# change substrate in established tank



## dubltrubl (Apr 21, 2014)

hi. want to change the whole setup inside my tank.getting rid of flowerpots and resin and replace with natural stone,driftwood and live plants.its 65 gallons.would like to know if I can just cover my lite coloured gravel substrate with new black gravel or should I remove the existing.if I have to remove ,I was thinking of doing half at a time.whats in there now is about 3 in.thick and would be very messy and could harm my fish.I am hoping thats its ok to just cover over.whadda ya think?


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## pdoutaz (May 13, 2010)

When I did that - I completely drained the tank - removed the old - cleaned the tank - then put new substrate in and 50% of the original water - had no issues at all (except for the work of course)
And of course retained thew original filters


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## dubltrubl (Apr 21, 2014)

I'M assuming you removed fish how long til you put them back in tank?


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## pdoutaz (May 13, 2010)

all total - they where out of tank for about 4 hours - in a big tupperware tub with an airstone - tank was a 120G - so took a while


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## Rockman (May 19, 2013)

dubltrubl said:


> I'M assuming you removed fish how long til you put them back in tank?


Not long. Just keep them out long enough to replace the gravel and then get the water temperature/chemistry stable.

If you want to go planted I'd suggest you have a look at proper plant substrates rather than plain gravel. It's one of the best ways to improve your success with plants.


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## Bobsidd (Dec 28, 2012)

Plant substrates are well worth the money, but be careful putting them in an established tank as some (most noticeably aquasoil) can leech a lot of ammonia which could harm the inhabitants. If you went this route you should age the substrate first.



Rockman said:


> Not long. Just keep them out long enough to replace the gravel and then get the water temperature/chemistry stable.
> 
> If you want to go planted I'd suggest you have a look at proper plant substrates rather than plain gravel. It's one of the best ways to improve your success with plants.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

Eventually your light coloured gravel will mix with your black - with fish rooting around, moving plants around and you should be doing some gravel siphoning in the non planted portions of the tank with that depth of substrate. If you don't think you'll like that look, I'd spend the time clearing out all the old substrate first.


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## dubltrubl (Apr 21, 2014)

it makes sense that the gravel would work its way up through the sand.do it now or do it later with sand mixed with gravel.one nasty job.sure hope fish will be ok.wondering if I should reuse all the tank water rather than do a 50%change.could drain water into clean plastic garbage can.place fish in there with bubblers.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

Have you been vacuuming/cleaning your gravel? If you have, I'd just leave the fish in there, but if you haven't I'd probably take the fish out and then do the gravel switch over. You might go through a mini cycle/bacteria bloom when you replace your gravel there's good nitrifying bacteria in the gravel bed.


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## dubltrubl (Apr 21, 2014)

i have been cleaning off the bottom but theres so many ornaments and clutter it difficult to get it all.one of the reasons to change it all around.I want to put a black sand substrate back in.when the vacuum hits the bottom theres a cloudy puff that rises up.Im sure taking out the ornaments and fake plants will cloud the water.I do weekly water changes of 25%.drilled small hole in the floor to run syphon hose down to laundry sink in the basement.lots of suction on vacuum.


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## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

This is how i removed my sand

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/freshwater-chat-9/python-water-change-sand-removal-31769/


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## dubltrubl (Apr 21, 2014)

that seems like a very easy way to go.thing is i am removing gravel and replacing with sand.gravel is pretty small.python hooked up in basement to laundry sink,so has strong flow.gonna try sucking up gravel little at a time and hope it dont clog.love the ferrets.maybe if it gets clogged send baby in to ferret it out.groan.


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## kacairns (Apr 10, 2012)

I took near 200lbs of eco-complete out of a running tank, took me about 5 hours total with a siphon setup. I ran it into a bucket and had a 2nd hose with a prefilter from the bucket with a siphon going into the sump of the tank. Had to of course have like 4 or 5 buckets to fill! worked rather well but I'd never do it again!


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