Hey all, I want to get rid of my gravel- fish is getting big enough to eat it. I bought a couple packages of glass beads about 1/2 dollar size. I put 1 package in. I was thinking next week I could take out a cup or 2 of gravel and put in the other package. The following week take out the rest of the gravel. Is that enough time to let the bacteria move around and stuff?

Unless you have a UGF running, I would usually replace gravel a half at a time: half one week and half the next week. If the tank is fully stocked with GF though then I might do it in thirds, i.e. over 3 weeks. Or you could rake up all the old gravel and put it in a mesh bag, spread out your new glass beads and then remove the bag in a couple of weeks time.

When I went bare botton with one of my tanks I added a product called "Cylce" until I knew that the tank had cycled. I still add a bit when I do a water change because the filters I have dont provide enough bio filtration. I'm looking at maybe adding bio rings to the filters or just putting some in a stocking and placing it behind an ornament

UGF? I have 1 fish in the tank. Should I move the beads so they are on the bottom?

UGF=under gravel filter. If you have one of those removing the gravel is a bit more problematic as there will (generally speaking) alot of muck under the filter plate which can make your fish sick (unless you vac under there regularly). You would have to then get a different kind of filter (which I would run for a bit along with the UGF to establish the biobugs) If you're not remiving an UGF you have to remember that an UGF requires a certain amount of gravel in order to function properly.

If you have a HOB (hang on back) or cannister filter (these generally sit on the floor under or to the side of the tank) I would remove the gravel the way that emma described!

What do you mean about putting the beads "on the bottom"?? I'm sorry but I'm not quite sure what you mean

I would also vac very well the section of gravel that I am removing - both before & after I remove it as usually alot of muck comes out (sometimes it just looks more like a cloud rather than poop or solid wastes - but that stuff isn't good for your goldies to "breathe" either!)

Hope this helps!

Jenn

When i changed my gravel what i did was take out the gravel little by little so it doesn;t bug the water, a cup or so each week and then when i was finished that i added my new gravel.

Anyways good luck

Hmm. I have two filters with biowheels in my 55 gal tank. I took out all of my gravel and added river rocks all at once! It worked fine and the water parameters stayed good.

If you gravel vac & your bottom is well kept then removing it all at once isn't too much of an issue - esp if the filters are well established before you do this. Chances are you had a hiccup in your cycle when you did it & your fish were fine.

If the bottom is not well vac out or has an UGF then you have more problems becuase you are releasing alot of toxins into the water all at once. This can make your fish very sick or even kill them. (Unless of course you have removed the fish & are tearing down the tank & reestablishing it)

If you have an UGF & you remove all of the gravel then your filter itself can't work properly & you have even bigger problems.

Hope this helps!

Jenn

Ok, I do not have a UGF I have the one that hangs of the tank. What I meant about moving the beads to the bottom was should I move them underneathe the gravel? Also, I only got two rather large handfuls of beads- should I get enough to cover the bottom after I take out the gravel?
Thanks!

I wouldn't - I would just slowly move out the old gravel & put in the new beads. As to how many of the beads to put in - that's up to you & the look you want to create!

Happy redecorating!

So I don't need to worry about messing up my tank's cycle? I can just do it whenever? Why does that seem too good too be true!

If you give your tank enough time to grow bacteria back in the filter, it won't be a problem.

I like gravel, but I understand there are advantages to bare bottom tanks, i.e. easy cleaning, no risk of hydrogen sulfate poisoning and no choking hazards.

My tank has been set up for almost 6 months- I have not changed the filter yet (that's supposed to happen every 6 months right?)

I like to change the water and vacuum every week. I clean the filter every 3-5 weeks depending on how dirty it is. If your tanks been set up for along time then the filter hasn't been changed for a while then you should have enough bio-bugs. I would vacuum the gravel really well, then push it all to one side of the tank. Then I would put the glass marble things on the other side. Wait a week then remove all of the gravel. I did this when I switched to large loosely scattered river rocks. Hope this helps

Thanx!

I took out a HUGE cupful of gravel on Friday after vaccuming. I'm worrying about the effects of my tank's cycle already. There is more algea that usual. It doesn't seem to be any difference when it comes to my fish. She's amazed by the glass beads. Should I get one of those Biowheels? Should I add more carbon? Sidebar: I never really have anything come out of my filter bag when I rinse it out- shouldn't there be something coming out?

are the glass beads like round and kinda flat?
if so, be careful. They tend to break after a while. They'll be ok if your fish is small, but my fish got big and they pick around in the beads a lot, so they broke after a while and I had to take them all out. The smaller ones don't break though.