Changing Substrate

[grishka]

Hello, I would like to change the substrate in my tank. I have a 55 gallon planted tank with discus. Plants I have are swords, val and java ferns. I have regular gravel in it and would like to change this to the substrate that aquariumplants.com sells. (Two reasons for doing this.....the gravel I currently have is ugly and the new substrate would be better for my plants.) Any adivce on how to do this with minimal stress on the fish and plants would be appreciated. Thanks

[dean9922]

I am currently as I speak taking all my gravel out of my 30 gallon (just taking a break) and going to bare bottom with driftwood and a few plants tied to that.....i have my discus sitting in a 10 gallon i had lying around. It is stressful on them doing this, but they will appreciate the bare bottom tank and thank me for it later lol....just got tired of the uneaten food getting in the substrate, hard to keep clean....good luck

[Yassmeena]

Hello, I would like to change the substrate in my tank. I have a 55 gallon planted tank with discus. Plants I have are swords, val and java ferns. I have regular gravel in it and would like to change this to the substrate that aquariumplants.com sells. (Two reasons for doing this.....the gravel I currently have is ugly and the new substrate would be better for my plants.) Any adivce on how to do this with minimal stress on the fish and plants would be appreciated. Thanks

Well, its not so hard actually. Scoop out your gravel with a net, and keep a garbage near by to dump it in. Lots of debris will be floating aroundso do a 95% WC after you have removed what you can with the net.

Leave the tank alone for a day so that remaining debris can settle, then suck it out with your python.

To add substrate, what I found works really well is preparing your substrate for entry to the tank as normal. Lower the water level to 2/3 full for your ease of movement. Put substrate in plastic kitchen bags (i.e. ziplock or soemthing) twist or zip bag shut, put the bag against the floor of the tank and then slowly release the contents. You will need to repeat probably 10 times or so to get all of your substrate in.

Prevents a mess. :D

Yasmin

[grishka]

Thanks a bunch!

[KDodds]

Couple of things...

First, if this tank has been set up for a while, and you have a fairly deep layer of substrate (around 3" or more), you'll want to be careful about removing it all at once. Secondarily, you might experience an ammonia or nitrite spike since tank bottom substrates are great areas for bacterial colonization. But, primarily, you'll want to test your water parameters before, during, and after the complete removal. If there's been any detritus accumulation within the gravel bed, there is a possibility of phosphorous or sulfurous accumulation. Generally Hydrogen sulfide (that rotting egg smell) dissipates from the water column too fast to be an immediate problem, so I wouldn't worry about that. However, the mass release of these chemicals into the water column can alter water chemistry drastically (usually a pH plummet). Just as a matter of caution, you might want to test, just to be safe.

Second, the substrate mentioned as a replacement is excellent for planted tanks. However, it's black, with no other colors available. This may cause peppering in some discus strains. If you're not okay with that, you might want to think about a lighter substrate.

[grishka]

Thanks KDodds for the excellent adviec....any idea of a lighter substrate that is as good or better for the plants? Thanks again

[KDodds]

Personally, my preference was for Eco-Complete Red because, like Eco-Complete and AquariumPlants.com's substrate, it doesn't break down over time. However, the red is still pretty dark (at least darker than "pool sand"). If I were shooting for a light base to prevent "peppering", I'd look into the Amano substrates. Believe it or not, they're about as inexpensive as AquariumPlant's.com's substrate. I think it worked out to maybe $30 more, shipped, when I was comparing. The only disadvantage is that in 5-10 years you'll have to strip it all out and replace it as it does, like Fluorite, FloraBase, etc., break down over time.

[Yassmeena]

Couple of things...

First, if this tank has been set up for a while, and you have a fairly deep layer of substrate (around 3" or more), you'll want to be careful about removing it all at once. Secondarily, you might experience an ammonia or nitrite spike since tank bottom substrates are great areas for bacterial colonization. But, primarily, you'll want to test your water parameters before, during, and after the complete removal. If there's been any detritus accumulation within the gravel bed, there is a possibility of phosphorous or sulfurous accumulation. Generally Hydrogen sulfide (that rotting egg smell) dissipates from the water column too fast to be an immediate problem, so I wouldn't worry about that. However, the mass release of these chemicals into the water column can alter water chemistry drastically (usually a pH plummet). Just as a matter of caution, you might want to test, just to be safe.

Second, the substrate mentioned as a replacement is excellent for planted tanks. However, it's black, with no other colors available. This may cause peppering in some discus strains. If you're not okay with that, you might want to think about a lighter substrate.

Kdodds is right about removing too much at once. You would loose a good amount of your biomedia that way.

I think my method would be just fine if you took some caution by scooping out a portion at a time so that you have gradually removed all the substrate within 3 weeks. Make sure to do a 90% WC each time you remove substrate to clean out any debris and chemicals that may be released when you disturb the substrate.

Yasmin

[sgrosenb]

Hi there,

Could someone explain what "peppering" is. I'm not sure what this means, or what the side effects are. Could you explain real quick?

Also, I do enjoy a lighter substrate, but I'm not sure what to use. I've seen some stuff about pool sand, but I have to believe there are better things than that to use.

Thanks again for your time!
-Scott

[rickztahone]

Hi there,

Could someone explain what "peppering" is. I'm not sure what this means, or what the side effects are. Could you explain real quick?

Also, I do enjoy a lighter substrate, but I'm not sure what to use. I've seen some stuff about pool sand, but I have to believe there are better things than that to use.

Thanks again for your time!
-Scott

the word peppering is used in reference to Pigeon-Based discus that show stress through small dots that are black. pigeons are the only ones that show this trait. many breeders have "cleaned" up their peppered lines but if you introduce a dark background or dark substrate it will encourage the peppering in that pigeon. also, even if you do not have pigeon-based fish, it has been the discussion within the SD community that almost all discus will turn a darker color to "semi-blend in" to their surroundings. point being, get lighter colors and your discus will show their true potential colors.

[sgrosenb]

That's great - do you know what kind of substrate would be best, and where to order it from? I'm looking for something the same color as white sand if possible.

Thanks,

[shoggoth43]

Most are using Pool Filter Sand. While not necessarily the white color of "silver sand", it has a fairly bright white to light tan color. It's also super cheap, unlike most things discus related. You should be able to get a 50lb bag for <10$ if you look around. Walmart or Pool Supply stores or your Local Hardware Store would be a good place to look.

-
S

[pinkjello]

Hi, just had to comment on pool sand/silica sand. Im not sure if anyone has had issues with it, but i just removed my silica sand from my baby discus tank. I found that i couldnt clean it, the vacuum would suck it up, and when adding water back to the tank it disturbed it so much that the tank would be a cloud of white for quite awhile, ..so i just took it all out last night. I didnt want my baby's to have to deal with that every 2/3 days.. What a nightmare..but its done and i will never do that again. That was just my experience. Has anyone has similar experiences with this stuff?



Hi there,

Could someone explain what "peppering" is. I'm not sure what this means, or what the side effects are. Could you explain real quick?

Also, I do enjoy a lighter substrate, but I'm not sure what to use. I've seen some stuff about pool sand, but I have to believe there are better things than that to use.

Thanks again for your time!
-Scott

[shoggoth43]

Was it well rinsed when you first added it to the tank?

-
S

[Harriett]

Hi, just had to comment on pool sand/silica sand. Im not sure if anyone has had issues with it, but i just removed my silica sand from my baby discus tank. I found that i couldnt clean it, the vacuum would suck it up, and when adding water back to the tank it disturbed it so much that the tank would be a cloud of white for quite awhile, ..so i just took it all out last night. I didnt want my baby's to have to deal with that every 2/3 days.. What a nightmare..but its done and i will never do that again. That was just my experience. Has anyone has similar experiences with this stuff?

This is an interesting post to me. I've had silica/pool sand in 3 good sized planted tanks for the last few years and I love this substrate. When I use the python to clean, I find that the sand is heavy enough that it sinks right back to the floor when I lift the python off the substrate--I have zero snow storm activity ever and if I am paying attention to lift the tube when it is half full of sand, I don't get sand being sucked out of the tank either. When I am filling a tank after vacuuming and emptying water, I arrange the hose so that there is a waterfall effect of several inches or more between the end of the hose [python] and the tank. Lots of off-gassing of my tap water this way and the discus do well--in that situation, the sand doesn't blow around at all either. Perhaps you have extra fine sand grains or something?
The other thing I am wondering, and I know we each do these things the way it pleases us, but if you are growing out babies, a BB tank for that first year is by far less work, and much easier to keep clean. There's plenty of time later to create a show tank for your discus--so I am with you, dump your sand, though for different reasons.
Best regards,
Harriett

[gogoravah]

I am also wanting to change my substrate from sand mixed with gravel to just gravel. I find that after I clean this stuff, my tank is cloudy after. I will follow the advice, but if I add new gravel to the tank, how do I avoid a cycle?

[mlw]

Changed my substrate out two weeks ago. My method was labor intensive but tank didn't cycle again.

How I did it:
Two weeks before I decided I was going to do this I took three nylon bags and filled it with the new substrate and placed it in my tank with the fishies. I also started running my Magnum H.O.T. filter


I drained some of the water into two 15 gallon rubbermaid containers. 1 had the plants and driftwood, the other I put the fish in. The one with the fish I also hooked up the H.O.T. filter from the tank up to it and a heater. I placed the top loosely over the container pushed them into a nice quiet corner of the house. They were fine.

Removed the rest of the water.
Removed the old substrate to another rubbermaid container
Scrubbed the tank really well got rid of all the algae
Cleaned the filters with aquarium water
added new substrate, added the substrate from the nylon bags
added some RO water
Added driftwood, replanted plants
Added the aquarium water from the rubbermaid container that had the plants in it
Started filters
added fish back and rest of aquarium water