No more gravel

[joshua 74]

hey all i have a 200l tank with a breeding pair of discus in it thats all. i want to make this a bb tank i wont to do it without taking the fish out i wont to know can i do a 50% wc and cyfin half the gravel out then do another 50% another day to get the rest out. is this possible or will it stuff all the water up?? also how much harder is it to keep a bigger tank bb. if there is a reflection after the gravel is gone will that bother the discus or do i need to paint the bottom glass bit.

[Eddie]

hey all i have a 200l tank with a breeding pair of discus in it thats all. i want to make this a bb tank i wont to do it without taking the fish out i wont to know can i do a 50% wc and cyfin half the gravel out then do another 50% another day to get the rest out. is this possible or will it stuff all the water up?? also how much harder is it to keep a bigger tank bb. if there is a reflection after the gravel is gone will that bother the discus or do i need to paint the bottom glass bit.


Take the fish out, house them in a large bucket, drain the tank and siphon all the substrate out, then fill it back up and put the discus back in. The reflection will bother them so it is best to put something underneath. I prefer light colors. A sheet of styrofoam works very well if you do not want to pant the tank.

Eddie

[Skip]

hey all i have a 200l tank with a breeding pair of discus in it thats all. i want to make this a bb tank i wont to do it without taking the fish out i wont to know can i do a 50% wc and cyfin half the gravel out then do another 50% another day to get the rest out. is this possible or will it stuff all the water up?? also how much harder is it to keep a bigger tank bb. if there is a reflection after the gravel is gone will that bother the discus or do i need to paint the bottom glass bit.

this is what i did..

i got 3 buckets.. (i had 30 gallon tank).. so i filled one up pulled out the fish.. put in air stone and the heater.. i filled up 2 more 5 gallon buckets then drained the rest.. pulled out all the gravel and cleaned it.. pour the 10 gallons back in there then the 5 gallons with the fiish.. put heater back in .. then filled it back up. that to me was easier then trying to pull the gravel out with the fish in it.. and less stressful.. spray paint the bottom of the tank.. no reflection.. once you go bb.. you will want to siphon the bottom all day!! : ))

[Eddie]

Actually taking the substrate out, with the fish in the tank can kill your fish. Its happend before, entire groups...gone.

[DerekFF]

Yeah especially if you arent a frequent flier on the gravel vaccuming, the build up of doo doo and all other bad things and toxins associated with decaying doo doo and food and plant matter and w/e else is down there comes a flying out into the water and can nuke your fish. My dad did it when i was little.....i was traumatized to say the least when ALL the fish died except for the pleco......dang things are bomb proof i tell you


Actually taking the substrate out, with the fish in the tank can kill your fish. Its happend before, entire groups...gone.

[joshua 74]

hmm how about id i pout the 2 discus in a 10L bucket i have an empty 100L TANK FILL THAT UP WITH there water then drain the rest with the gravel. add the 100L AGEN + FILL THE REST UP WITH my tap water treated offcourse. so then i have a full tank add the discus. my concerns are will all the bacteria and so be killed in the filter because it isnt running. and what if i wanted to add sand as the gravel how would i do that ??

[Skip]

why remove the gravel then turn around and put sand in.. you said you want to go Barebottom... ?? i don't get that....

the bacteria will be fine in your filters in the 20 min. it will take to do this...

[mathfed]

The way I do something like this is to get a styrofoam box, the kind that fish are shipped in, or one of those icebox coolers. I get a big, black plastic garbage bag and line the inside of the box with it. I then siphon water from the tank into the plastic bag until there is at least 3 inches of water in it. I then tie the bag off, put the styro box somewhere out of the way, and start draining the tank. While the tank is draining, I use a fish net to scoop the gravel from the bottom of the tank into a bucket or some other container. I've found a net is a really effective way to remove gravel, and a large tank (90 gallon) can be emptied of gravel in about 5 minutes. After the gravel is all netted out, I drain the tank until it is totally empty. Once the tank is empty, I give the inside of the tank a quick wipedown and then start refilling it (make sure to add Prime or some other water conditioner). Once the tank is almost full, I siphon some of the new tank water into the garbage bag that the fish are in. I let the fish get acclimated to the bit of new water for about 10 minutes, and then siphon some more in. After the fish have acclimated to the 2nd addition of new water, I net them out and plop them in the tank.

I've used this approach many times and have never had any problems with it.

[mathfed]

Oops. I forgot the most critical piece. After there is about 3 inches of water in the bag, I net the fish out of the tank and put them in the bag. I've found that putting fish in a dark bag like this and tying it off helps keep them calmer during the process.

[Jhhnn]

hmm how about id i pout the 2 discus in a 10L bucket i have an empty 100L TANK FILL THAT UP WITH there water then drain the rest with the gravel. add the 100L AGEN + FILL THE REST UP WITH my tap water treated offcourse. so then i have a full tank add the discus. my concerns are will all the bacteria and so be killed in the filter because it isnt running. and what if i wanted to add sand as the gravel how would i do that ??

If you have an empty tank, transfer water from the existing tank and the filters to the empty tank, keep the fish in there while you drain & work over the big tank. Fill the big tank almost full, transfer most of the water out of the smaller tank to the larger. Discus are a lot easier to net in low water in either direction. Make sure that the pH and temp of both tanks is close before you move the fish back to the big tank.

If you really want sand in the big tank, put it in before you fill it. If not, It'll need some kind of surface under the tank for the fish to be comfortable. If it's on a solid table-like surface, you're good to go. If not, fit something from underneath to cover the bottom- styrofoam is good- even corrugated cardboard will work.

[joshua 74]

thanks guys but if i add the sand once the tank is drained then add the water wont it go everywhere in the water or will it stay settled at the bottom.

[Skip]

: )

[Eddie]

thanks guys but if i add the sand once the tank is drained then add the water wont it go everywhere in the water or will it stay settled at the bottom.


Yup, but it will settle after a while.

[joshua 74]

well the bottom of the tank doesn't give a reflection so looks like bare bottom it is. been breeding discus more for fun then anything els for about a year now i was wondering if a pair in a 200l tank will i be able 2 add some cardinals 4 more looks or is that just going be food. maybe a pair of bristle nose and a tad of driftwood hmm what if they both spawn????