# how do i change substrates?



## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

I want to swap the black slag sand with some mid-sized gravel.
I have one female stiphodon and some anubias.
What is my best option? 

Should I rehome the stiphodon for a few days and do a complete tear down?
Can she live in a bucket for a few hours while I swap the gravel? Or will there be too much dust with the new gravel?

And if I do decide to rehome her, how do I maintain my filter media?


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

You don't have to rehome her. When changing substrate, just vacuum the current substrate like crazy until it is as clean as possible, then remove that substrate. Your tank will become cloudy but that's normal. Rinse your other substrate and carefully put it in, don't rain substrate on top of your fish. When adding or removing sand, always turn off your filter. After swapping the substrate, your tank will most likely be cloudy for a day or two, but it should clear up quite nicely.


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

and this is all fine for my little goby girl? If I do this method I will add filter floss to quickly clear out the finer particles. It seems like it should work.


If I had a larger gravel vacuum I could probably siphon out most of the sand. 
I will have to ask destructo if he has a larger siphon. Mine is only 1" in diameter.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I would advise siphoning the sand until you have about 40% water left in the tank, then you have to scoop out the sand, don't want too low of a water level.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

You can do it in different ways.
I would recommend to remove a fish and keep her in a bucket with aquarium water. Try to attach a filter to the bucket. Keeping filter wet and in use is most important part here. 
If you have more buckets, try to store some water from a tank.

Then, you will not be limited with anything. You can remove all old substrate, put a new one, place plants and decorations in a way you want. Working with tank much easily if you have no creatures in there.
Do not forget to add water conditioner when you add a new tap water into a tank.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

It depends on the temperament of your fish, my fish love it when my hand is in the tank lol, they swarm me. If your goby is shy and easily stressed, then removing her would be a good idea.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

You don't want to stress your fish more than necessary. Put her and your plants in a bucket or plastic tub with water from the tank. Give her something to hide under. Save some more old water before you pull the plants. Remove decorations and old substrate. Rescape the tank. Add back about 50% old water and fill with new conditioned water. Put the fish back.

IIRC, this is a 10 gallon tank. You should be able to do the whole thing in an hour or two. Don't worry about your filter. 

You shouldn't have too much trouble washing that quantity of gravel pretty clean, and any remaining sediment will settle. If possible, wash substrate outdoors, since you can easily screw up your drain if you accidentally spill substrate down it.

You can scoop the old substrate out with a plastic carton or whatever. Don't worry if you don't get 100% out -- it will settle under the coarser gravel. For larger quantities of substrate, I make a scoop out of a square cross-section 2 liter soy milk or juice jug with the bottom cut off. Plastic is preferable to other materials because you don't want to press the sand against the bottom with something hard like ceramic or metal because you could scratch the glass. It's thin, too, which makes it easier to get more out.

Oh, don't forget to unplug the heater before you drop the water level. I know you know this, but we all get a bit absent-minded when we're focusing on the other parts of the project. ;-)


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

Thanks for all the replies. I will hit up Menagerie sometime this week and pick up a bag. I hope they have flourite. They always have barrels of regular gravel and I wouldn't mind that either. 

I think I may have to keep some sand for the goby to sift. But I want the areas where my plants are to have gravel - I've noticed stunted growth and dying roots.


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