How do I change substrate?

[pwrflpills]

I'm starting to plant my tank and I've been battling with the substrate that I have - small/medium sized river rock-like pebbles. It doesn't seem ideal for plants, nor does it seem ideal for my panda cories.

I just saw a picture of Emg's 29 gal planted tank and I loved the substrate! The stats say it's "echo-complete substrate for planted tanks" and basically looks like crushed slate.

What does changing your substrate entail? Can anyone give me a basic process so I don't kill my fishies? :help:

 

[Bristlenose Chuck]

Ive done this a couple times. All I did was drain about 1/3 of the tank so that I did'nt splash a bunch of water out during the process. Then I got a big net and started scooping out the rocks. Repeat until all rocks are gone. Then add the new substrate slowly. Never had anyone die on me.

 

[tre8160]

For a small tank I would take a 5g bucket fill it with tank water and place a heater in the bucket. Net the fish and put them in the bucket, drain as much of the rest of the water out as you can and use a dustpan to remove the bulk of the old substrate. I get out everything I can until I can take the tank outside and hose it out. It goes pretty quick.

 

[sayembara]

Agreed with the above siggestion. Transfer the fished / plants into a bucket and work on the tank after removing everything. This may apply to bigger tank too unless you want to get another tank.

 

[pwrflpills]

Ok.

All I'm really worried about is all the junk that has missed the vacuum in the past will get all stirred up and really mess up the water, so I'm not sure if I should leave the fish in with that. Right now I'm planning on leaving some of the exisiting substrate in the tank, but I guess the bucket is best. Thanks!

 

[jazzbass]

I changed out a really ugly teal substrate to fluorite and natural colored gravel. I drained about 1/2 of the tank (25 gal tank) or more into a large rubbermaid container, put an airstone in to keep the water agitated, put all the fish in there.

Then, I vacuumed the gravel really well, left some water in there. I scooped out all but a thin layer of gravel. Then I put down a layer of fluorite and about 2 1/2 inches of gravel. I added about 10 gallons of fresh water and some of the drained-off tank water. After the tank was circulating a little, I planted it and added the fish and the remaining water (until full). The whole process took about 2 hours, and I didn't lose any fish. I do have a biowheel on it. And I did replace most of the plastic plants at first for the bacteria content. Over the course of another week or three, I gradually replaced the remaining plastic plants with live plants and driftwood.