Ya could do just take out a handfull or so daily if you don’t mind it potentially being cloudy. If so you could do daily small water changes after taking it out.
Substrate change
- Thread starter huntery18
- Start date
-
- Tags
- jack dempsey substrate
Beneficial bacteria lives on all surfaces of your aquarium and a good portion of that lives in your substrate. If you remove it all at once you run the risk of crashing your cycle. Removing a little once a week during water changes will ensure that doesn’t happen. I think the Fish nailed.
i have a large amount of decorations as well as live plants, would leaving some in and covering it with sand be better or just pointless
leave in as much as you can....bacteria live on all of it!! I would leave a few handfuls of gravel to help " seed" your sand.
i used a 20 lb bag for my aquarium instead of the suggested 40 so my rocks are already at a thin layer, do you think id be better off just putting sand right over top?
dude i always just get a kitty litter scoop and dig it all out. then you can vacuum the leftover crap and dust left from the gravel, then replace as desired.
i've done this to damn near every tank i own at some point with fish inside, they get a little jumpy but seem fine 30 minutes later....
my Oscar is the only one that gets mad about it
a group will have no issue getting back to equilibrium
i've done this to damn near every tank i own at some point with fish inside, they get a little jumpy but seem fine 30 minutes later....
my Oscar is the only one that gets mad about it
a group will have no issue getting back to equilibrium
I agree with the bacteria aspect, and the anti-stress aspect, i just dont always conform
But.........I am a firm believer that you should ALWAYS have a cycled sponge filter in your tank which would more than suffice to keep a 6 pack of juvenile fish good for a few days to week with watched parameters....(in the event that removing the gravel crashed your system [unlikely] )
But.........I am a firm believer that you should ALWAYS have a cycled sponge filter in your tank which would more than suffice to keep a 6 pack of juvenile fish good for a few days to week with watched parameters....(in the event that removing the gravel crashed your system [unlikely] )
astrocreep
i honestly may just vacuum my rocks really well and just remove a layer of rocks then put my sand over top
just roll up your sleeves and scoop it out, show em who has the pellets
get a 15 - 20 gallon plastic bin at a store like Target or HD. Drain a good amount of water into the tub and move the fish in there. Empty the rest of the water out and with a big dust pan take out the gravel. Refill with new sand and water that is close to temp and then place the fish back in. If done at a regular work pace the fish shouldn't be in the bin for more then 1 hour which is totally fine.
