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I have been thinking of changing the gravel in my 55 from black to a more natural stone. Is it OK to change is all at once? Its been up and running for almost 2 years. I think the black gravel "sucks" the colors from the fish if you know what I mean, plus the gravel is beat up and has alot of white chipped of marks.

Thanks

You can chage the gravel all @once however it will be a bit of a process so plan it as an all day project.

Pre wash your new gravel (according to directions on whatever you're getting of course ).

Net out fish into large container...a rubbermaid tote comes in handy in this case...and move your filters to the temporary tank.

Then remove your old substrate, save some in some shallow containers or in a pair of clean nylons. Your old substrate has alot of your bacteria that keeps your tank stable. Removing such a large ammout of it as you would by removing the substrate Will put your tank in minicycle.

Place your new substrate in, then place the shallow containers of your old substrate or the nylons in the tank. These should remain for 3-4 weeks or more just to help keep the tank stable. If you have some Cycle or biospira a dose of that will help.

Let the fish explore their redesigned home.

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Thank you Babelfish...I knew it would be a chore to say the least...so I can just leave some of the old gravel in the bottom of the tank instead of putting containers of it "in" the tank?

Last edited by songbird1963 at 21-Jan-2005 09:57

If you put new ontop of old you're likely to kill the bacteria instead of keeping it to help populate the new substrate. Additionally the two substrates will mix as you do gravel vacs in the future. So unless you want a mixed look your safest approach is as I outlined above. The containers only need to be in there for a month, and can be hidden behind some decor.

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Cool...thank you very much for the information!

I changed out the gravel in my 150 gallon tank, and it took me all together about 3 hours. first, I did a very thorough gravel vac to minimize the amount of gunk that would be stirred up from removing the old gravel. In doing so I also took out about 25% of the water in the tank. Then, I removed the old gravel and took out another 25% of the water. Next I rinsed the new gravel and then put it in the tank. Refill the tank, turn the filters back on and I was done. I did not remove the fish from the tank. Within an hour or so all was back to normal.

When I have changed gravel before I have done the same thing as Jason. I just did half at a time, so the fish could hide on the side with the decor. A small fish net works well to scope gravel out.

Good Tips...thanks. I was trying to avoid taking out the fish...

no problem. as openwater said, do one side first and then the other. this way the fish will be able to hide on the half you're not working on. this will be stressful to the fish, but imo no more stressful than netting them all and holding them in a bucket or other temp. container during the process. my fish stayed hidden for about (guessing here) 15-20 min. after I was done, but then they were out and about like normal.