Removing Gravel

[ThatCrazyFishLady]

So I've decided to completely redecorate my tank. With my fish already in it. I have gravel in the bottom and plan on changing it out with pool filtration sand. I do NOT want to restart my aquarium cycle drastically, so how should I be removing the gravel? My ornaments are already sitting out of the tank.
I was thinking on changing the gravel 1/4 over the next week, to ease the bioload, and not stress my fish. What are your thoughts and ideas?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I think that sounds like a good plan. Really vacuum the living daylights out of it first or otherwise scoop it out in a way that doesn't release all the built up gunk into the water. How deep is the gravel, and what size? You may have to change water out after and keep carbon in the filter to filter out any nasties released. You probably don't want to change the filter media at all during this time, except changing carbon if necessary, to help prevent a potential cycling issue.

IME, you have to rinse pool filter sand for an incredible amount of time. I thought I rinsed mine well enough and had 20g of silt water I couldn't see through, had to change out 95% of the water and refill carefully to fix the situation. Thankfully that was a new setup so no fish/decor to worry about. So rinse, rinse, and rinse some more before adding it. I've also heard of using a length of PVC pipe or similar to deliver the sand to the bottom of a filled tank. If it were mine, I'd probably take all the gravel out (in stages as you said) before adding the sand afterwards. Otherwise they'll end up mixing and causing frustration.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

What size tank are you working with?

Your other option is to use something to remove all the fish / much of the water / any decor / filter media / anything else in the tank and have it in a bucket, tote, brute trash can, etc. Then take all the gravel out at once, fully clean out the crud that has settled among the gravel, and add the sand to the clean empty tank. Then put everything else back and refill the rest with new water - essentially a big old water change. DEFINITELY don't clean the filter before or after this for a few weeks if you choose this method.

I guess it depends on how much crud is settled into the gravel, and which is the lesser evil - stirring all that crud up into the water column, or taking out a larger chunk of bacteria in one go. If you do the full clean method, maybe having some Prime (or other ammonia neutralizer) on hand would be prudent, in case you do see a mini cycle. And feed lightly for a week or so after the changeover.

 

[ThatCrazyFishLady]

My tank is a 55g bow-front. I have two juv. fire mouths, 1 juv. JD (all juvies are leaving soon, yay), 2 Blood Parrot ciclids and 1 Jack Dempsey. I plan on this being a very, painfully slow process. I was hoping to keep all my fish in the tank, because my JD is hyper sensitive to being moved. My Blood Parrots are just huge, so that's the only struggle there. I just did a vaccuming of the gravel about 3 days ago. The gravel is medium size, and about an inch+. I have 4 filter cartilages, 2 that are pretty new so would that be okay? Hopefully I got all of your questions.
I had rubber ornaments in there, but they're all out now. I plan on adding low-light plants like Anubis, Java Moss and Java Fern. Also, I'm adding riverstone and hardscaping with that. (I'm already in the process of boiling those)

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you've kept up on the vacuuming and esp. if your fish are diggers to help, you'll prob. be fine doing 1/4 at a time like you said. I just know whenever I've broken down / moved a tank, the gunk in the gravel was quite nasty when I got down to it. But that was also big gravel without super regular vacuuming of it. I think your best bet will be to figure a way to scoop it out with any gunk included, and just do small patches at a time so not too much is kicked into the water column. Shouldn't have to worry about the cycle at all that way, as an added bonus.

 

[ThatCrazyFishLady]

I've made a slight change in plans. I went to my local pet store and talked with the managers for a bit. I want to run my second pump on some water in a tuperware container for a few days, and let that water be the water that goes into my tank. Then, I'll take my second tupperware container and house my fish with the water from my tank. Therefore, I should be able to put them in immediately, even if I do a 90% water change because I'll have water from my tank, and water that's been cycling with bateria already. Does this sound alright to you as well?
My only question is, I have a tupperware that is dirty. Would I be able to clean it with just water, and would be it be fine to hold regular water in?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Running the pump on just water is either useless or worse than useless, since the bacteria we want isn't really in the water. It's attached to surfaces - mainly filter media, gravel, decor, plants. Plus if it is without "food" (no fish, no feeding, no ammonia), it will start to starve off. If you're pulling the filter to run on other water for a few days, you could dose that water with the same additive-free ammonia you would use for a fishless cycle, and utilize that to boost up the amount of bacteria in the filter media in that time. That would make up for the bacteria lost from the gravel.

What is the tupperware dirty with? Water and a clean/fish sponge will get rid of easy stuff. I'd maybe clean it with something safe like dawn dish soap if it was anything greasy, then rinse well. Or you could use bleach and then just rinse it really well afterwards and use a dechlorinator on the water you refill it with - dechlorinator will take care of any residual bleach. Should be fine to hold fish water in afterwards.

 

[ThatCrazyFishLady]

I was planning on using my biospheres, and two of my four filter cartilages to help go through the fishless cycle with the other water. For my other holding tub with my tank water and fish, that should be fine, right? I plan on sticking a heater and two bubblers in there and let the fish sit for in it for a day while the sand becomes settled. As for the ammonia, I'll do that. Today I'm getting started on the water without the fish. I cleaned my sand as well, but I'm going to clean it tomorrow as well.
And the tupperware ended up having bits of dirt in it so I just used water and a stern hand to take care of it. I'll keep in mind the dish soap though!

 

[ThatCrazyFishLady]

So, I went along and removed my fish from my tank. I kept all my clean water from my tank; half with my fish, half in a bucket. I removed as much of the gravel as I could by hand, then used my wet/dry shop vac and cleaned up the rest. I left a thin layer of water in the bottom of the tank so I didn't kill anything I needed. The sand was added, and I took a new pair of nylons and put about half a tank worth of gravel in them and set them on top of the sand. I did my hardscaping, and took a strainer and set it on my decorations so I had something to pour water into and help release some of the pressure from the water that would upset the sand. When it was filled with my tank's pre-exsisting water, it was actually very clear. I let the filter run for a hour, and really didn't have to worry about the temp., for it was the same as when I took the water out of the tank. I transferred my fish, and so far so good. It's been about two days, and my nitrate and nitrite are getting along well. No ammonia spike yet. I feel that keeping the nyloned gravel was a good idea, so the bacteria could transfer. I'll post update pictures here in a month or so when the bacteria in the sand can support itself and I can take the nylons out.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I agree - the gravel in nylons is a great idea. I doubt you'll have to wait a whole month to take the nylons out.

 

[FreshyFresh]

If you've kept up on the vacuuming and esp. if your fish are diggers to help, you'll prob. be fine doing 1/4 at a time like you said. I just know whenever I've broken down / moved a tank, the gunk in the gravel was quite nasty when I got down to it. But that was also big gravel without super regular vacuuming of it. I think your best bet will be to figure a way to scoop it out with any gunk included....

What I've done the past few times was, after removing the fish, decor and most of the water, I use a plastic dust pan to scoop out most of the substrate, then shop-vac out the remaining water, substrate and loveliness.

Empty the shop-vac, scrub the empty tank out with plain water and a scrubber pad, shop-vac out again, add new substrate and start up the tank with the old used filters and a panyhose of old gravel.

 

[ThatCrazyFishLady]

Just in case! I would rather be safe than sorry ^^