Mature Tank Emptied

[JL94x4]

Ive just started changing from Gravel to sand, and iv had no choice but to empty the tank fully. (Not cleaning the filter, and its still sat in tank water atm in a bucket) but the fish are also in a seperate bucket with their tank water, just waiting for the tank to empty before i fill it up then put sand in with the bottle method, then...... i'll put the fish back in (will be the EXACT same tempature.......) will this be bad for the fish?

Yes
No

What effects will it have if yes? Thank-you.

 

[Man of fish]

Yes- if it's not at least 25-50% old water the ph could have drifted and or hardness changed so it would stress the fish out

 

[fluttermoth]

I doubt if the fish will be that stressed, tbh, unless your maintenance regime is very poor. I'd put the sand in, get as much old tank water in as possible, add the fish, and then gradually top up with new water.

I don't have much faith in this 'bottle' method, especially if the fish aren't in the tank anyway.

 

[Xraymark]

Acclimate the fish back into the tank. You can test both sets of water if concerned about PH.

 

[JL94x4]

Right the bottle method was brilliant. Ive just tested the new tank water and im getting

Amonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 10

the PH is 6.5 and its also 6.5 in the old water (i use PH Balancer)so im just going to put them in a bag and do a water drip of the new water into the old. Hopefully they'll be fine Pictures coming soon!! Love the sand!!

 

[Man of fish]

Wait did you just mix that up nitrIte 10 and nitrAte 0?? Or is it other way around?
Also do you care to share the bottle methed?

 

[JL94x4]

Yes sorry I did, I was trying to tidy up at the same time as updating the thread,

Basically you fill the tank up with water, no substrate, when tank is full get a regular bottle, 500ml any will do preferably with a small top, like a cola bottle, fill with DRY sand, it must be dry sand, it doesn't matter about the bottle inside being wet, get yourself a funnel to put the sand in, leave about 2cm at the top without sand, place bottle upright in sand let it fill with bubbles so all air is replaced with water, once you see no more bubbled (usually 1-2min) slowly tilt the bottle, clean sand comes out, muck/water stays in the bottle!!

Hope this helped too

 

[Man of fish]

No washing?

 

[onidrase]

Yes- if it's not at least 25-50% old water the ph could have drifted and or hardness changed so it would stress the fish out

I usually do several 75% water changes in order to remove medications after treating sick fish- and the fish don't act severely stressed about it. My tank is also heavy in driftwood, so the pH is slightly lower in the tnan than the tap.

Basically, no. You don' need to have old water. Just matched temperature.

Unless, of course, your tank water is like 6.0 pH and the tap water is like 7.5. Then you might have an issue.

No washing?

Basically what the bottle method does is cause the heavy particles of the sand to sink down into the tank, while dirt and fine particles which would muck up the water stay inside of the bottle, as they're trying to float up and out rather than down to the bottom.

 

[Man of fish]

Hmm I shall try that on my qt tank since I'm switching that over to show my dad sand looks good
Also I meant to say 10%-25% but my mind trailed off. Oh ok I didn't think it was safe to really do a 100% change

 

[OldMan47]

You are doing fine JL94. I sometimes have water quality problems with a new tank and do not hesitate to do a 95% water change. The bucket you have is probably more than 5% of the tank total so you should be fine. What I call a 95% water change is where I drain the tank so far the fish have trouble swimming upright in the remaining tiny puddles, then I add back fresh dechlorinated and temperature matched water. The fish always look better right after that kind of a water change than they did before I started.