i am hoping to re-arange my tank and need to know what the steps are on doing so. i want to completely remove the gravel and replace it with black gravel/sand. and get a black back-drop with few plants. what would i need to do in removing and replacing the gravel.
New tank set-up steps?
- Thread starter jerzyperson
- Start date
i need to know what i am going to do to re-arrange my fish tank with the new gravel so that my fish don't get too stressed out and die
That would also seriously shock the biological filter, which I think is what he's trying to avoid.
First off, what size tank is it, and what is the stocking, with sizes?
If it's lightly stocked, doing the above will be fine, as long as feedings are reduced for a few weeks.
if it's more heavily stocked, you may have to hang a bag of your old gravel in the tank, just clean it in unchlorinated water first, it will help neutralize the shock to the system some. Still reduce feedings.
The thing here is, that the tank has been fed a certain amount of food reguraly. The beneficial bacteria colonies only grow to that level. When you remove a large portion of that colony, the remaining ones may not be able to process all the waste. It will cycle faster than a freshly set up tank, but it is still going to go through a mini cycle.
So in a nutshell, remove fish, water, gravel, replace gravel, add water, then fish. Be prepared to do water changes more frequently, and test for ammonia and nitrites every day. If you see either of these getting high, do a water change. Note it is better to do more frequent, smaller water changes than a few large ones.
Good luck, and tell us how it goes.
First off, what size tank is it, and what is the stocking, with sizes?
If it's lightly stocked, doing the above will be fine, as long as feedings are reduced for a few weeks.
if it's more heavily stocked, you may have to hang a bag of your old gravel in the tank, just clean it in unchlorinated water first, it will help neutralize the shock to the system some. Still reduce feedings.
The thing here is, that the tank has been fed a certain amount of food reguraly. The beneficial bacteria colonies only grow to that level. When you remove a large portion of that colony, the remaining ones may not be able to process all the waste. It will cycle faster than a freshly set up tank, but it is still going to go through a mini cycle.
So in a nutshell, remove fish, water, gravel, replace gravel, add water, then fish. Be prepared to do water changes more frequently, and test for ammonia and nitrites every day. If you see either of these getting high, do a water change. Note it is better to do more frequent, smaller water changes than a few large ones.
Good luck, and tell us how it goes.
i went and changed the gravel and such, it may have been a bad idea but removing my 9" oscar and 12" pacu is no easy task, especially with a net 3/4 their size. it went great though and the fish are doing great. i also got my tank stock dropped by 3 fish. so not my oscar, pacu, and ocellifer will be able to thrive a little better