fishlover78

hi everyone, I have decided to give my 8 and 2 inch plecos to the pet store that my friend works at. the main reasons are:

1. my tank is too small for them
2. got to love em, but they poo more than they're worth!
3. they are really messing up the aquarium water (with poo)
4. this may be hard to understand, but I have a perfecto 27 gallon hexagon tank and the surface and bottom area are both small, about the size of a 10 gal's surface area and the plecos are jam packed down there!

because I will just be keeping live bearers which aren't really messy I would like to take out about 75% of the clean water (just siphoning not gravel vacuuming) keep it,and then dump the gravel and other water out. next clean the tank and put 25% new water in and new gravel. the next step would be adding the fish in with the old clean water. I thought doing this way would work because it would basically be a water and gravel change. my reasoning is the gravel is so heavily loaded with junk from the plecos this would just be better. if you could follow me what do ya think? also, please make me aware if I am making a good or bad decision. thanks again!

Steen16

Doing this could cause a major mini cycle! removing that gravel is removing heaps of your good bacteria! why cant you just gravel vaccum a few times?

Lucy

Steen's right about possibly causing a mini cycle......but you're going to have much less of a bio-load, so it's possible it won't effect the cycle at all.

If you do it, just keep a close eye on the water parameters over the next couple of weeks.

Steen16

Just read your aqaurium info so you are stripping the whole thing then cycling again?

Lucy

Thanks Steen, nice catch. I didn't read the aquarium info and assumed there were other fish in there.

Steen16

HHMM so did i thats why i was worried about the mini cycle.
But seems like hes got a plan

fishlover78

sorry guys, I haven't updated my aq info, I did that before I even joined fishlore. so by removing the gravel I would be causing a mini cycle? the only reason I wanted to do this is becuase when the tank was neglected for a few weeks (didn't have time to vacuum) the gravel has become filthy and I can never seem to get all the junk out. could I put the fish, gravel and water (with the same filter and media) in a 10 gallon and strip the hex tank and let it cycle again? and the water clarity has never been good since the day I first vacuumed and disturbed th gravel after the neglect (as in cloudy water) please help me! I have no idea what to do

Lucy

You might, but as I said above, you'll also have less of a bio load, so you might be ok. Just rinse your filter media lightly and watch your parameters closely for the next couple of weeks.

fishlover78

so keep the fish in or out for a while after I make the changes? What I mean is I am definatley taking the fish out while I drain and fix up the tank and then should I wait a while or add the fish and 50% of the clean saved water from the top(not the water from vacuuming) I know its confusing!

kieley

there isnt much beneficial bacteria in the 'clean water' your talking about.. i wouldnt bother saving it if i was you

fishlover78

so I should set the fish I have aside and cycle the tank over again like I did in the beginning? also I was told by my friend who works at a small pet store I could have some of the filter floss from a tank at the shop for my tank, so that will help the cycle along right?

Lucy

As long as the tank it comes from is healthy and you trust it, yes, you can seed the tank with used filter floss.

fishlover78

Thanx lucy!

mrsmuffin

Just a few thoughts:

*You could also stuff your filter with more floss now and it could build a little more bacteria before you make the change. That might help the mini-cycle.

*I agree that keeping the old water doesn't help much in the way of the cycle, but it does make it easier for your fish to re-acclimate so that they are not going in to completely new water.

*Another thought would be to pull out the old gravel and rinse in dechlorinated water - you would get all the gunk out but preserve most of the bacteria.