Need advice on changing everything in my 10 gallon tank

elCheapo

elCheapo

Small Fish
#1
Jul 11, 2005
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41
Gainesville, FL
#1
I want to change the gravel, as well as fake plants and rocks, etc in my 10 gallon aquarium, pretty much get rid of all the stuff on there (w/c were just crap from petsmart that I shouldnt have gotten in the first place). Do you guys have any suggestions on what type of gravel, rocks, etc to get in order to make a more natural-looking setting. Right now this is what it looks like:



As you can see, the plants are fake, and so are the caves, and I didn't know what the heck was I thinking when I bought blue gravel. My tank has "n00b" written all over it, and I think my fish feel like they live in a department store with the lack of creativity in there. As a start, I'm looking to go with some lighter colored, fine gravel, or even play sand.

Also, will my fish be ok if I go through with the change? I'm planning to just put them all in a bucket while I set everything up (after I've soaked and cleaned the new stuff of course).

***UPDATE:

I got around changing the gravel this weekend, this is how the tank looks now:



I took someone's advice, and decided go with black gravel, and the substrate is a little smaller than the pebble-sized ones I had previously. The fish are ok. Thanks for all the help
 

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M

Mushroomman

MFT Staff
#2
Jan 16, 2004
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Syracuse, NY
#2
What types of fish? They should be fine in a bucket with an airstone, I had mine in a smal cooler with a filter for 3 weeks just recently.

Sand is fine, just make sure to really rinse it well.

If you dont go that route, there is substrates like Eco Complete that has a consistancy of larger sand. The grains are all different sizes, and it helps plant growth but it is dark, with different shades of gray, brown, and black so if you want lighter gravel that wouldnt work out, and it is a bit pricey per bag.

I added rocks I found from beaches, etc, got some really look nice, and I also found my own driftwood that I am stil preparing to put in my tank. You can do plants depending on your lighting, some are hardier and will do without too much special lighting.
 

elCheapo

elCheapo

Small Fish
#3
Jul 11, 2005
16
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41
Gainesville, FL
#3
I have two albino cories, 1 betta, 1 dwarf gourami in my tank. Hopefully, it won't take me more than 1 day to make the change. I was thinking of going to the beach to pick up some rocks too, as much as I'd want to have some driftwood one there, I think it'll be too big for the tank.
 

H

hazee

Medium Fish
#5
Jun 29, 2005
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
#5
Okay call me stupid but it never occurred to me to take the fish out while i revamped the tank. My poor fish are having to go thru a muck storm everytime i try to vacuum and move stuff around. When i clean out the tank without the fish in it can i do a 100% water change if i leave the filter alone?
 

NoDeltaH2O

NoDeltaH2O

Superstar Fish
#7
Feb 17, 2005
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#7
I changed the gravel in my 29 gallon tank in 2 stages, separated by about 2 or 3 weeks, allowing the new gravel to get seeded by the old gravel still in there. I did not remove any fish during the process. You can look at before and after pisc of the tank by clicking on the link in my signature to the "29gallon FW Planted Tank". I started out with very light colored gravel and wanted to switch to some natural (and free) black finer gravel I collected in a local creek. The tank looks way better witht he new gravel as the old stuff was almost compeltely white, and the light colored gravel really showed the waste and mulm. Black gravel always looks clean, no matter how much mulm is in it.
 

E

Exevious

Large Fish
#9
Nov 20, 2003
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North Dallas, Texas
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#9
Fish Friend said:
is there any fish in it ? because when you change the gravel you will be losing half of your bacteria in your gravel, and you will have to let it cycle again, thats what happened to me :)
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You will lose alot of bacteria..

try to keep at least 40 % of that mucky water, and dont change the filter yet...

you should be just fine.

I would siphon vac the gravel first... get a large bucket. I use my kitchen trash can it holds almost 15 gallons of water (remove the liner a make sure its clean)

most of the muck will settle to the bottom, and you can pull the cleaner water from the top when you re-fill the tank. You will still get a little muck, but it also carries your good bacteria..

Your old filter will have that tank cycled with-in a day... once the water passes thru it.
 

revfred

revfred

Superstar Fish
#10
Jun 21, 2003
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#10
In addition to the water you save, keep your filter media wet as well since that contains part of your bacterial colony. If you are eventually going to have live plants, then definitely you should consider a nutrient rich substrate. Personally, I would scratch the sand idea. It becomes compacted after awhile.

One idea you might consider for the cave ... when you choose a gravel you can coat the cave with an aquarium silicone and then roll the cave in the gravel. Let it dry and it will blend in nicely with your gravel.
 

elCheapo

elCheapo

Small Fish
#11
Jul 11, 2005
16
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41
Gainesville, FL
#11
Fish Friend said:
is there any fish in it ? because when you change the gravel you will be losing half of your bacteria in your gravel, and you will have to let it cycle again, thats what happened to me :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, there are 4 fish in it, the picture above shows the tank during it's cycling stage b4 the fishes were added.

My main concern was the gravel too. I'm pretty sure good bacteria is included in my old gravel, and if I make the change all at once, the cycling process has to be started all over again, which is a big "yikes", since I have nothing to keep my fish in except for a bucket. A partial gravel change sounds like a good idea.
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#12
May 16, 2003
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#12
Many fish prefer a darker substrate (gravel/sand etc) over a lighter one...just something to think about :)

You do have a HOB filter on there right...not an undergravel filter? if you have a UGF I definitely wouldn't change more than 1/2 of the rock at once. I'd think as long as you're careful with your HOB filter & media you could change all of your gravel at the same time without too much worry, as most of your bacteria lives in/on/around your filter anyway. Also...nothing says you can't move your HOB to the bucket you're keeping the fish in while you're working on the tank. Just be sure not to put chlorinated water into your tank....dechlor it first so that you preserve as much bacteria as possible. Moving your fish into a seperate container while you're switching gravel sounds like a good idea.....but for whoever brought it up up there, I dont think moving the fish when you're doing normal water changes and tank cleanings is necessary. There should be very few times that you'll actually change all the water in your tank and tear it all apart. BUT if you want to do a huge water change then its kind of a judgement call whether the fish will be more stressed out getting netted and put into a bucket...or more stressed staying in the tank while you work around them.
 

FisheyLisa

FisheyLisa

Large Fish
#15
May 9, 2005
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West Haven, CT
#15
You have the opportuniy to be really nice ot your fish and not have them go through the stress of cycling. Definately keep 1/2 gravel at a time, give it a couple of weeks, then do the rest. Also, any decorations you have, have bacteria. Also your filter has bacteria...those are all the places you can work out a really slow change.

I have read many places that benefitial bacteria doesn't become benefitial until attached then it can metabolize stuff. Saving the water won't help any. I switched my 15 to a 30, brought over substrate to add to new stuff, all old decor, and all old filters...No old water. I had NO cycle. Your situation is a little different, since you want to get rid of stuff, but I'd get rid of one decoration at a time.

Now...for natural...if I can get a pic up, I will post it. Mine is shades of dark brown all the way to tan substrate, with black rocks (smooth from a craft store), living plants, and then a couple of caves, slightly unrealistic, and a couple of flower pots on their side, for other caves, and some plastic, silk plants thrown in. I wish I could have done sand, but that is for the future, and requires a little bit more care than I had to do by just dumping in rocks.

With a betta you'd probably want silk plants, if you don't do real, they look better and won't tear their fins.

How do your betta and D. Gourami get along, have they been tank mates long?
 

elCheapo

elCheapo

Small Fish
#16
Jul 11, 2005
16
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41
Gainesville, FL
#16
FisheyLisa said:
How do your betta and D. Gourami get along, have they been tank mates long?
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They've been in my tank together for over a month now. They stay out of each other's way most of the time. Previously, b4 the gourami was added, I had 4 white skirt tetras, and they would nip at the betta's fins, and all he ever did was just hide, so I had to donate the tetras, and replaced it with the gourami (unaware that sometimes bettas and gourami's don't get along). The betta seems more out and about now, he swims and explores his surroundings more often, while all the gourami ever does is wait for food. Hopefully they remain this way.
 

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