# Full Substrate Swap



## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Alright so I'm debating swapping out the sand in my Rhoms tank for black gravel. I just really enjoyed the color that he had with the black gravel and I'm not really digging the look that this play sand is giving me anymore.

My question is what do you think would be the best way to swap the substrate? It's sand so it's going to be a big pain in the butt to remove. I have an extra 30g that I can put my rhom in until the swap is finished but I'm a little worried about the water. I can't remove all of the water from the 75g to remove the sand because I want at least 1/4 - 1/2 of it to remain in the tank so that I can simply add the 30g back into it from the 30g tank and I won't have to add tap water to my tank to top it off.

What I'm getting at is that I don't want to have to have my 75g cycle again. Now of course I'll still have good BB in my HOB that will be running on the 30g so that will help.

What do you guys think? I might jump on this in a couple of days.

Just thought that I'd toss it to you guys and get some opinions, obviously I have my own









Here's a quick vid of him just chilling. Since taking all the plants out of his tank, he's been getting a little more active(obviously not in this vid though







). I'm hoping that switching back to black gravel will also help him out a bit.


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2011)

Your tanks water does not hold bb. The best way for you to swap out substrate is to remove the fish, drain water, remove substrate,rinse tank, add new substrate, add new water and add back the fish. This should take you no longer than an hour. If your worried about your HOB unplug it and place it on another tank for that hour.

You should not go through a cycle at all because the bb is in your filter.


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Thanks ksls, I wasn't trying to say that my water has bb in it, that's why I mentioned that the hob has bb in it. I want to add as little tap water as possible, because lately the city has began to add a terrible amount of chemicals to it, to the point where my water smells like a swimming pool. I don't mind doing water changes and adding prime to it, but I'd rather not have 75g of that crap and then toss my little buy back in. I want to save as much of my dechlorinated water as possible.


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

ksls said:


> Your tanks water does not hold bb. The best way for you to swap out substrate is to remove the fish, drain water, remove substrate,rinse tank, add new substrate, add new water and add back the fish. This should take you no longer than an hour. If your worried about your HOB unplug it and place it on another tank for that hour.
> 
> You should not go through a cycle at all because the bb is in your filter.


The water column doesn't have BB, but it contains what the BB needs to survive.you fill a tank up with conditioned water n put a cycled filter on it, your gonna definitely gonna kill a bunch if not all your BB. Imo anyhow.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

BRUNER247 said:


> Your tanks water does not hold bb. The best way for you to swap out substrate is to remove the fish, drain water, remove substrate,rinse tank, add new substrate, add new water and add back the fish. This should take you no longer than an hour. If your worried about your HOB unplug it and place it on another tank for that hour.
> 
> You should not go through a cycle at all because the bb is in your filter.


The water column doesn't have BB, but it contains what the BB needs to survive.you fill a tank up with conditioned water n put a cycled filter on it, your gonna definitely gonna kill a bunch if not all your BB. Imo anyhow.
[/quote]

What exactly would kill most or all of the bacteria? They aren't all going to die immediately because there isn't any ammonia in the new tank water for the short amount of time it takes to get the fish (ammonia source) back in there. Keep in mind that there is trapped detritus in your filters which is also an ammonia source for the bacteria -- shouldn't have any issues if done properly.

If you are worried about the increased chlorine content, just dose prime after filling the tank and let a powerhead run for a bit before plugging the filter back in.


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## CyberGenetics (Mar 29, 2009)

Iv swaped gravel quite a few times but iv never changed the water completely thats to risky IMO. I usally put back 1/4 at least and havent ever had a problem.


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

Man... I did this once.. Changed my gravel over to black sand.. I saved 20 gallons of the old water swapped the substrait.. I finished swapping it over. Added 15 gallons of the old water then the rest treated water. Then I threw my fish back in with the last 5 gallon of tank water. By the next day he was dead.. The new water was to much of a change for him to handle from the older established water he was use too was my guess. To much stress on him..


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2011)

If you are worried about the water being different, then why not drain it into a huge rubbermaid container instead?


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2011)

I've done swaps before on smaller tanks with 100% new water (except water in canisters) and I didn't have any spikes whatsoever. If you're worried and you have the 30 gal, just transfer current water to 30gal, and then transfer it back + new water after the switch.

I found a easy way to swap out sand recently, get permeable bags (the type of bags they store sand, gravel, potatos etc.). Scoop out as much sand as possible first with water in the tank. Then suction out the water and sand and run it through the bag. It makes getting you the sand in the corners so much easier then draining the tank and then scooping.


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)

Traveller said:


> I've done swaps before on smaller tanks with 100% new water (except water in canisters) and I didn't have any spikes whatsoever. If you're worried and you have the 30 gal, just transfer current water to 30gal, and then transfer it back + new water after the switch.
> 
> I found a easy way to swap out sand recently, get permeable bags (the type of bags they store sand, gravel, potatos etc.). Scoop out as much sand as possible first with water in the tank. Then suction out the water and sand and run it through the bag. It makes getting you the sand in the corners so much easier then draining the tank and then scooping.


I agree. The sand is so fine and light that it will fluidize and go through the siphon.


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## ScarsandCars (Jul 17, 2011)

ksls said:


> If you are worried about the water being different, then why not drain it into a huge rubbermaid container instead?


If you stick him in a seperate tank just put the filter on that tank, siphon water from your 75 into the temp tank, then some into a rubbermaid or tote. Take the tank outside and hose her down real good, take a bucket or pitcher and move as much water back into the 75 as possible. Do everything the same except no rubbermaid, just use the temp tank water and then go buy bunch of drinking water jugs, like those 10 gallon jugs.

IMO if your doing water changes, theyll have to deal with the chemicals anyway.


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)

ScarsandCars said:


> If you are worried about the water being different, then why not drain it into a huge rubbermaid container instead?


If you stick him in a seperate tank just put the filter on that tank, siphon water from your 75 into the temp tank, then some into a rubbermaid or tote. Take the tank outside and hose her down real good, take a bucket or pitcher and move as much water back into the 75 as possible. Do everything the same except no rubbermaid, just use the temp tank water and then go buy bunch of drinking water jugs, like those 10 gallon jugs.

IMO if your doing water changes, theyll have to deal with the chemicals anyway.
[/quote]

Doing a typical water change he would only have to deal with 25ish% of the water being changed. Not 70%+


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Wow I turn away for a few hours and this little thread has really picked up. So as you guys have mentioned I do have a few ideas now.

I have a 30g tank and (3) 5g buckets and 1 tote, so I should be able to keep about 85-95% of the existing tank water.

My plan is to fill up the 30g tank, buckets and tote, place my HOB on the 30g. Then I'll use the siphon method to remove the sand from the tank.

We'll see, I'll take some pics and post them I'm sure.


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)

When in doubt... Talk to the Canadian.


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Yeah Yeah, I'll call you when I need a good poutine.


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)




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## CyberGenetics (Mar 29, 2009)

Sacrifice said:


> Yeah Yeah, I'll call you when I need a good poutine.


We also live in Igloo's


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

I didn't do the rubbermaid thing cause I had no way to suck water from the tote under the tank back into the tank an the buckets only got some of the water out last time I tried that. Let us know how your fish does during this change. I did this swap on a 55g an had an issue with to much new water


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## ScarsandCars (Jul 17, 2011)

You could stick the intake tube of a canister filter into the tote and the exhaust hose in the 75. I did this before and it worked fine.


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

Never tried that.. didn't think the canister filter would be able to prime being level with the tote.. If i ever try this again, I'll give that a shot


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2011)

Cheap power heads.

I've got a good size Chinese powerhead (got it for around $10) that I attach to a pipe to transfer water and what not. Comes it handy and reduces mess when you have to deal with buckets (which I don't do often).


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

Nice Idea Trav.. I will keep that in mind for sure cause I have a few extra power heads laying around


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Traveller said:


> Cheap power heads.
> 
> I've got a good size Chinese powerhead (got it for around $10) that I attach to a pipe to transfer water and what not. Comes it handy and reduces mess when you have to deal with buckets (which I don't do often).


This was my exact plan. I figured my powerhead would do the trick. I'm swapping the sand out tonight. I might shoot a couple vids just for the heck of it.


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## ScarsandCars (Jul 17, 2011)

Thatd be a good idea. Lots of people are always asking about how to swap substrate


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## Skepsis_DK (Aug 15, 2011)

just wondering how the substrate swap went? am thinking of also switching to black gravel and just curious how yours went


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## ACrowe25 (Sep 23, 2011)

Also wouldn't mind learning for the future. The powerhead idea seemed pretty good.

Here's a rookie question... What's BB? Thanks :/


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## Co. Caines (Feb 14, 2011)

BB= beneficial bacteria.


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