changing Gravel

Bubbles

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Apr 23, 2009
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:hi:

Has anyone changed gravel and kept the fish in the tank whilst doing so?.

In the future we will be changing the gravel in Spencer ( the common BN's) tank. It was going to be a fun tank so we chose red and blue gravel to show of the Odessa's colours, well since it is a home for spencer we want to make it more natural so will be changing to a lighter, more natural colour.

If we do it slowly and carefully can we leave spencer in the tank whilst doing the change?
 

scatz

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Apr 8, 2009
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yes, i've had to do it that way a few times before, just make sure you do a fair few really good gravel cleans for a few days before, otherwise you will unleash a real crud storm in the tank and possibly overload the filters.
 

Bubbles

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yes, i've had to do it that way a few times before, just make sure you do a fair few really good gravel cleans for a few days before, otherwise you will unleash a real crud storm in the tank and possibly overload the filters.
:hi: Scatz

TBH i do a gravel clean everyday,( 10% pwc) due to this being the tank the rescued fish went in and he had a lot of tankmates, but it is good to know this can be done :woohoo: thank you.

I want to get the gravel change done before we add tank mates for him, as doing it with just one fish in is easier than doing it with him and his tankmates.

Sorry forgot my manners, thank you for the great tip : D
 
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scatz

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if its just the one fish, couldn't you take him out while doing it?
would be less stressful for him
 

Bubbles

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My only concern doing that would be the stress of catching him, putting him in the other tank with the pictus and then catching him again to put him back.

When he is out of his cave he goes up and hides beside the filters which would allow us to move the gravel out quickly.

Plus he is a feisty little fish, the assistant had a real job catching him when we bought him lol.

I did think about putting him in a bucket but unfortunately we dont have a spare airstone or heater : ( hence keeping him in the tank during the change.

I suppose its the case of weighing up what would be less stressfull for him.
 

st24rsap

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Apr 21, 2009
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how big is the tank???
when i have done it before i have removed all fish and put them into a bucket then stopped the filter from running, took out 90% of the tank water and stored it in other buckets and then changed the gravel in the tank and ditched the remaining 10% of water. once done added the original water back in and started the filter running again.

the fish didnt get stressed as were in a covered bucket out the way, a lot loess stressfull than doing it with them in situe and possibily clowding the tank with muck from the gravel. doesnt take long to do and tanks back up and running in less than an hour
 

Bubbles

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Thanks for the reply.

The tank is 106 litres so not very big, i am sure chris can buy a few more buckets to store the water in as at the moment we wouldnt have enough.

Would spencer be ok in a bucket for a while with out a heater ( we can use his airstone for aeration ) ? If so we will do it like this : D

I am sorry if i come across as a bit of a worry wart and i really do appreciate your's and Scatz experiance in matters like this, thanks guys.
 
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Rabbit

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He will be fine in a bucket with no heater and no pump for around 3-4 hours possibly longer.
Dont worry too much about that, he will be happy in his new "natural" tank.
 

st24rsap

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as Rabbit said he will be fine with no heater and pump, if you have an air stone then put in it with him on low it wont hurt. The small amount of stress he will go through will be nothing compared with changing the gravel with him in the tank and he will soon settle back in with no probs when the tanks done.

106L is not that big, the average bucket holds approx 12L so get 6 or so of these, for £1 each its well worth having some spares just incase they are needed in the future anyway
 

Bubbles

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He will be fine in a bucket with no heater and no pump for around 3-4 hours possibly longer.
Dont worry too much about that, he will be happy in his new "natural" tank.

Thanks Rabbit i must admit i am relieved about that, though we will do our best not to have him out of his home for that long :yes:
 

Bubbles

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Apr 23, 2009
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as Rabbit said he will be fine with no heater and pump, if you have an air stone then put in it with him on low it wont hurt. The small amount of stress he will go through will be nothing compared with changing the gravel with him in the tank and he will soon settle back in with no probs when the tanks done.

106L is not that big, the average bucket holds approx 12L so get 6 or so of these, for £1 each its well worth having some spares just incase they are needed in the future anyway

Thanks St24rsap, well you can never have enough buckets :D

I will show Chris the information given and will do what is best for Spencer, tbh i thought it would be less stressfull to do the change with him in the tank, but thinking about it now....... i am so glad i asked now.



Thank you everyone B-)