switching substrate

[caterpillar5]

Im planning to switch from gravel to sand soon, i was just wondering how do i go about it without stressing the fish out too much? And how do i do it without disturbing too much beneficial bacteria... Im runnning an aqualear 150 and a sponge filter at the moment. Got 6 pandas and a betta
This is what i thought i'd do, please tell me if you have better ideas, thx.
I was going to syphon out some water into a bucket and put an airstone in it and net the fish out into there... then i will continue to syphon the rest of the water out. After i have done so i will put my filter media and decors into another bucket with half the syphoned water out. Then finally i will remove the gravel... putting half of it into a stocking and then keeping that into one of the buckets of syphoned water also. i will clean the bottom of the glass removing any debris or food. Then i will add the sand (obviously i would have washed it before i started this). I will add about an inch of sand for the tank... then the water (dechlorinated and left to age maybe 2-3 days before use) then finally i will replace my decor and my filters... turn the heater back on. Chuck the stocking in one corner on the sand. Wait for the sand to settle, then turn on the filters. Wait for temp to go to appropriate temp. Then add the fish finally...
What are your thoughts? If im doing anything wrong, pls let me know.

 

[freddyk]

There is no right or wrong, but with those stocking levels it sounds a little overcomplicated. As long as your filters are established, they'll be housing the majority of the bacteria anyway, so you can just get rid of the gravel. This is how I did it with no problems.

-moved the fish and filters to a holding container, continued running the filters there.
-scooped out the gravel. Replaced with well rinsed sand.
-topped off the water, let the sand settle for a couple of hours (for the protection of the aquaclear) and transfered fish and filters back to the tank.

That's all it took. I syphoned out enough water to remove the heaviest gunk on the bottom, but there's no reason to replace all of it, or to wait 2 days.
The whole process didn't take very long for me, the fish were back in their home, happy as a fat kid eating popcorn, and the bio-filter remained stable - and my tank was much more heavily stocked then yours is too.

This is just the method that worked for me, good luck