# Need Advice On Substrate



## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

I'm starting to not likethe blue sunshades I have at the moment and want to change it to a black cooler looking one.

So what's the best way to change it without stressing out the piranhas?
And how much will this affect the water chemistry?


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## shiver905 (May 27, 2009)

Alot if you dont deep clean your gravel bed often,

take your fish out n replace the gravel,

wait a day or 2 then put the fish back in.

Or just slowly take a few bowls out every day or so.


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

i was thinking about taking out little by little.
and i do clean my gravel every week with every water change so tahts no problem


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## sapir (Jun 20, 2008)

if you have a pump its easier to just move the water from your tank into a couple buckets, remove the gravel put the new gravel in and fill your tank up with the original water.


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

yea i was thinking the same think but i only have a couple 5 gallon buckets but im gonna do something like that with something bigger


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

i say put em in a bucket with your tank water take all the substrate out and then put new one in SAND or GRAVEL wait for about 4 hours


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## fiveo93 (Jan 19, 2004)

Take em out and put them in coolers, drain your tank and do your swap out. just re-accumulate them to the new water. your beneficial bacteria is in your filters not the water.


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

dont forget of course to add water conditioner







, and like i told you before id go with black sand or you could do black gravel. It makes the red in my natts stand oot.. ohh and ditch the wall paper lol











piranha-freak101 said:


> dont forget of course to add water conditioner
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

i got black wallpaper
the only thing i need now is gravel or sand which im having a hard time finding sand let alone black.


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

lol its also personal referance, but just saying black makes red pop, you should just paint it wallpapers IMO are a pain in the ***


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## TheSpaz13 (Apr 9, 2010)

kanito107 said:


> i got black wallpaper
> the only thing i need now is gravel or sand which im having a hard time finding sand let alone black.


Idk where your from, but petco/petsmart should have black sand, it's expensive tho


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

piranha-freak101 said:


> i got black wallpaper
> the only thing i need now is gravel or sand which im having a hard time finding sand let alone black.


Idk where your from, but petco/petsmart should have black sand, it's expensive tho
[/quote]

yea i havent checked petco or petsmart yet. but where i live i have both. ill check them out


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

kanito107 said:


> i got black wallpaper
> the only thing i need now is gravel or sand which im having a hard time finding sand let alone black.


Idk where your from, but petco/petsmart should have black sand, it's expensive tho
[/quote]

yea i havent checked petco or petsmart yet. but where i live i have both. ill check them out
[/quote]

yea i took my p's and put em in my spare tank, painted the outside of the back of my tank and it dried in like 2 hours


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

how many coats did you use?

btw off topic 
where in indiana are you


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

i actually used flat black spray paint wich is much better than paint IMO

And i live in Indianapolis Indiana


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

oh thats cool im from fort wayne
ive been to indy a couple times and its cool. also visited the zoo

if you would have sold your ps before i bought mine no doubt i would have bought them but my tank is full right now with 5 :/


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

haha its all good, im almost about to give them away for free because 55 gl just wont cut it


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

well i know ther has to be a good lfs that will take them if you sell them
dont even ask for a lot just as long as they take them


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

yea my i called my local fish shop AKA The Reef said all their tanks are full and that i should call back ina couple of weeks







, so just hoping something comes up


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## scrofano1 (Jan 26, 2007)

Incase you dont wanna spray paint the back of your tank, Try Seaview. Its an oil you spread over your wall paper then with a card stick it on the back of your tank. I bought it from big als and im pretty happy with it, The only thing is my friend had used it before so i had him do it







. I am using an all black wall paper also, if i could only remember how to post pics i would lol.


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

lol
theres something i dont like about using spray paint idk why
but i can see if i can find any at my lfs


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## scrofano1 (Jan 26, 2007)

iphone pics...


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

Very nice tank what p you have in there? And yess the wallpaper looks good but i just find spraypaint way easier


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## scrofano1 (Jan 26, 2007)

I ordered a manueli from aquscape and currently waiting on shipping...which seems like forever lol. It wasn't really a pain for me the tank was empty when I set it up, so I had tons of space to work with. dont mean to highjack, sorry.


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## kanito107 (Feb 1, 2011)

haha its cool. the tanks really nice though do you have any real plants in there.
remember to post pics when you get your manueli


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## scrofano1 (Jan 26, 2007)

No I dont really have the time or patiance to deal with real plants and I will def post pics when I get him.


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

scrofano1 said:


> I ordered a manueli from aquscape and currently waiting on shipping...which seems like forever lol. It wasn't really a pain for me the tank was empty when I set it up, so I had tons of space to work with. dont mean to highjack, sorry.


I thought u said your friend did it?


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## scrofano1 (Jan 26, 2007)

well I was helping out also, wasnt like I just watched him, he did all the pre cutting as I held it lol.


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