hamstermann

I've decided I'm not a fan of gravel and want to replace it with Eco Complete. I've thought about just putting in the eco on top of the gravel, but the gravel is already pretty thick (2-3" probably) and I really don't need to weigh my tank down any more. plus I don't want to be able to stir up the substrate while cleaning it and have the gravel come back to the top. So If I change 1/2 the gravel at a time and wait 2 weeks between each change, will that cause a mini-cycle? I have a 10 gallon tank and a 55 gallon that I want to do this with.

The other concern is that my platys are dropping teeny tiny fry right now and I don't want to crush/kill/maim any of them with this process. any ideas on how to prevent that?

sgould

It's possible you could start a mini, but I think you would be ok changing out 1/2 at a time, so long as you don't try and change out any of your filter media at the same time. Just be sure and test for several days afterwards to see how things are doing. Perhaps you could get the fry isolated into a breeder net, or remove them to the other tank while you are working in the one they are in?