Plants In Pots Or Not ?

So been looking today at different size gravel . Is it better to have the finer type substrate then than the type I have which is larger ? Don't he plants grow OK in both ?
Ally

It is easy to change the gravel before the plants root. When you have the gravel, we can tell you the most effective way.

Basically, prepare your new substrate before starting as it could take a while to wash it clear. Keep in a bucket till ready for use.
Feed the fish half rations for a few days before the swap, nothing on the day itself, then half rations for a few days after - this cuts down the ammonia they make.
After the swap, test for ammonia and nitrite every day until you are sure they are staying at zero - and do water changes as necessary if they don't stay at zero.
Make sure you have enough containers to hold the fish and decor during the changeover procedure. if they don't have lids, have enough old towels or some such to cover containers with fish - they'll jump if frightened.

On the day itself, remove tank water into the containers, then move the fish and decor, and filter if that is possible. Save as much tank water as possible, then scoop out the gravel. Remember it will scratch the glass if you are clumsy! The remaining water will be disgusting - siphon it out and throw away.
Put the new substrate in the tank, and if you have live plants, plant them when it is normal to plant them (I'm afraid I don't know when this is as all my plants are attached to wood). Fill with warmed dechlorinated water to the same level as when you started taking the old substrate out and then add the water in the containers, moving decor and fish into the tank with the old water. If necessary, top up with more new water.


You will lose the bacteria on the old substrate. The non-substrate bacteria will soon multiple to make up the loss, but this is the reason for reducing the amount of food and testing daily afterwards.

Your tank has the filter etc in a separate section at the back doesn't it? If it does, just leave everything there. It's just that internals, heaters and even the tubes from externals can get in the way of scooping old gravel out so it can be easier to get them right out of the way. And with your tank it will take no time at all to remove the gravel and redo the plants so the filter media won't have time to dry out. As long as it stays even barely damp, that's fine.


A few years ago after the incident of the Bolivian ram with a piece of gravel stuck in her throat I changed three tanks from gravel to sand. My biggest back then was a 125 litre, and I wanted to move it across the room so I did both at the same time. That did take a while as it was heavy to move. But the two smaller tanks (60 litre and 25 litre) were very quick.

You would have to be careful when cleaning so as not to mix the batches. When I took the gravel out of my tanks a few years ago, despite weekly gravel siphons  I was horrified at the amount of muck in there. You would also have to be very careful removing later batches of old gravel so the muck didn't float off and settle on the parts you'd already done.

I did a 125 litre tank the way I described above and never saw a blip in either ammonia or nitrite. If your signature is up to date, 64 litres would be easier than 125, though if you still have the shrimps there could be babies in there.

Hi terrified at changing the gravel , I can put the old water , ornaments in a bucket with the fish then should I put the pump in the bucket and the heater ?
I always wonder if this is ok ?
Then I can change the gravel . Put the old water back and top up with treated water ( tap safe )
Ally

The bigger container you can get to take tank water and fish the better, bigger volumes of water cool down slower than small amounts. If your heater is a separate internal one that is easily moved across then by all means do it. Just make sure it is turned off before the water level drops and is fully submerged again before turning back on. But don't worry about a couple of hours without a heater. They'll be fine.

If you prepare the new substrate as per Sue's guide, you can get the tank empty of fish, decor, old substrate, do a quick clean (doesn't need to be spick and span, just a good mop out of the remaining muck) then rebuild in a few hours.

New substrate in, fill to halfway and to tropical temperature, add the fish and the old tank water, then top up, adjusting to temperature. This way ensures the minimal amount of stress for the fish.

Please please PLEASE ensure that any containers with fish in are covered whenever possible. If I had thought of this during my house move (20+ fish) I wouldn;t have lost any (probably). 

I've changed the substrate in a 55l 4 times since I've owned it, the 125l twice and I'm going to change the 200l as soon as the decorating has finished on the sitting room back wall because I'm going to move the fish tank to there after its painted. On all occasions I've changed the substrate in one go, removing the fish and housing them in a big black dustbin with heater, air stone and a filter. Its a heck of a lot easier just to drain the tank low and scoop the fish out.

I found with the 125l that it took about 6 hours from start to finish, this was mainly because there were a lot of plants to be individually planted back into the substrate.

I doubt I'll use the filter this time as it's an external and will create a bit of a whirlpool if I use it but I do have a spare filter that has zeolite cartridge filters so I'll dig that out and use that