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would i be able to competely change the inside of my 55 gallon malawi tank i have 7 malawi cichlids and one pleco in there would i be able to take everything out and get new driftwood plants and gravel or would that put to much stress on the fish and if i can where would i have to put them and for how long would they have to stay in there

I have change gravel to a finer substrate in my 29g before without noticable side-effects. I tested the water every day for 3 day and then on the fifth day and saw no mini-cycle at all. If you want to change out the gravel and decoration and you are worried, just change out half the gravel one week and change out the other half in another week. I did this gravel change with the fish still in the tank. I used a small fish net as a gravel scoop(it worked awesome). Then I flushed the new substrate throughly and put in the tank. It would probably be better to leave the water and fish in the tank as you redecorate, maybe do on a day that you water change and gravel vac . I would not recommend using driftwood in the african tanks as it lower the ph and soften the water. I would however change the gravel to a fine substrate that would harden the water. Most malawi cichlid appreciate a finer substrate.

Last edited by openwater at 30-Oct-2004 02:26

Last edited by openwater at 30-Oct-2004 02:28