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i took over my sisters tank which i think is about a 20g or a bit larger about 6 months ago..... the fish have been in it for about the same time. My question is..... i want to start the whole thing over..... basically the tank is very fake looking if you know what i mean.....the gravel is bright purple......and it has a lot of dumb looking decorations....... what i want is more of a natural looking tank .....is it possible to remove the gravel and put in a more natural coloured gravel ??? and add some driftwood maybe ???? would this casue to much stress on my fish or loose to much bacteria ????

the tanks occupants are :

6 gold barbs
3 tiger barbs
2 red blue coulumbians
2 black skirt tetras
1 sunset platty
1 red swordtail

Taking out the gravel will screw around with the bacteria, but there are ways to do it. This is what I would do:

Remove the gravel and put it into netting (like a nylon stocking) and hang it in the aquarium. Add new gravel. Keep a close eye on water parameters. Wait a week or two (or however long it takes) for the tank to do a mini-cycle. Then, remove a few decorations and add new ones. Once you make sure that hasn't caused a mini-cycle and everything is fine, remove more decorations and add new ones. Keep doing this until you are satisfied.

I hope this helps and that your tank comes out stunning.

thanks for the idea.......
do u think this could work to........ a friend of mine has a 120g which is beautiful.......im not sure the exact species he has in it, but i know he has a jack dempsey, some african cichlids, clown loaches, etc...
i was wondering if i could give him all of my fish in his tank for about a month or so as i re-did my tank and re-cycled it..........do u think my fish would be ok with his larger fish ??? i mean his ciclids have just had some fry and they are swimming around with no problems.....

see my first post to see my fish

Thanks for anyones help....

i am imagining the small fish being chased around by jack, and eventually eaten... anybody else?

i agree with greenfootball, uumm lunch! i was just wondering what type of filtration do u have on the tank that u want to change?

Your filter is already seeded and if you do as SolubleFish suggested regarding the gravel in the pantyhose you would only go through a mini cycle. I would put your fish in a bucket with your filter media with an airstone and your old water...change over your tank, hook your filter back up and add the fish and old gravel. Keep testing your water parameters and use NIC during your mini cycle. Once you have your gravel changed you can aquascape over time.

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