Gravel

[MamaPish]

OK my 29 gal has completed its fishless cycle, I don't have any fish in it yet.
...all my other tanks have "natural gravel" and I thought I wanted to do this tank different, so I added 10 lbs of white just to see if I liked it,,,,well I don't....I am going natural(silica sand {sp}) with this one too......my question is...how do I change out the gravel without messing up the cycle?

Could I gather the old gravel in a bucket.....rinse it with the tank water through a colander and add that water back to the tank? I don't HAVE to add any fish right now.....but I want to soon...and don't want to have to go through another cycle.

I also want to replace the gravel in one of my very established 10 gals....it has the larger natural gravel, and it looks very dirty...


both tanks have undergravel filters .

any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[Tanked]

you may want to pm lesgerber on that one. he just switched from gravel to sand.

 

[Pufferpack]

Careful with the sand Mama...I love it, but I don't run UGF...as far as I know sand will clog your UGF real quick. Rather than taking out the gravel and possibly restarting cycle time, maybe cover the gravel with sand...but you would still have issues with underground filter.

 

[LesGerber]

I am not real sure which would be the best way to get the sand from the gravel. When I did mine I went to straight sand and did away with the gravel. If your going to do sand in all the tank then I would pull the rock/sand mix and try to wash it all out with tank water. You still ,I feel are going to run the risk of loosing the bateria as you will have the gravel in the air. If you are going to put this grave in another tank then I would mix like 50 /50 with the established gravel you have to help with the bateria.
When you go to total sand you need to remove you UGF, sand and under gravels dont work together, si the bio filtration will be up to the external filters, which can be done.
What ever you do you need to make sure that you get all the sand from the gravel asap and not to use tap water



Les

 

[MamaPish]

The type of gravel/sand I am switching to is not a fine grain sand....it is like a tiny pebble gravel.
I have it in my 55 gal w/ UGF now.
and a few years ago I had a 75 w/UGF in which I used the same stuff. I never suffered any problems with it....it is a small gravel, but not really small enough to penetrate the UGF.

I will probably leave some of the old gravel in the 10 gal...it is the same color, and it blends well...
but I have to get rid of the white.....

I only put 10 lbs in a 29 gal.....so how about if I move all of the white gravel to 1/4 end of the tank, or even transfer it to media bags....and place them under....or on top of new gravel.

Would simply moving the gravel upset the cycle?

My friend is also changing her gravel out too, so all of your advise is very much appreciated here!!


Thanks

Les.....
I saw the pics of your tank done with the sand and I LOVED it.....I would like to try it with my next tank.....what kind of sand do you use?
I looked when at the "big, not so LFS" yesterday and all I saw was marine sand for sale.

 

[LesGerber]

Mama, this stuff is real exspensive.......lol NOT, Go to your local Wal Mart and they should have 2 types of play sand. One is un-sterilized and the other is. Get the Sterilized....it cost me 2.67 a bag, one bag will be more than enough sand for a 29, My 55 used only 1 1/2 bags and I got a good base of sand in it. I owuld say that a bag will give you a great look, through it in a tote or something and rinse it several times real good and just put it in.....So far its been a breeze to keep, last water change I just vacd the crude and dumped the sucked sand back in....real easy......
Now the other stuff you are reffering too is the type of stone that the hobby needs to find again. Alot of fish would benifit from it. As long as the rock cant slip down inside the UGF then its good to go. You can move existing gravel around and even take it out of water fro breif moments.....but not to long, while rinsing it just be careful to not wash it too much as you will knock the bateria off


Les

 

[Tanked]

hmm,

after reading this I almost want sand as substrate for my new tank, no UGF though, hmm, I guess if it is planted heavy enough that there would be no need for it. my only problem is I always seem to spill tank water on the floor during water change. the exhaust on the vac hise works its way out of my bucket and I end up screaming oh $h!t and throwing towels down on the carpet. gravel is too big to fit through vac but gettin g sand out of the carpet, I would need to take stock in hoover to get bulk vaccuum bags.

 

[MamaPish]

Now the other stuff you are referring too is the type of stone that the hobby needs to find again. Alot of fish would benefit from it.

There is only 1 fish store I have seen that sells this gravel...a 50 lb bag is only $10.50.....but If I am not mistaken....I think it is sandblasting sand....is this right?...if so you can probably pick it up at the Depot for about the same as a bag of sand! I love using it, and it is so easy to vacuum, it doesn't go through...just falls back to the bottom...although I have lost 1 garbage disposal and almost another to it, from that every occasional piece that would get through!!

How so do fish benefit from it?



Ok.....I am going to do it.........yall talked me into it...I'm going to be a copycat and try the sand in my 29 gal......why not, !

I have the UGF and the filter that hangs on the side hooked up to it right now, but I have to find a place to put the tank 8) .....right now it is on my kitchen counter, and the filter is hanging off the front, wont fit under the counter!

I know *yuck* ...on the kitchen counter....I had a computer there before I put the tank there ....just to cycle...out of the kids reach.
No food in that part of the kitchen!

 

[Jamnog]

heh heh a little off topic here but hope im not upsetting anyone here but i hear that if you have sand its best not to get catfish with barbs as they can wear them out on the nice fine stuff like sand. i love sand personally excelent for fiddler crabs and vast majority of fish look beutifull. i had sand in a three foot about 9 years ago i think and kinda miss it. one option you could try to put in the sand on top of the gravel... good luck what ever you choose

 

[LesGerber]

Jamnog, it actually the opposite. Cats and other barbed fish do much better in sand over rocks. It is the rocks and their edges that do the damage. My cats and pleco love the sand and they are all the time playing in it.
Mama, I guess we are talking about 2 different things here, the gravel I am reffering too is actually really small gravel for the aquarium. Its about half the size of the stuff you find today. The smaller the gravel the better for the fish as there are alot of breeds that like to dig around at the bottom and they can injury themselves on the edges of larger rocks.
And dont feel bad Mama, I have my baby tanks in the kitchen on the counter.....lol I have officially run out of room in the inn....lol

Tanked.....this is a good time to get the little lady into fish keeping........lol...tell her someone needs to hold the hose in the bucket....lol.You new filter should be able to keep up with it all. As far as sand in the carpet its not really that bad....I hate the smaller gravel cause it works its way back up and it always seems to be at night when I have no lights on....lol

To be honest I am giving serious consideration to having sand in all my tanks....I really love the way they all look

Les

 

[Jamnog]

oppsers caught me out there it looks like i was missinformed i did have sand tho im shure of that and i must say it is lovely to look at and now i know its good for cat fish i thinkin that im gonna swap next time i do a tank to tank overhaul. tho i need a nice big new tank first ... i have the oddest feeling as i write this that im gonna become a fish nut again... i stopped when my red tailed shark died. or at least i think that was the point i stopped.. long time ago

edit : you know the best moment i had was breeding siamese fighting fish allmost by accident. they just went at it alls i remeber was one of them built a bubble nest on the surface in some convinient small leaved .. i think canadien pond weed.. and then it all just happened in front of me and i had the breeding trap ready and ... i think i managed to get several to adulthood and kept one female and one male. thats all i remeber.

 

[Tanked]

alright les, I am sold, sand it is. it will save me some money on substrate and I will not have to buy a ugf for the new tank which will have to wait. my job stuck it to us with no lube today. they gave bonus to all departments except IT. no reason as of yet other than they suck big hairy moose B@ll$. we keep this compay going, everything either runs from linux, unix, our windows server farm or 1 of 4 giant mainframes. they gave the customer service phone reps 1/2 a weeks pay and the back bone nada. hmmmm webpage may be upside down and backwards, e-mail shut off, internet access shut off. not really and sorry for getting off topic but I am still at my desk and needed to RANT

 

[Jamnog]

work the anger out its healthy.
they pay the bull typopeople more because they sell a better line
meh think of the calming fish...well actually think of an oscar eating and guppy
then pretend that the guys who got the raise where guppys...
i think i had better get some sleep ... i am over on the other side of the world you know

edit : it was border line so i changed it
)

 

[LesGerber]

Ok guys, its fine to work out our agression but lets keep the language filters on our posts, We have a good number of younger hobbiests that come her and we like to keep it a place for the whole family..With that said there is a good way to get that raise there Tanked........Accidentally let their server stay down for say maybe 24 to 36 hours.....it will serve as a good reminder to them who gets the job done. The sad thing is this, American companies are about all the same......the ones who do the work always get looked over and ignored, while those who do the least are pampered and spoiled........lol.....Only In America.LMAO

Les

 

[Jamnog]

i think i found something on the catfish thing recreating the natural habitat of catfish tho im shure you gus know all about it allready.small sharp gravel thats the worse apparently a good mix i think is what they recomend but then ive never had a cat fish with this problem did we forget about sand?