Changing substrate ?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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Dilema

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 14, 2011
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Everywhere & Nowere
I think i am going to try a few different colour substrates in my growout tank before i make the final decision on the new 180.

It is currently set up with black gravel, would changing the gravel to sand create a mini cycle or would i be ok ? Maybe i could just add a layer of sand on top of the gravel ? There are 5 Festae in the tank so if changing things around is going to cause any kind of problem i wont bother.

Cheers.
 
I always change half the substate then wait a few weeks before doing the rest. If upgrading the tank I'll fil a couple of media bags with old substrate. Never had problems but never changed all at once either.
 
Switched out the gravel in my 125 not too long ago, just make sure to clean the filters at least a week or two ahead of time and don't touch them for a while after that. I also went and picked up a 10 pack of womens stockings (pantyhose) and placed some of my old substrate in them after washing them out with old tank water (this gave me 5 large balls of old gravel that were 2 stockings thick, so that my Oscars wouldn't tear them open). When doing this make sure to keep your substrate wet/moist and as soon as they are full throw them back in the tank on top of your new substrate. I left mine in for 2 weeks after the gravel swap/75% water change just to make sure that the BB had transfered to the new substrate.

No crashes, no spikes, happy, healthy fishes :)

Also, just a heads up; I found that a new dust pan with a rubber lip was the most effective tool in removing the old gravel.
 
Cheers,

I'm thinking i might just try and add a layer of different colour sand over the top of the gravel. If i don't like it i can hoover the sand back up and the original gravel will still be in there :confused:
 
when mixing sand and gravel, you will find that the sand will sift down below the gravel over time. not sure if it would do it over a short period, but it will sift down.

why not take a photo of your tank with the black gravel, and go into photoshop (or another photo editing program) and play with the settings and just change the gravel colour digitally? yeah, it'll be a digital approximation, but it will give you an idea of what it will look like without having to go to all the work of adding and removing substrate.

as for actually changing the substrate, i've done it a few times in my 55 with no issues at all. i do run some pretty big filtration on there (rena xp4 and an aquaclear 110), so a majority of bacteria are in the filters. i've switched from large gravel to small gravel, then from small gravel to sand, then went bare bottom in that tank without any issues or hits to my bacteria colonies. each switch was done all at the same time, and i didn't touch filters for a while after.
 
BigFishMommy said:
when mixing sand and gravel, you will find that the sand will sift down below the gravel over time. not sure if it would do it over a short period, but it will sift down.

why not take a photo of your tank with the black gravel, and go into photoshop (or another photo editing program) and play with the settings and just change the gravel colour digitally? yeah, it'll be a digital approximation, but it will give you an idea of what it will look like without having to go to all the work of adding and removing substrate.

as for actually changing the substrate, i've done it a few times in my 55 with no issues at all. i do run some pretty big filtration on there (rena xp4 and an aquaclear 110), so a majority of bacteria are in the filters. i've switched from large gravel to small gravel, then from small gravel to sand, then went bare bottom in that tank without any issues or hits to my bacteria colonies. each switch was done all at the same time, and i didn't touch filters for a while after.
Click to expand...

As much as it would be for my personal preference, i would also want to see if the change in substrate colour made any difference to my fish's colour. So photoshop will not be any help.

Thanks, would have been a good idea :thumbsup:

Think i will give it a go for a few days, hopefully that will be long enough to see any benefits to the fish but not so long that the sand sinks.
 
Just changed all of the substrate to pool filter sand in my tank and has no ill effect water parameter wise. I was a little hesitant at first but now I know it shouldn't hurt anything.
 
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