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Hello all. Right now in my 29 gallon, I have Eco-complete for the planted aquarium. I do not really like it because of how dirty it gets and how some plants do not like it because of its small size. I cant even do a gravel vac. I am not trying to put this product down though, use it with plants that like sand and a tank with a low stock. The tank has been set up for a year with it. I want to switch to Flourite. Can someone take me through the process of switching gravels? Should i buy a bacterial supplement; what kind? I have an idea on how to do it but am not sure. all help will be appreciated.

I plan to change from fake coloured gravel to natural gravel in the spring. The advice I have been given is to take all the fish and plants out and as much of the water as possible,saving the mulm from the tank, into as few/many (large)buckets as possible, hook up the filter and heater on the bucket with the fish in it (the plants will be fine without) and then empty the tank and change the substrate then put it back together. A good gravel vac and saving the mulm that it collects can be put in under the gravel to kick start the new substrate has also been recommended in my readings.

You could also do it the easy way and take a layer of eco off and add a layer of the flourite, they will mix together as you gravel vac. The secret to gravel vac'ing fine stuff is short bursts of suction and skimming the surface.

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You can clean & rinse the new gravel & put it in a bucket. Take all Plants, Fish & Rocks out of the tank & put them in some buckets. Take out the old gravel & replace it with the new one. Remember to leave the filter going, but switch off the heater for safety reasons. After placing back the Plants & Rocks, check the temperature & then put the fish back in the tank. Always leave the filter going, so you will keep all the bacteria in there.


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i will probably be using a 10 gallon trash can for the fish and a 5 gallon bucket for the plants. I dont think that it would be safe to put a HOB filter on a trash can though. I also dont think it would be safe to put a 150 watt here in to gallons of water. I dont think the whole process will take that long or am i wrong. To save time- i will rinse the fluorite out before i tear down the tank. I am sure that there will be a good amount of mulm but should i still use some kind of bacterial additive? Anyone have any suggestions?