Maybe its best not to...

[NutMeg]

Ugh, so I swapped my substrate out, its looks great now! But it was more of a pain in the @$$ than anything.
With a bucket in the bathtub, I siphoned a lot of the original substrate up - mostly to loosen it up around the plants. Once I took all the logs and plants out, I started scooping with a net. Well, the water was getting ridiculously dirty, so out went the fish into a 5gal bucket. I dropped the water level to almost nothing, finished scooping the rest of the substrate out, washed the new stuff and put that in. Refilled the tank, waited for the water to reach preferred temp, and put the fish back in. Honestly didn't take more than an hour or so, but may I advise to get everything ready before doing anything. My fish had to wait in the bucket while I rinsed and replaced. Oh well, they look just fine and happy now! I may have lost a krib in the process, but not seeing any of the tetras b/c the water was so mucky, not bad. Lol. Here are pics of the "new" tank!

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[chiligum]

It looks a bit misty still, my sand took a few hours until it cleared properly, what size tank is that?

[NutMeg]

It wasn't completely clear for a good hour after I got the fish back in and water levels up. I was expecting that though. The tank is a 56 column. With silica sand floating around like that, would it be harmful to the discus as it passes through their gills? Came to mind during the substrate swap

[qiyanfeng]

Your tank might need more filtration to get enough bacterial to help you. Watch your ammonia and nitrite. Just my experience. It takes two week for me to get clear water again.

[damba]

It will clear. I just removed most of my substrate and it took a few days to clear.

Btw where did you get those ornaments...:p:rolleyes:

Rydw i'n Cwmry

Sent from my GT-I5800 using Tapatalk

[chiligum]

Those are not ornaments, they're the Fish!