Redoing tank quesion?

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Cammywammy

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
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I am turning a current 10 gallon fish tank into a shrimp tank. I am removing all of the fish in the tank tomorrow. Can I change the substrate(gravel) to sand with out taking the water out? And if I can keep the water in will it be considered cycled still?
 
Yes you can take out gravel. Rinse Rinse Rinse and when you think you have rinsed the sand enough Rinse again !! Sand is messy and will cloud water for a while but it is worth it. Shrimp like the sand.... What kind of shrimp are you getting? I have bamboo , ghost and red cherry in my 40g will all my fish, Pleco, and Cory's
 
Well for starters my tank at the moment includes a tetra whisperer 30 filter (getting a smaller filter) a 50-75 watt heater and I'm getting a light for plants which I will have in before the shrimp. I am going to get red cherry shrimp and I was thinking because of the small bio load of shrimp it would be hard for the tank to cycle so maybe using used water would be better. Although this also made me think of cons of using used water.. Is it possible I have harmful bacteria in my water that could harm the shrimp? If so maybe using new water and fish-less cycling it would be more beneficial. But yeah anyways this will be a planted shrimp only tank thanks for responses!
 
I am kind of new at this but have some experience. Two years ago I had a fish tank up and running with gravel. When I set up my tank this time, I used sand. I already put my water in before my sand. You have to rinse out the sand before you put it into the water. Make sure you rinse it well or else you will get lots of sand air bubbles. I had a few so I just used my hand to shake it free. It is also very important to turn your filter off. I read online that it can ruin it if you do not. Your water will look cloudy when you put it in but let the sand settle for 5 to 10 minutes than turn back on the filter and let it do its job. I hope this helps.
 
I would just used the water that you already have so you don't have to worry about cycle it again. :)
 
I would be afraid to add in shrimp after I changed the substrate :( I guess I could just watch the water conditions with my test kit. Maybe while I'm at petco buying black sand I can buy a ghost shrimp or 2 to use them as a tester shrimp before I add in my RCS. Also I was wondering the correct way to change out filter media. When I change it on my whisperer I just throw the use media away and get a new one because normally they are covered in gunk. Is this the right way? Is the gunk beneficial bacterial? Thanks a lot guys!
 
I've never had shrimp before so I am not quite sure what would be best for them. For the filter part... I would also throw away the media part when I had fancy goldfish but I had carbon in the filter and I really just followed what the filter's instructions. Sometimes I would go a little longer than what they said and would just rinse the gunk off. I do not believe it is good bacteria that gets stuck on it.
 
If i've read this properly, you already had fish in your tank which i assume was cycled??. If so there's no need to use old tank water, you can use fresh, treated of course!!. It's your filter were most of your bb is stored. You don't need to throw away your used filter pads because they're full of gunk. Just rinse them in used tank water..Filter pads have a very long life. I'm not saying not to follow the manufacturers instructions, but think about it, who's selling the replacements that you don't really need $$$. It is good bacteria that live even in gunky pads. Your just basically throwing away good bacteria..
BB(beneficial bacteria) only exist in the water in tiny amounts, it lives in your filter, glass, decor and substrate. You will be fine just swapping out you gravel for sand..
Make sure you wash the sand really, really, really well. Put some in a large bucket and use a garden hose to stir it up. Tilt the bucket and wash until the water runs clear. Then do it again..Washing it really well outside the tank, will stop it cloudy. It'll also get rid of dirt and light floaty sand. This is what clouds the tank. Also that floaty sand will get into your filter and not do it any favours...
If your putting the sand in the tank with water already in it(easier just to drain it??), get a piece of tube/pipe and place the tube/pipe in the water were you want the sand and simply pour the sand into the tube/pipe...
 
I recently used fungi guard a tetra product. I took the black sponge out of my filter that supposedly is the bacteria "holder" and it is sitting in a bucket of siphoned fish tank water (before the med) because I didn't want to kill the beneficial bacteria on it. I also took the carbon out of the media and washed out the "gunk".. So I had an empty media when I started the medicine. After the treatment was done I used a new media and put carbon in it, did a 50% water change and I went further into dissembling the filter to clean the gunk out of the intake. After doing all this do I still have beneficial bacteria in my tank? And if yes do I still have enough to drain my tank with out cycling it again? (Btw while this med was being used and afterwards there were fish in my tank so the current media I am using now is filled with gunk but all the fish were moved to another tank today) thanks again guys and gals!!
 
If i've read this properly, you already had fish in your tank which i assume was cycled??. If so there's no need to use old tank water, you can use fresh, treated of course!!. It's your filter were most of your bb is stored. You don't need to throw away your used filter pads because they're full of gunk. Just rinse them in used tank water..Filter pads have a very long life. I'm not saying not to follow the manufacturers instructions, but think about it, who's selling the replacements that you don't really need $$$. It is good bacteria that live even in gunky pads. Your just basically throwing away good bacteria..
BB(beneficial bacteria) only exist in the water in tiny amounts, it lives in your filter, glass, decor and substrate. You will be fine just swapping out you gravel for sand..
Make sure you wash the sand really, really, really well. Put some in a large bucket and use a garden hose to stir it up. Tilt the bucket and wash until the water runs clear. Then do it again..Washing it really well outside the tank, will stop it cloudy. It'll also get rid of dirt and light floaty sand. This is what clouds the tank. Also that floaty sand will get into your filter and not do it any favours...
If your putting the sand in the tank with water already in it(easier just to drain it??), get a piece of tube/pipe and place the tube/pipe in the water were you want the sand and simply pour the sand into the tube/pipe...

Glad you mentioned the bb in the filter. It's where the majority of it is
 
Do you guys say it is safe to drain my tank with out recycling? Thanks
 
The ? that hasn't been answered is....did you cycle your tank to begin with? If so& kept the the black sponge also cleaned your filter with tank water being careful not to let it dry out ,then you should have a healthy bb colony within your filter...I'd save half of the water from the old tank+new water into the new tank...you'll need to test frequently to be sure your parameters are good..
 
Yes the tank was pre cycled. At the moment I have my betta fish in the tank but be has another tank.. Wouldn't using new water technically mean the water would be cycling again.
 
No not necessarily... With the amount of bb that should be in your sponge&your voter it should keep youy cycle going...since your changing out substrates(also tons of bb in the substrate)you might experience a mini-circle...I've done 100% wc's without interrupting the cycle,so its not the water you should be worried bit rather you've got nice colony of bb on your filter to back it up..just remember to continue to feed the cycle..
 
Your water is basicly a vessel which carries beneficial nutrients for fish & or live plants...we do water changes regularly to provide freshwater & keep nitrates down..when I moved my 75g I drained 99% of the water&when set up in the new place I filled it up again with freshwater...no interruption of cycle as it was a well established African Cichlid tank(Lake Malawi) with around 28 fish total...
 
Ok thank you all while I get this new tank going I think I'll stick with the tetra whisperer 30 and once everything is together I will get an aqueon 10 or aqua clear 20 because I want low flow rate so my plants nor shrimp will be blown around when I get them
 
No not necessarily... With the amount of bb that should be in your sponge&your voter it should keep youy cycle going...since your changing out substrates(also tons of bb in the substrate)you might experience a mini-circle...I've done 100% wc's without interrupting the cycle,so its not the water you should be worried bit rather you've got nice colony of bb on your filter to back it up..just remember to continue to feed the cycle..
+1 that. Just curious, did you have a fungal infection in the tank??
 
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