Changing Gravel

[Fishkeepa]

Hi

I brought a complete set up and have had it for two months now but i want to change the gravel as it is fruit salad coloured and i want a more natural colour. How should i go about doing this. It is a small 35 x 35 tank with 12 fish and plants. I'm thinking i'de have to do it a small amount every week or something like that

Cheers

[ryanjury]

I dont see why you couldn't do the whole lot at once. As long as you have an extablished filter and save some of the original tank water you should be sweet.. You could just use big bucket for your fish (I use a babies bath) leave your filter/heater going in there while you do it..

[DiverJohn]

Ryan is right... by the time you put the water in a bucket you will have plenty of room for you fish. Plants will be fine out of the water for an hour - just put them in a shoping bag and they will survive.

Then just change the gravel, put back the old water, and top up with clean water, easy peasy...

[Fishkeepa]

its a small internal filter that has a carbon box and a filter sponge (it looks like mesh) that is established no under gravel filter but i guess that could be the time to put one in so its all go

[Fingol]

Just don't forget to unplug your heater as you move it from the tank to the baby bath...you'll only forget to do it once. :oops:

[Alan]

Don't forget to wash your new gravel thoroughly before putting it in the new set up.

Alan 104

[sharn]

i wouldnt bother about putting a UG filter in, theyre hard to look after unless you really know what your doing. stick with internals or externals, so much easier IMO

[whetu]

I agree with everything they said up there ^^ including not bothering with the under-gravel filter. For a planted tank you'd be better to concentrate on having a nice deep substrate and (depending on your plants) maybe some laterite balls under heavy root feeders. A complete gravel change is the ideal time to do this.

You could also collect up some of the old gravel and put it in mesh bags in the bucket where you're keeping the fish etc. Then put the mesh bags in the newly-gravelled tank until everything settles again. There will be a lot of helpful bacteria in the top layers of the old gravel and they will help seed your new gravel. (I use those zip-up bags you use to put delicates in the washing machine. Maybe that's a girl thing :lol: )

[Fishkeepa]

Well i did it today and alls good so far. I added some new rocks and plants. Hopefully can get some pics up later. I didnt get a UG filter though.

Thanks for all your help

[Caper]

You could also collect up some of the old gravel and put it in mesh bags in the bucket where you're keeping the fish etc. Then put the mesh bags in the newly-gravelled tank until everything settles again.

What a neat idea

Looking forward to your pictures Fishkeepa!

[Fishkeepa]

how long would do you think i should leave the bags in there for?

I'm thinking 2 weeksish

[Fishkeepa]

Will upload some more pics later but here is my bristlenose on a pea - you can see in the corner in the mesh bag the old gravel

A Blurry photo of my tank after the gravel change. You can see the neons and glowlights (none of which have ever been eaten by the two Angels) and my angels

Neons and a glowlight

My pride and joy

I have taken out the Gravel bag after 2 weeks and have got two new plants: a cabomba - remindes me of La Bamba, and an amazon sword. The other new plant was a dwarf amazon sword plus the unknown one on the left. There is also a new rock. Hopefully these will grow tall for a back ground feature - the plants not the rock :lol:

[Caper]

Really, really, really nice, Fishkeepa

I thought that was a great idea about the old gravel in the bag thingy that whetu recommended, and obviously it worked :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Fishkeepa]

Thanks Caper 8)

My next expedition will be getting a proper aquarium light

What range fluro should i get? I read plants need blue and red-orange

I have just got enough money for one :bounce:

[Faran]

did you happen to buy them new plants off TradeMe? Sounds like a batch I shipped out not too long ago What size tank do you have? I have some lights here in new and lightly used condition. If you meant you were going to get a new bulb then I have advice for that too.

[Fishkeepa]

it a 35cm x 35cm base and 50 high. I need to get the whole thing (bulbs/fluros and the thing you plug them into) as far as lighting goes because im currently just using a household lamp. I was wondering what range i should cover as well. I brought those plants from Animates Kaiwharawhara. I should have brought them from Trade me as they were quite expensive.

[whetu]

That tank's looking gorgeous, fishkeepa! I'm glad the mesh bag idea worked for you.

I use lights of about the 5000 - 6500k range. If you have an existing standard light fitting (bayonet or screw-in bulb) you could buy a daylight spectrum energy-saving bulb from the Warehouse and use that instead. But that's really only a temporary measure, as you're unlikely to get the wattage you would need to penetrate water of that depth. The highest wattage I can find in them is 25watts.

Please note: you need DAYLIGHT bulbs, not warm white bulbs.

[Fishkeepa]

currently have that 'warm white' but i'm working on saqving for a proper lights and fittings. i have found that plants grow quite well under the current light.

[whetu]

If the plants grow well under the warm white, they'll grow even better under the daylight bulb. They only cost $4 or $5 each so I think one would be worth the investment until you get a permanent setup. Then you can just use the energy-saver bulb to replace one of your household lightbulbs.

I custom-made my tank lights and they all take the energy-saver bayonet bulbs. Way cheaper than the tubes and I can get more wattage on the tank than I could with tubes. And excellent plant growth.

[Fishkeepa]

I have switched to a energy saving bulb which the plants seem to love. I sold my angels (after they ate 2 of my neons) and now have

5 Neons - just recovered from whitespot :bounce:

4 Glowlights

1 BN Catfish

1 Kuhli Loach - I love the way it swims :bounce:

I might look to get a Betta as the top level of my tank is very empty.

Thanks for everyones feedback.