Can I change substrate

[flushingfish]

I am thinking of changing my substrate. If you look at my gallery you can see that I have evolved from the old style fake plant with unnatural color setup to a planted setup. I have upgraded my lighting to increase my plant choices. I would like to change my substrate from the neon blue gravel to something like Flourite. I was thinking of changing it in stages to upset the biological filter as little as possible or perhap just taking out some of the gravel and mixing it in giving me that groovy mulitcolored thing (lol)? Well either way I am looking to more heavily plant my tank and I think the flourite would help. Thoughts from some of the plant gurus? Please?

 

[Purrbox]

I'd recommend changing it out all at once if possible and then just be prepared to do waterchanges for a few days if you see any signs of a mini cycle. By doing it this way you don't have to worry about mixing the substrates and you'll have it all done at once. Most of your biofilter should be living in the filter, so you may not even see a mini cycle.