any way to convert this tank??

[mgkaelen]

hi guys;
i've posted something related to this in the PLANTED tanks forum, however i guess i just have to say what my full intention is with my tank and take it from there.
my current 29gal tank has gravel for substrate and fake plants. the gravel isn't the finest that is made... each pebble is probably half the size of a dime .. (probably the largest size gravel ? )

i WANT to turn the tank into LIVE plants and FINER gravel so i can put an elephant nose fish in(so he can dig for food and not hurt his snout) -- (and live plants are just so much prettier) .

is there any way to accomplish this? my tank is fully cycled and has fish/frogs in it... i know taking out the gravel will cause a lot of my bacteria to be sacrificed.. i do NOT have a bio-wheel..... is it a better idea to just start new with another tank? and just put more fake plants into this tank to make it a little more pretty ?

any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[jsoong]

I don't know if anyone else has a better idea, but this is what I would do.

Take the gravel from your tank, put in a mesh bag. Put new substrate in the now bare tank. Put the mesh bag of old gravel on new substrate. Wait several weeks for the bacteria to move from old to new substrate. Remove the old gravel (easy, because it is already in a bag!). All this time, monitor the levels in case there is a mini cycle.

To be really safe, you could remove the gravel from the bag a little at a time, or you can do half the tank at a time - so you know you have at least half of your bio-bugs.

 

[BrianNY]

Hopefully you have enough good bacteria in your filter to make the change whenever you want. What kind of filter do you have, and what is the media?

I'm a big fan of sponge filters because they are so good at colonizing "good" bacteria. They are very inexpensive and run off an airpump, or as a prefilter to HOB or cannisters.

 

[mgkaelen]

i have a whisper 30 filter (came with the setup)... i usually just keep carbon in it all the time, even though it's not necessary (is there anything wrong with this).. i recently put it in to take out some remnants of a medication and taken the carbon out. there is 2 pieces to the filter though.. one is sponge like (just a black thing) that lays in front of the filter cartridge . i doubt this is a sponge filter thougH ?? i should know more about my filter but i don't....

 

[BrianNY]

I'm not famaliar with the whisper filters but I think that black thingy has some bio going for it. If ou use carbon at all, you should change it monthly.

I'd change the gravel and not give it too much more thought

 

[mgkaelen]

this is probably a stupid question, but would there be any way to possible take out the gravel and then run tank water over the rocks so that any bacteria may "rub off" back into the tank?