How Can I Remove My Old Gravel And Put In New Gravel Without Removing

[lewis burnett]

Hi everyone, I know it seems a daft question but how can i remove the gravel in my fishtank now and replace it with a nicer cleaner looking gravel, or sand WHICH IS BETTER. I wanted to do this with my fish still in the tank beccause i dont have a spare tank to put them in. THANKS ?

 

[arobinson1984]

You cant do it with the fish still in the tank, it would result in either too much stress or injury to the fish.

Simplest thing to do is empty some tank water into a large bucket and put the fish in the bucket, cover the bucket so its dark. They should be fine in there for an hour or so just dont leave them too long.

If you are completely changing the water as well as gravel, make sure you float the fish in a bag of old tank water on the top to climatise them as you would when adding new fish.

Andy

 

[deathy]

If you havent already get a fish bucket, dont use the one to mop the floor, fill the bucket with water from the tank and put all the fish in there,

they will be fine for a good few hours.

take out all plants ornaments etc, then get a gravel cleaner and suck up all the dirt from the current gravel, this will minimize the amount of dirt in the tank. make sure you turn of heater and filter. or use a hose pipe, you will suck half the gravel up if you use a hose pipe and wont clean as well.

then take all the gravel out, clean the new gravel, keep cleaning even if it looks clean, then just pop that in the tank, add all your ornaments plants etc, top up the water if needed and turn back on the heater and pump, leave for about an hour to let the majority settle then add the fish.

then say every other week get the gravel cleaner out and let it do its work, this will keep your gravel clean, if you dont know how to use one, ask a demo at your lfs or take a look on you tube.

hope this helps.

 

[lewis burnett]

If you havent already get a fish bucket, dont use the one to mop the floor, fill the bucket with water from the tank and put all the fish in there,

they will be fine for a good few hours.

take out all plants ornaments etc, then get a gravel cleaner and suck up all the dirt from the current gravel, this will minimize the amount of dirt in the tank. make sure you turn of heater and filter. or use a hose pipe, you will suck half the gravel up if you use a hose pipe and wont clean as well.

then take all the gravel out, clean the new gravel, keep cleaning even if it looks clean, then just pop that in the tank, add all your ornaments plants etc, top up the water if needed and turn back on the heater and pump, leave for about an hour to let the majority settle then add the fish.

then say every other week get the gravel cleaner out and let it do its work, this will keep your gravel clean, if you dont know how to use one, ask a demo at your lfs or take a look on you tube.

hope this helps.

Yes thanks i shall go buy some gravel at weekend. But whats the best gravel to use or is sand any better.

 

[arobinson1984]

Sand in my opinion looks better, is cheaper and is kinder to bottom dwellers.

Drawbacks to sand is that it can look messy as waste builds up on it because waste sits on the top of sand in comparison to gravel where waste falls between gravel pieces so you dont really see it.

If you decide to go to sand, argos play sand would be your best bet at about £2.50 for a 15kg bag

ALSO as I mentioned before, when you refill your tank with new water, try temperature match it to the old water as best you can, dechlorinate and most importantly, make sure you float the fish on top for an hour in a bag of the OLD tank water and add a cup of the new tank water to the bag every 15/20 mins

Andy

 

[Bobtastic]

Wooo.... If you decide on sand, u have all the different colour options! Argos play sand is good cos it's cheap! but if it's not the colour you want to compliment the aquascape it won't matter how cheap it is it wont look right...

 

[pippoodle]

homebase play sand is aquarium safe aswell and comes in purple , red and green
i'm getting some red for a betta tank

 

[lewis burnett]

Sand in my opinion looks better, is cheaper and is kinder to bottom dwellers.

Drawbacks to sand is that it can look messy as waste builds up on it because waste sits on the top of sand in comparison to gravel where waste falls between gravel pieces so you dont really see it.

If you decide to go to sand, argos play sand would be your best bet at about £2.50 for a 15kg bag

ALSO as I mentioned before, when you refill your tank with new water, try temperature match it to the old water as best you can, dechlorinate and most importantly, make sure you float the fish on top for an hour in a bag of the OLD tank water and add a cup of the new tank water to the bag every 15/20 mins

Andy

Can you still use a gravel siphon on sand, If not how can you clean sand.

 

[drobbyb]

You hover the end above the sand. Be careful not to get too close or you will suck the sand out of the tank.

 

[minxfishy]

Dont see why you cant just do the change over with the fish in the tank, Ive done it that way plenty of times, saves an awful lot of fuss and frankly stress on the fish being netted/bagged etc.

Whilst doing a 50% water change, give the current gravel a thorough cleaning. Then with the fish still in the tank (and the remaining 50% of water) use a fish net (or whatever you want to scoop) to take out the gravel, sure it will create a bit of mess in the water, but hardly enough to bother the fish.

Then place the clean gravel/sand, turn off your filter at this point if adding sand to stop it going in the filter, into the tank, replace ornaments etc and top up with water, turn back on filter/heater etc, it may be cloudy for a few days, if so, add some extra filter floss to the filter.

 

[lewis burnett]

Dont see why you cant just do the change over with the fish in the tank, Ive done it that way plenty of times, saves an awful lot of fuss and frankly stress on the fish being netted/bagged etc.

Whilst doing a 50% water change, give the current gravel a thorough cleaning. Then with the fish still in the tank (and the remaining 50% of water) use a fish net (or whatever you want to scoop) to take out the gravel, sure it will create a bit of mess in the water, but hardly enough to bother the fish.

Then place the clean gravel/sand, turn off your filter at this point if adding sand to stop it going in the filter, into the tank, replace ornaments etc and top up with water, turn back on filter/heater etc, it may be cloudy for a few days, if so, add some extra filter floss to the filter.

HI THERE, I was thinking in doing this because it means allot less fuss and stress for the fish however it can make it a bit more time consuming when there is fish still in the tank because you would be trying your hardest not to harm them in any way.

 

[minxfishy]

Well they will move out the way, work from one end of the tank to the other. Your choice, just telling you how I do it, never had a fish hurt in the process. Lot quicker than trying to catch the blighters.

 

[lewis burnett]

Sand in my opinion looks better, is cheaper and is kinder to bottom dwellers.

Drawbacks to sand is that it can look messy as waste builds up on it because waste sits on the top of sand in comparison to gravel where waste falls between gravel pieces so you dont really see it.

If you decide to go to sand, argos play sand would be your best bet at about £2.50 for a 15kg bag

ALSO as I mentioned before, when you refill your tank with new water, try temperature match it to the old water as best you can, dechlorinate and most importantly, make sure you float the fish on top for an hour in a bag of the OLD tank water and add a cup of the new tank water to the bag every 15/20 mins

Andy

Would childrens play sand be ok to put in a tank. Sorry about keep asking you questions its just that i dont know whether its fish freindly.

 

[arobinson1984]

The argos play sand or the homebase play sand are fine as long as they are washed correctly.

Fill half a bucket with sand and put a hosepipe in it, turn on the water to fill the bucket and let the water overflow out of the bucket (recommend you do it outside lol) using your hand to stir the sand. Keep stirring the sand up until the water that is overflowing the bucket is running out clear without any mess.

Empty sand out and do again with another load

Andy

 

[hunter001]

homebase play sand is aquarium safe aswell and comes in purple , red and green
i'm getting some red for a betta tank

Yep, the homebase sand is perfectly safe. Ive got purple in my betta tank, the cories ive got in there love it compared to the gravel they had to put up with in my main tank.