in the tank water with the fish, also i added the heater to the container (obviously)).
I then added all the plants back etc and hay presto, new tank

Pics are below

BEFORE

AFTER

 

[morgan]

That looks very nice. I have never changed gravel so I couldn't help. When I get my new tank I am having new gravel. Apparently the pre-washed gravel is a lot more expensive. I am having a Juwel Rio 300 so I expect to spend some time washing all the new gravel! I am sure your second post will be helpful to anyone else who wants to change the gravel in an existing tank.

 

[Ethos]

Yeah, it looks 10x better!
Good job.
Was it had, and alot of work?
How long did it take?

 

[Luke_e]

That looks very nice. I have never changed gravel so I couldn't help. When I get my new tank I am having new gravel. Apparently the pre-washed gravel is a lot more expensive. I am having a Juwel Rio 300 so I expect to spend some time washing all the new gravel! I am sure your second post will be helpful to anyone else who wants to change the gravel in an existing tank.

Thanks mate. When i said prewashed, i didnt mean i bought it prewashed, i meant i washed it before hand. Cost £6.00 for 6liter of it, and covered my tank fine. If your getting a rio 300, i think around 16 - 20liter of gravel would be needed at most.

Yeah, it looks 10x better!
Good job.
Was it had, and alot of work?
How long did it take?

Thanks It wasnt exactly hard, but it was very stressful for me and for the fish (mainly during the netting ), but they love it now. The tank looks alot brighter now.
It took around 2 and 1/2 hours (and add another 45mins for washing the gravel), so all in all around 3 1/4 hours. Worth it though.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Luke_e

What a big difference! Your tank looks great!

I have to admit that, while I have sand because it is easy to clean, I still much prefer the look of a nice gravel substrate.

 

[Luke_e]

Cheers, i think its a lot nicer too. No nasty gravel with colour peeling off.
I was going to go with sand actually, but decided not too as i prefer gravel slightly more, and i have a few bottom dwellers and i didnt want them kicking it up.