Want to change out my gravel.... any suggestions on how to do it (freshwater)?

[tdam]

I am tired of my black gravel. i want to go with either crushed coral (the kind for SW tanks) or a tan rocky color gravel.


My tank is running right now. So my question are...

1. Can I do it without removing the fish?

2. Even if i do take my fish out and change the substrate, do I have to be worried about changing the water chemistry and/or will it need to recycle? Or can I put my fish back in shortly after?​

 

[thanh386]

Take fish out, get wife to cook fish while you remove gravel, eat fish while water is being filtered.

 

[jstone]

I would make sure you clean it with a gravel vac really well about a few days before the change so that when you remove the gravel there is not as much waste and debris floating around in the water- I have changed out mine with the fish in the tank - just make sure to keep a portion of the gravel you are removing so that you can leave it in the tank in a few containers ontop of the new substrate for a week or so to help the bacteria re-popluate - I dont know much about crushed coral except that it can change the ph in your water so I would look into that before you do it

 

[miami dolfan]

I have a whole home depot bucket full of never used crushed coral..$65

 

[tdam]

This is a 125 gallon tank. Do you think one bucket will be enough?

Miami Dolfan;785626 wrote: I have a whole home depot bucket full of never used crushed coral..$65

 

[miami dolfan]

Probably not. I don't know how it would look, but maybe the black and white mixed together will look cool.

 

[tdam]

ha, i'm switching over totally. cuz right now, it's black and pink! yea, i said pink.

 

[miami dolfan]

tdam;785650 wrote: ha, i'm switching over totally. cuz right now, it's black and pink! yea, i said pink.

LOL! Too funny!

 

[ecreel1]

I would do a gravel vac and then take out deco & plants leave fish in there and then use a big fish net to scoop out the gravel, put it in a 5 gal bucket and sell it to get some money back....Good Luck!