changing gravel

[josue25]

hi i was wanting to change my gravel
but i wanted to no if its possible t change it with the fish stil in the tank ?


and if i can how can i do this

 

[EVAN YUNCK]

HOW BIG IS THE TANK? WHATS IN IT?

 

[thepede]

yes, you can...i've done it 4 times...gravel to sand, sand to gravel, gravel to gravel...fish in the wild live in some pretty murky environments and the water from a gravel change will be murky for an hour or two until the gunk settles - which has a lot of beneficial bacteria in it. Don't change water for a week so that the bacteria has a chance to inhabit your new substrate and monitor your ammonia and nitrite for the next week or so because you may get a spike in those. I used a NEW cat litter scoop depending on the size of the gravel...or a spoon with holes in it from the dollar store. good luck

 

[nfored]

I would only be worried if you where replacing it with sand. Even then as suggested above it should be fine if you can physically do it. If your replacing it with sand be sure to shutdown all filters until the sand settles.

 

[thepede]

thanks for the input...one little detail i left out. i found out the hard way what sand can do to an impeller. Lesson learned...wet the sand first and then scoop it out placing it as far down in the tank as possible...dry sand will "float" until wet. also, decrease stress on fish by removing/ replacing one side at a time.

 

[josue25]

yeah i want to change gravel to gravel but thanks for this good info

btw i have a 5 foot tank with arowana