Eco-Complete in Established tank

[FishayFishay]

My two bags of eco complete came in today and I need some guidance guys.
I have a 26bf so I only bought 2 bags of this stuff but I do have about1-2 inches of my established black gravel that I can mix in if I need it and some black sand I have still unopened and think it would be sick to even use that as like the top layer.

I heard of the nylon trick with like some pantyhose or whatever, just put all the old gravel in there to kind of seed the new one. Would I put it in there as like the bottom layer and spread two pantyhose full of the old gravel over the bottom and EC on top?

I do know I will still have a mini cycle but I want it to be as quick and harmless as possible. I heard using Seachems Stability would do me good during the process but I know I most likely won't have to use this with the right advice and guidance.
Summer break is real convenient at this point so I'm free for any maintenance that's needed, I most likely will be doing about 30-40% water changes every day or every other day. I appreciate any help I can get guys.

 

[Clayman]

You can change out the substrate without a mini cycle. I've done it a couple times. Most of the bacteria live in your filter.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Bacteria lives in the filter. I've done substrate changes and never occurred a "mini" cycle.

I'd personally ditch the gravel and just use the Eco. You have the 20 pound bags? Both should be plenty of depth in a 26.


Caleb

 

[Autumnsky]

I have had mini cycle after changing substrates.

Eco says not to cap. I have mixed a small portion of sand with mine maybe 10-20% only because I already had it and didn't know what else to do with it and didn't want to store it or waste it.

I would keep a decent amount of gravel in 2 pantyhose "bags" as you mention.

One other thing I might do is not have cleaned the filter media out for 2-3 weeks before the change over so you preserve all possible BB in the tank. Then wait about 10 days to a week after and if everything is going well, then clean the filters. Just feed lightly for that period of time after the change over as well.

When I did it that way I didn't have a problem at all.

Do whole tank makeover, put fish and stuff in 2 buckets with water from the top of the tank, then the gravel in a bucket with some water to keep wet, clean out tank, add new Eco. Rescape and put it back together with 2 buckets of old water (for blending new and old and not shock fish with too different new water) and fish, and dipped /not scrubbed or rinsed hard, clean gravel, placed into new rinsed out and added with prime pantyhose, left in tank for maybe for about 2-3 weeks.

If there aren't any issues with tank parameters, remove one bag then try removing the next bag a number of days later. That may be way conservative but no problem at all in the transition.

 

[FishayFishay]

Thanks for the replies guys. So I would just discard the black water in the bags and add it in, everything all good? I'm going to net out all the fish and uproot the plants and all, but do you all recommend me keeping like 25% of the water and adding it in? I'd rather not drain the whole tank. And even if the tank is a bit cloudy which I expect it to be, the fish will be safe to put back in, correct?

 

[FishayFishay]

I have had mini cycle after changing substrates.

Eco says not to cap. I have mixed a small portion of sand with mine maybe 10-20% only because I already had it and didn't know what else to do with it and didn't want to store it or waste it.

I would keep a decent amount of gravel in 2 pantyhose "bags" as you mention.

One other thing I might do is not have cleaned the filter media out for 2-3 weeks before the change over so you preserve all possible BB in the tank. Then wait about 10 days to a week after and if everything is going well, then clean the filters. Just feed lightly for that period of time after the change over as well.

When I did it that way I didn't have a problem at all.

Do whole tank makeover, put fish and stuff in 2 buckets with water from the top of the tank, then the gravel in a bucket with some water to keep wet, clean out tank, add new Eco. Rescape and put it back together with 2 buckets of old water (for blending new and old and not shock fish with too different new water) and fish, and dipped /not scrubbed or rinsed hard, clean gravel, placed into new rinsed out and added with prime pantyhose, left in tank for maybe for about 2-3 weeks.

If there aren't any issues with tank parameters, remove one bag then try removing the next bag a number of days later. That may be way conservative but no problem at all in the transition.

Didn't even see this before I posted, thank you so much for the detailed instructions lol. I definitely will follow this method as this is my first time switching gravel so I want to be as cautious as possible. I will be back with an update possibly tomorrow after it's done.

 

[Autumnsky]

Some people get annoyed because they don't want to see the ugly bags hanging there. (I actually have had left a bag of ceramic media rings in the back of the tank and also filter pads to keep handy when I might need to set up a new tank "instantly") Maybe not in the display tank

Yes, the majority of the BB is in the filter pad. I know it was an inconvenience for me with a mini cycle and I just rather not have any issues. Hope yours goes well.

 

[FishayFishay]

UPDATE!

Whew, it's all done and I couldn't be happier. The whole process was rough but we all got through it happy and healthy. I only used one panty hoes full a bit of my old substrate, I think everything should be fine. I'll be testing the water every couple hours or so throughout the next week. The water is still a bit cloudy but it's cleared up faster than I expected. Thanks for all the help and support. I really appreciate it.

 

[Hunter73]

Looks good, nice work!


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[FishayFishay]

Looks good, nice work!


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Thanks man, so I tested my water and my ammonia went up to 1.0. I'm guessing it's from some of the "black water" in the Eco complete. I dumped out as much as I could but some still got in there. I also ran out of prime. But I'm on my way to pet smart to get more. Any other products while I'm there? Lol thanks guys

 

[Autumnsky]

Thanks man, so I tested my water and my ammonia went up to 1.0. I'm guessing it's from some of the "black water" in the Eco complete. I dumped out as much as I could but some still got in there. I also ran out of prime. But I'm on my way to pet smart to get more. Any other products while I'm there? Lol thanks guys

Nice when you get done. It looks very nice. The water in there is alright to use.

It can be hard, but try never to run out of Prime, lol!!! Something always comes up.

Oh, and check your water straight from the tap / not treated and see that. I have had small readings before but others here have had some decent size ones.

 

[FishayFishay]

Nice when you get done. It looks very nice. The water in there is alright to use.

It can be hard, but try never to run out of Prime, lol!!! Something always comes up.

Oh, and check your water straight from the tap / not treated and see that. I have had small readings before but others here have had some decent size ones.

I don't think it's the water from the tap unless something's changed that I don't know about. Maybe it's because I didn't completely drain the tank before stirring up and taking out most of the old gravel. It looked pretty bad as I don't really vacuum the gravel but it's okay. Everything will work out by the end of the weekend. I'm sure of it.