New Gravel/sand/etc

[IanGenna]

hi guys have a 4 foot tank but am not liking the gravel that is on the bottom, what is the best method for changing it for new.

Think the gravel is main reason water doesn appear as clear as it should aswell.

Does anybody have any mehtods of changing the gravel? or is it a case of taking out the fish, emptying the water and taking out the gravel?? (someone please say no)

 

[pandey22]

No it does't have to be that way. If you remove all the fish and add all the new gravel/sand at a time you are going to kill all the beneficial bacteria in your tank...it would start the entire nitrogen cycle again and it would cause your fish a lot of stress.
what i suggest you do is replace 1 feet of gravel everytime you do a water change this gives time for beneficial bacteria that are on your old gravel to move onto the new one. i know it would take a long time but its worth it.

 

[Rooster]

I would just scoop it out... give it a clean first, or the tank will be full of "chicken soup" then scoop it out with your hand, or a plastic mug etc....

If you could lift it with a syphon, that would be DEAD easy ! (return the water to the tank)

Theres no need to remove the fish OR water IMO

 

[IanGenna]

yeh think i will try do it by taking out all the ornaments, giving it a good clean and scooping the gravel out as you say! not gonna be a leasant job but i think the gravel is a bit old now and the water doesnt appear as clear as it should be!

thanks guys

 

[Rooster]

get a length of hose pipe.... i bet it will suck the gravel out !

 

[Schmill]

Have to say, when I did it I did the whole, "remove fish, remove gravel & water, refill, replace fish" route as I have a planted tank, and once the bottom layers of gravel started to be disturbed to water started to seriously cloud up. It wasn't so much that it might harm the fish, (although it might), but more because I couldnt see through the water and didn't want to risk scooping a fish out!
Mine is a 4ft 300L tank, and it didn't take too long to do to be honest, and I just kept the filter (external) running in a bucket to keep the water flowing through the filter.
Oh and unless you are running an undergravel filter you can likely ignore what Pandey22 has said above, as the majority of your benficial bacteria takes up residence in the high flow, highly oxygenated media of your filter, not in the gravel bed.

 

[pandey22]

yes Schmill is right you only have to do that if you have an undergravel filter.