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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

Changing gravel in a 'live' tank

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21 Jun 2005 17:26 #1 by darragh (Darragh Sherwin)
Has anybody ever changed the gravel in their tank?

I have 5-8mm mixed gravel, the usual gravel, that covers layers of filter wool and aquatic soil but I would like to change it to small black gravel 2-3mm as I would like to grow grasses in my tank.

Sand would be better but I don't think I would do it in a 'live' tank

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21 Jun 2005 17:50 #2 by Dave (Dave Fallon)
Yeah, I have.

Very time consuming and messy but it can be done. Preferably in stages if you have a very active substrate.

Do you plan a straigt swap or leaving the aquatic soil and wool?

Qui Vivra Verra.

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22 Jun 2005 01:47 #3 by darragh (Darragh Sherwin)
I am leaving in the wool and aquatic soil, as all the plants I have are firmly bedded down in it

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22 Jun 2005 04:01 #4 by conor-mr2 (conor-mr2)
Replied by conor-mr2 (conor-mr2) on topic Re: Changing gravel in a 'live' tank
Done it myself in an old 4ft tank I used to have. Timeconsuming and hard slog.

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29 Jun 2005 15:13 #5 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
This could be done over a couple of days in sections.
Get something a couple of inches high and the width of your tank.
Place it in the tank dividing into say 1 third. This will be the first section you will work on.
Using a large hose, syphon the gravel from this section (carefully). You will remove a lot of water doing this so when the water and gravel are in a bucket let the dirt settle and syphon the clean water off the top back into the tank.
When this section is done put the black gravel into this section and leaving the devider in place.
The next day you can devide another section and clear this for more new gravel.
As i said this can be done over a couple of days so you dont have to up end the tank.
Be carefull not to syphon the mesh covering the soil. You could hold it down with a stone or too in the corners.
I hope this is of help.

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  • conor (conor)
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15 Jan 2006 06:43 #6 by conor (conor)
Replied by conor (conor) on topic Re: Changing gravel in a 'live' tank

Has anybody ever changed the gravel in their tank?

I have 5-8mm mixed gravel, the usual gravel, that covers layers of filter wool and aquatic soil but I would like to change it to small black gravel 2-3mm as I would like to grow grasses in my tank.

Sand would be better but I don't think I would do it in a 'live' tank


Be carefull with sand, I used it in the past and over time it gets prone to anerobic bacteria and gunk collection as there is almost zero water flow. So dont do it.

When I changed mine (twice -> went from gravel to black polished glass, and now to some super plant growing substrate -dont remember what its called, but has a layer of laterite aswell), I tried syphoning it at first but it was a PITA. So I got some big basins for the tank water, so that a third of the water was kept. Removed all the plants, ornaments and fish.

Dranined the entire tank (did _not_ clean the filters), added a substrate heater cable -> can I seriously recommend these, go get one now...

Added the gravel (decent layer)
here is a recent photo:
www.discuskeeping.com/Discus-Jan-2006/slides/DSCF0415.html

The light level is quite low (running on a single T8 until I replace the hood) and yet with the cable, and CO2 injection, I get serious growth.
Check out the cut back plants from the initial tank move two months earlier:
www.discuskeeping.com/Discus-Nov-2005/slides/DSCN3652.html

So moral of the story is:
Proper substrate, heater cable & CO2 = mad plant growth.
Imagine what will happen when I give it sufficient lighting!!! Never mind start feeding the plants!

Regards
Conor.

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