Gravel Change Plan

[Keithoms]

Ok, swiching from gravel to sand. Here is my plan:

Step one: Tonight, gravel vac as much as i can without taking out the plants. Replace water

Step two: Tomorrow, gravel vac without plants down to 50% water level.

Step three: Catch all of the fish and put all of the fish in bags by their species.

Step four: Drain remaining water. Use hand or very small planting spade to take out all of the gravel, leaving the eco complete.

Step five: Pour all sand into bucket and wash thoroughly.

Step six: Put handfulls over substrate to cover thickly

Step seven: Refill with water, add fish.

Note, i only have one bucket.

How does this sound?

 

[Keithoms]

Ive had a rethink as i took out my bogwood and put it in my betta tank...

Instead of bagging up all of the fish, why dont i just bag my betta from my other 30l tank and put all of my fish in their until its done?

Ive got: 2 Dwarf Gouramis
4 Neon Tetras
4 Platies
2 Swordtails
2 guppies
1 harlequin rasbora
1 common plec (im aware that this is too big and am trying to rehome)

Will this work?

 

[three-fingers]

Yep, easier than bagging them up.

Though I would wash the sand as step 1, because it takes a while to do (you'll find that you lose some sand in the washing process, and often quite a bit of the volume of sand in the bucket is actually silt).

What sand are you going to use?

For the next week after replacing the gravel, you may want to do extra water changes, as in most tanks a lot if bacteria live in the gravel (unless you keep it super-clean), removing it could cause a little imbalance.

 

[Keithoms]

I suppose it doesnt help that i took my filter out and put a new one in yesterday with mature media then does it

Anyway, the only reason i wouldnt wash sand as step one is that i only have one bucket. If thats full of sand i cant drain the water.

Its argos playsand, ive used it in 2 other tanks.

 

[Keithoms]

Freaking fantastic, ive just checked my water stats for the third time today. I had just done a water change before and now i see its slightly green.. crap..

 

[Keithoms]

Could it be because ive kicked up alot of crap from the gravel? I just did my first (and very vigourous) vac since 3-4 wks ago

 

[OldMan47]

It could well be that you have mechanically cleaned the gravel and the debris is now in the water. It should only cause a short term problem while that bioload is processed and you may be able to reduce the impact with a large water change.

 

[Keithoms]

Ive started the gravel switch...