Fake plant to Live Plant

[jonny1982]

I currently have a 29 gallon freshwater tank that is set up with artificial plants. I would like to make it live plants. Is there a method to doing this without having to remove all the fish for a long period of time? I would like to maybe slowly convert it while leaving the fish in if possible.

I have 2 guppies, 1 platy, 2 glofish, 1 raphael catfish, and 1 bala shark (I know the shark and catfish aren't a good fit, I am going to make better provisions for them in the future).

Thanks

 

[ImACoolguy]

I don't think you would need to remove the fish unless you are changing the substrate.


Caleb

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[jonny1982]

oh, I thought I would have to change the substrate in order to have live plants. I currently have rocks.

 

[ImACoolguy]

oh, I thought I would have to change the substrate in order to have live plants. I currently have rocks.

In that case I would definitely change the substrate... Are you looking into planted substrate? Your plants would appreciate it


Caleb

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[ImACoolguy]

With or without planted substrate I would recommend sand. Preferably black sand. Black makes the tanks inhabitants "pop" instead of the shiny white sand. Black sand also matches quite a few planted substrates just as Eco complete for example.


Caleb

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[JohnRoscoe]

If you're doing a low tech, low-medium light tank, gravel might work fine. I pulled my plastic plants out and have Java fern, Java moss, and anubias growing just fine in my gravel. It's been a couple years and everything is thriving.


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[ImACoolguy]

If you're doing a low tech, low-medium light tank, gravel might work fine. I pulled my plastic plants out and have Java fern, Java moss, and anubias growing just fine in my gravel. It's been a couple years and everything is thriving.


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None of those have to be planted though. Gravel can be used but sand it much easier for planting and cleaning.


Caleb

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[jonny1982]

So back to the original question, if I do go ahead and change the substrate, what is the easiest way to do this with fish in the tank?

thanks

 

[ImACoolguy]

So back to the original question, if I do go ahead and change the substrate, what is the easiest way to do this with fish in the tank?



thanks

I changed from small gravel to sand with my fish in the tank. I was just VERY gentle. You can take them out into a 5g bucket with your heater though till your done.


Caleb

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[NigelK8485]

Follow this guy's method for adding sand without clouding the water or removing the fish. I added sand to my tank with my fish in it using his method. It took awhile and multiple trips filling up bottles with sand, but it's worth it to not have to catch your fish and not have to wait for the sand to settle.


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[jehenry89]

When I changed mine from gravel to dirted, this is how I did it.

I took everything out of the tank first. Filled up three 5 gallon jugs with tank water. I put some bottom feeders and some mid-top swimmers in each bucket. Put a heater and a little bit of salt in each, if your fish can tolerate it. Cover the buckets so it reduces the stress on the fish. I then put all the filter media into the third bucket. If you are using a canister, you don't need to worry about that.

Remove all the water from the tank then start scooping out the gravel. Make sure you get every last piece. Rinse out your new substrate well in running water. Start putting your new substrate into your tank. Once you have it the way you want it, put a plate down on top of the substrate. Take the temp of the water in the buckets and fill the tank with water of the same temp. Use the plate to stop any unnecessary splashing which will reduce the cloudiness of your tank. After you add the dechlorinator to the water, you can start drip acclimating the fish. I did a drip for about 2 hours. At this point, I started to add my plants and driftwood. Then just turned on the filter, double checked the temperature and put the fish into the new tank. Keep the lights off for a good 24 hours after you add the fish to reduce their stress a little.

Make sure you do not run your filter until after you treat your tank water with dechlorinator so you don't kill the BB in your filter.

I hope this helps.