# Any tips on rescaping a planted tank??



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

I'm considering rescaping my 20 gallon planted tank, and I'm looking for any tip that would help minimize stress on my cardinal tetras.

I don't want to have to catch the cardinals as previous experience showed that it's a very stressful thing to do for both me and them. (It's a pain trying to catch skittish fish in a planted tank!)

I also know that once I start to uproot my plants, the water is going to get murky, since I never vacuum my gravel. I'm concerned that this could destabilize the water quickly.

So please, any tips on how to make this go as smoothly as possible would be greatly appreciated!!


----------



## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

full rescape, you should clean out the gravel and remove the fish. By that I mean empty dry tank...
Don't think there's a way around that, in my experience.
If you're just rearranging plants, then just add an extra filter with all filter floss, to get the dust out of your tank asap.


----------



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Beijing08 said:


> full rescape, you should clean out the gravel and remove the fish. By that I mean empty dry tank...
> Don't think there's a way around that, in my experience.
> If you're just rearranging plants, then just add an extra filter with all filter floss, to get the dust out of your tank asap.


My plan is to rearrange the plants, not to change the substrate or anything, although the rearrangement is probably going to be pretty extensive.


----------



## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

The fish will be fine. Just add an extra filter to get rid of the gunk with filter floss


----------



## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

If you are only moving plants, that's pretty easy. Just move a few each day. If you are moving the gravels, then that is a pretty big problem.
Usually, I would do a 50% water change to clean out as much stuff as I can.
Then I drain the water to %50, redo the scape, and top up with %50. Then I'd wait for an hour for the stuff to settles and then do another %50 water change to pick up the stuff. Lots of work but a bit less then taking down the tank and doing it again.

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


----------

