changing substrate

[bulatz]

so im about 6-12 months in this hobby i always envisioned a heavily planted tank, learned its very hard to grow plants in gravel/sand combo i know i can get non rooted plants but i really want specific looking plants and alot of them are root base plants. i want to ideally do aquarium soil/sand combo or i thought of putting soil in certain spots in tank or even putting plants in tiny pots with soil...

so question on changing substrate. i see its wise to move fish to a different tank while changing substrate. so i have a 10g only is it ok to put all my fish in there for however long it takes me to change substrate? i have 8 angelfish most about 1-2 inch big at most, and 2 smaller plecos, 3 kuhli loaches, 1 yoyo loach, 1 clown loach. not sure the best route to go... i have a big 50g black bin i can fill up also. id estimate if im quick i can change substrate in 30 minutes to an hour at most?

 

[Andy Sager]

so im about 6-12 months in this hobby i always envisioned a heavily planted tank, learned its very hard to grow plants in gravel/sand combo i know i can get non rooted plants but i really want specific looking plants and alot of them are root base plants. i want to ideally do aquarium soil/sand combo or i thought of putting soil in certain spots in tank or even putting plants in tiny pots with soil...

so question on changing substrate. i see its wise to move fish to a different tank while changing substrate. so i have a 10g only is it ok to put all my fish in there for however long it takes me to change substrate? i have 8 angelfish most about 1-2 inch big at most, and 2 smaller plecos, 3 kuhli loaches, 1 yoyo loach, 1 clown loach. not sure the best route to go... i have a big 50g black bin i can fill up also. id estimate if im quick i can change substrate in 30 minutes to an hour at most?

You might be pushing it with the 10 gal with that many fish just in case it takes longer than you think so I would use the bigger bin if it's available. No need to fill it, just give your fish more space to get away from each other.

 

[bulatz]

also a really random question but why do people go to their LFS to get buckets of water? they dont want to use the tap water i assume? if they're using it for water changes that sounds like a huge hassle to me carrying 5g buckets of water haha.

 

[bulatz]

sounds good i guess i would fill my bin with alot of my water from main tank/tap water and prime/ i can put my main canister filter in there also easily and the heater? that actually sounds like the best idea to me as i type this out

 

[Andy Sager]

also a really random question but why do people go to their LFS to get buckets of water? they dont want to use the tap water i assume? if they're using it for water changes that sounds like a huge hassle to me carrying 5g buckets of water haha.

They may be getting RO water or Saltwater instead of making it themselves. It's not always cost effective but it cuts down the time expenditure of either waiting for their filter to make RO water or the Saltwater. It also could be natural water instead of salt added to tap water.