# substrate change?



## iamdixen (Jul 19, 2011)

Hey guys, just a noob question... I've had my fish tank for a couple of months now, and I'm not really feeling the substrate that it came with. Would it be possible to change the substrate to a new one? If now, can I at least take a half layer of the substrate and put a new on top? thanks.


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## pjones (Jun 5, 2011)

You can change it all out, just not a once. Some will tell you to do 35 to 50% at once and give it a week or two before you change the rest.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I don't know but I have never changed substrate in parts I always did it all at one time.


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## iamdixen (Jul 19, 2011)

susankat said:


> I don't know but I have never changed substrate in parts I always did it all at one time.


and nothing happened to your fish?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

No, just keep an eye on your water parameters. Don't clean the sides of the tank, ornaments and don't clean your filter and you should have all the good bacteria to where you might just get a mini cycle for a couple of days.


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

What I have read (and done) is to take some of the old gravel and put it in a net bag, then put that in with the new gravel - you can hide it somewhere so you don't see it - to seed the new gravel with more bacteria. Then after a while (I don't know, a couple/few weeks maybe?) you can take the old out.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

susankat said:


> I don't know but I have never changed substrate in parts I always did it all at one time.


Same here. No problem at all.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Swap it all at one time.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Yeah,Ive swapped it all out at one go as well, just didnt clean the filter or ornaments.I use a ton of plants too so that could have helped.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

iamdixen said:


> Hey guys, just a noob question... I've had my fish tank for a couple of months now, and I'm not really feeling the substrate that it came with. Would it be possible to change the substrate to a new one? If now, can I at least take a half layer of the substrate and put a new on top? thanks.


If the tank is not planted have you thought of changing over to a low tech planted setup?

If it is planted you should be ok changing out the entire substrate.

Either way I would not add food for a few days to a week after stirring things up with a new substrate.


just my .02


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Make sure you take your fish out and put them in a bucket while you change things. Makes it a lot easier on you and the fish.


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

^Definitely. The hardest part of the whole process for me was catching the fish!


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

I just leave em in there. If you work slow and diligent enough, won't harm a thing.


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## austin (Sep 4, 2011)

ok what about switching from gravel sub to sand sub


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

You can go from gravel to sand, it shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure you have fish that will stir up the sand a bit, or else you will have to go in once a week or so and poke around in the sand. This stops it from settling and compacting, which forms pockets of toxic gas which will kill the fish if they come loose.

I'm glad I read this thread, as I thought you could only change out a substrate if you did it 50% at a time. I guess you learn something new every day!


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Here's a link to another thread about the same:

Swapping Substrates

Couple posts down, I describe my method of doing it. I do this often and haven't had any issues to date. {knocks on simulated wood}

Hope it helps and GL!


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## fishguy2727 (Sep 5, 2011)

You can definitely do it all at once with the fish in. I have done this many times with no issues. It is less stressful for the fish to be in a dirty tank while you work than to be chased, netted, crammed in a bucket, dumped into the tank again, etc. 

Effectively all of your nitrifying bacteria are in the filter where the conditions are best for them, not spread out evenly over every surface of the tank. Unless you are running an UGF the gravel holds no significant amount of nitrifying bacteria. 

Definitely go with sand. It is much cleaner and much more natural. Personally I think that in 10-15 years people will look at gravel like they do at UGFs now, old school, out-dated, and the only people still clinging to them are the people who started when it was the way to go, figured out how to make it work well enough, and are sticking with it.

I vacuum very well, ideally two days in a row. I turn off the filter. While the water is still low from the vacuuming I scoop out all the gravel and pour in the sand. I take the time to make sure all the sand has settled, refill the tank, and restart the filters. I only use and recommend Estes Stoney River sand (formerly know as Marine Sand and Ultra Reef). It is very uniform in size, sinks fast, and has color options. I prefer either all black or half black and half white.


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

fishguy2727 said:


> I only use and recommend Estes Stoney River sand (formerly know as Marine Sand and Ultra Reef). It is very uniform in size, sinks fast, and has color options. I prefer either all black or half black and half white.


I googled this but couldn't find any reference to the product other than in your posts - can you give some more info and/or make sure that's what it's called? Where do you buy it? I did find the Estes website, but it's extremely unhelpful and the only kind of sand mentioned is Aqua Sand (and the "our beliefs" section... wow).


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## fishguy2727 (Sep 5, 2011)

It is usually listed as either Estes Marine Sand or Estes Ultra Reef. Most LFSs should be able to order it for you, even if they don't usually carry it. It is a silica based sand with a polymer coating that prevents the silica from being a problem (I have seen people use cheapo sands like play sand and pool filter sand that isn't coated and have brown algae problems so bad they remove the sand again, then the algae goes away).

They JUST changed the name to Stoney River. My guess is no one would use it for freshwater tanks because of the name so they changed it (although the picture on the bags is of two saltwater fish, go figure).


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