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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Can I change gravel without removing fish?

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28 Jul 2014 21:35 #1 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Right here's my situation. I have a 120 x 40cm tank I want to change substrate to manado with under layer. The tank currently has 8 Cory's 40-50 pleco (came out of cave today). Possibly more eggs as my male let a different female in earlier (he feeds daily whilst fanning the eggs). I have a gravel substrate in the tank ATM.

Am I asking for problems if I attempt this? Would I be better off going with root tabs and keeping my current gravel?

I have 3 quarters of a 25l bag of manado under the stairs and want to add plants to that tank to change it's look as it's the display tank.

Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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28 Jul 2014 21:48 #2 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
you could certainly remove and replace substrate without moving the fish once you were careful and did it in stages (doing it all in one go with remove a lot of bacteria in one fell swoop, with not enough time for the filter to compensate). but are you thinking of adding something like aquabasis in the the manado? I suspect that'd be nigh on impossible; you'd just end up with a tank of muddy water.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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28 Jul 2014 22:04 #3 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Right that's fine I'll ditch the aquabasis and use root tabs. I might end up going with half manado even if it's just over the current gravel I'll start slow to avoid squashing bottom feeders thanks for that :D I prefere my tank crystal clear.

Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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30 Jul 2014 16:36 #4 by Santiagovalcarcel (Santiago)
It is fine and you can change substrate without taking fish out - I changed from coral sand to Rio Negro sand and fish were fine, water was very dirty though but cleared in 48 hours and now is back to crystal clear, fish are in great form

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30 Jul 2014 16:59 #5 by paulv (paul vickers)
Im thinking of doing something similar, ive way to much sand/gravel in my tank and want to remove 3inchs of it. I read online that by disturbing substrate toxic gases are released, any body else know about this?

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30 Jul 2014 17:36 #6 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
I lost all my amano shrimps after disturbing the substrate moving plants around, i dont know the kind of gazes or substances were released but the next day they were dead :(
I probably could have avoided it by doing a big water change :crazy:

Anthony

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30 Jul 2014 17:55 #7 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)

Im thinking of doing something similar, ive way to much sand/gravel in my tank and want to remove 3inchs of it. I read online that by disturbing substrate toxic gases are released, any body else know about this?


hydrogen sulphide is what they're usually talking about. It tend to only be a big problem if the substrate is quite deeps and esp if it's very fine i.e. no oxygenated water reaches it. then anaerobic bacteria flourish and hydrogen sulphide is a result. if you remove too much substrate in one go you risk losing a lot of good bacteria in one go and the colony in your filter will have a hard time keeping up for a while. but you may also risk releasing a lot of hydrogen sulphide in one go too. if it's released into the water in small doses, the fish are usually fine but larger sudden releases can be fatal... and sometimes instantaneously.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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30 Jul 2014 22:39 #8 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
On another note if it's a newish set up you'll be fine won't be much going on in their but if it's a well established system you will be playing with dynamite

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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30 Jul 2014 23:07 #9 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
The best and cleanest way is to syphon the sand/gravel out.
This way you will have to remove it in stages or you will remove to much water in one go.
Also any hydrogen sulphide will be released in the syphon hose and not in the tank.

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31 Jul 2014 15:24 #10 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Some useful tips I mite do a small bit over the next 5 -6 weeks to be 100% safe I'm only going to remove a third of the gravel and cover half the tank with manado.

Hopefully it works out for you paul. Let us no how you get on when/if you get around to it.

Cheers

Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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01 Aug 2014 08:22 #11 by paulv (paul vickers)
I'll go the same way as you and remove 1/4 gravel a week, my tank is 9ft by 2 so im still disturbing a lot of substrate at a time.

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01 Aug 2014 08:36 #12 by paulv (paul vickers)
From what ive read on the release of hydrogen sulphide H2S it is neutralised in well oxygenated water, and becomes harmless sulphate. So by removing small amounts of substrate and adding extra air stones to your tank, even for a day, the H2S should not pose any harm to the fish.

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02 Aug 2014 14:52 #13 by Lauris (Lauris)
out of my personal experience ...

..it is do-able
..I've done it

..I wouldn't do it again.

It is much more messy than just to empty the tank, take everything out and then
get the gravel and substrate in proper way.

I am planted!

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