Gravel

[Barracuda518]

Anyone ever changed the gravel in their tank with the fish still in there? If so, how did you do it?

EDIT: Will it hurt anything if I have gravel on one side and sand on the other side, and so of the sand mixes with the gravel? The sand will blend in with the gravel...

 

[rixy]

yes,i have.i just used the biggest fishing net i have,gently fill it up with the gravel,scoop it out,and put it in a bucket.if gravel is old,water will go very dirty.dont worry,will clear up in 24hrs

 

[leafs]

It might be a good idea to vacumm the gravel first in order to minimize the mess before you remove it.

 

[rixy]

if the gravel is old,there is loads of mess(looks like mud)so even if you do vacumn it,there will still be loads of mess.it's easier if you take the plants and fish out first.a lot less stress for the fish as well.

 

[Barracuda518]

The gravel isnt that old, about 2-3 months. I want to change it because the rocks are too big I think for my cories and yoyo loaches, who are constantly digging around. My main concern is the stress on the fish. 2 of the loaches are very small and one of the cories is a baby and is blind (I bought him this way because he was by himself in a tank at the LFS and he was suffering. Now he is happy and growing and I would like to keep it that way ). If its not too much stress, then I will change it with them in the water, if not, I will have to wait until I can get a tank to hold them while I change it....

 

[fish_r_great]

Here is a good article on it

http/www.our-oasis.net/main.php?loc=asub

 

[Barracuda518]

Thats a great article. I might try it that way. I never thought of using a big rubermaid container. I have plenty of those. I would like to do it with the fish in the tank, but Im starting to think twice about that. I have changed to gravel before, but the fish were not in the tank...Any more suggestions?

Thanks for the help everyone

 

[rixy]

what are you going to put back in the tank.gravel or sand??

 

[playfulalliecat]

Rubbermaid containers work really well as holding tanks for fish. Small ones can even be fitted with a filter to use as fry grow out tanks for very small fry. When we moved 3 hours away, we used them to transport the fish. The only problem with that is we ended up still on the road at 2 am due to not being able to pick up the truck on time and the nighttime temps dropped so quickly. When we arrived, we put the containers in the house with heaters but it was too late and we lost a lot of fish.

I have used them quite often to temporarily hold fish. Just make sure you haven't had any kind of chemicals in them. I had new ones just for the fish.

 

[Barracuda518]

what are you going to put back in the tank.gravel or sand??

[snapback]874872[/snapback]​

I kinda want to do both. I had an idea to put sand in a corner of the tank and put gravel throughout the rest of the tank. I got some brown little pebbles that look like what you would find in the bottom of a river or lake. Im hoping they wont be as dirty since they werent colored. Is there a problem with having gravel and sand in the same tank?

 

[pseud]

Be careful. My female ram died from the stress of me removing gravel while she was still in the tank :'(

 

[Barracuda518]

Be careful. My female ram died from the stress of me removing gravel while she was still in the tank :'(

[snapback]875123[/snapback]​

Yeah, thats a problem. I have already decided to remove the fish when I do this. Its just not worth the chance. Im just trying to figure out ifs alright to have sand and pebbles in the same tank...

 

[pnyklr3]

Make sure that the bucket you put the fish in is heated. When I switched from gravel to sand, the process took a lot longer than I thought it would. My clown loaches caught a chill, and came down with ich. Not pretty. I don't not, for one second, regret switching to sand, though.

 

[Barracuda518]

Make sure that the bucket you put the fish in is heated. When I switched from gravel to sand, the process took a lot longer than I thought it would. My clown loaches caught a chill, and came down with ich. Not pretty. I don't not, for one second, regret switching to sand, though.

[snapback]875158[/snapback]​

Yeah. I just read The Wolfs topic on changing to sand and the other article that fish_r_great gave me and it said to use water from the aquarium in the holding tank along with the heater and filter. I think im going to do change over this weekend B)

 

[pnyklr3]

I didn't bother to run the filter with my fish, but I kept the media in the same bucket.