removing gravel

[jonnyfisho]

i have my jardini in a 4ft tank atm, i want to take out all the gravel but i only have a 40L tank to put the jar in while i take all the gravel out and let the water clean itself for a bit.


whats the best way to do this?

 

[bigspizz]

With your net....Just scoop it out...Takes no time at all....Some will say a clean dust pan...Use the net....

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

With your net....Just scoop it out...Takes no time at all....Some will say a clean dust pan...Use the net....

yea what spizz said and you shouldnt even need to remove the Jar


which BTW wont last long at all in your 4 foot tank...especially if its a 55 gallon

 

[batang_mcdo]

for any gravel thats left you can use a hose to remove water together with the remaining gravel.

 

[jonnyfisho]

yeah alright ill give it a crack


yeah its around a 55 gallon, ill upgrade when it gets a bit bigger, its only around 5"

when it hits 10" ill get a 6ft

 

[jonnyfisho]

done and done, water went real real murky for bout 20 minutes after i started it but a 30% water change afterwards helped alot and now, 45 minutes later it is almost completly clear again. Cant believe how much crap and dirt came out with the gravel. Disgusting.fish seems to be alright, not too stressed. When the water was murky, could that affect it at all?the fish

 

[ziggy2]

They should be fine. I would do another water change.

 

[gonnelro]

I would keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrites, your gravel doesnt have a lot of surface area for BB, but it does house some BB, and your filter will have to compensate by growing more BB to compensate. Ive heard of people doing this and getting ammonia spikes and having fish die. Just keep tabs on it with testing and frequent water changes for a good while.

 

[Paullywolly]

I would keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrites, your gravel doesnt have a lot of surface area for BB, but it does house some BB, and your filter will have to compensate by growing more BB to compensate. Ive heard of people doing this and getting ammonia spikes and having fish die. Just keep tabs on it with testing and frequent water changes for a good while.

Agreed. Your gravel can house mroe BB than you think, and it will upset the balance in your tank no doubt. Reduce feedings for a few days til your filter catches up.

 

[twhittle]

If the tank is 100% cycled, then removing gravel should do nothing to the parameters. I move cycled filters to new tanks all the time. The "instant cycle" method should work. I just took all the gravel out of my 210 and replaced it with sand. No change in parameters. Ammonia spikes shouldn't happen unless they rinsed the filter media in tap water.