Adding New Substrate

[sgrosenb]

I just orderd a 6-gallon bucket of substrate from Aquarium Plants.com (their new "Natural Amazon" color - hopefully it's nice and light).

I will be adding the substrate later this week via that method described by Yasmine (putting a little into a ziplock bag and letting it out on the bottom little by little as not to cause a mess). Please note - I am not adding any plants at this time.

What I'm wondering is, will this change my water parameters significantly? Should I be doing a water change every day or so after I put it in, or will this not affect water parameters at all?

I'm going on vacation for a week, and I was going to put it in before I went, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

Thanks!

[DLock3d]

I'm no expert but if I was adding or changing substrate. I'd buy a 6 to 7 foot hose from Home Depot or Lowe's (Shouldn't cost you more then ten bucks). After rinsing the substrate I'd siphon the old substrate out when doing your next water change and siphon the new substrate in. The reason why normal siphons usually don't pull out substrate is because the mouth is so large. You could also remove the mouth of your regular siphon as long as that works.

[Chad Hughes]

I just orderd a 6-gallon bucket of substrate from Aquarium Plants.com (their new "Natural Amazon" color - hopefully it's nice and light).

I will be adding the substrate later this week via that method described by Yasmine (putting a little into a ziplock bag and letting it out on the bottom little by little as not to cause a mess). Please note - I am not adding any plants at this time.

What I'm wondering is, will this change my water parameters significantly? Should I be doing a water change every day or so after I put it in, or will this not affect water parameters at all?

I'm going on vacation for a week, and I was going to put it in before I went, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

Thanks!

I would ask the folks at aquariumplants.com if their substrate changes anything in the water column. If it does, I would be reluctant to use it. You should never use a substrate that interferes with the water column. It's too unpredictable.

Hope that helps!

Best wishes!

[Scribbles]

I agree with Chad. I also would not change anything right before leaving on vacation when you will not be there to monitor any changes/problems that occur. I tend to be a little overly cautious tho.

Chris

[DLock3d]

I didn't catch the vacation piece. I agree completely with Chad and Scribbles. I never do anything different to my tanks before going on vacation.