al_stew2000

hey guys, i want to change my gravel to a different color. would doing this get rid of all of the good bacteria and cause my tank to re-cycle?

bhcaaron

Get ready. The usual questions will be, how big is your tank? How much gravel do you have? How long has it been in?

Could you maybe change it a little at a time?

sgould

The biggest concentration of bacteria is normally found in your filter media. However, I believe substrate is #2. I don't think changing the gravel will put you into a full blown cycle, but you may experience a mini.

al_stew2000

its a 20 gallon tank, the gravel has been in it for about a month and a half ive got about 3 bags of it in there.

Isabella

I agree with Sgould. Removing the gravel won't cause a new cycle (if the tank is cycled), but it certainly may cause a quick mini-cycle. Maybe try removing half of the gravel, or 1/3 of the gravel first (and replacing it with new gravel), and wait a week or two, and then replace the other half ... or the next 1/3 of the gravel. Until you're done with 100% of the gravel.

Whatever you do, if you DO get a mini-cycle, perform those daily water changes until Ammonia and Nitrite are again at 0.

al_stew2000

thanks for the help guys!

Isabella

No Problemo

neverendingninja

Maybe, if you want to do it partially, make a short divider, slightly taller than the gravel, and the same depth(front to back depth, not top to bottom), and fit it between the new and old stuff, that way they don't get mixed up.

Just an idea...I've been wanting to change my gravel, also, but in a 55 gal, it's going to be a pain and I don't want to stress my fish out needlessly, and the current gravel is fine

darkwolf29a

I did this in my 55. I went from sand to a more rocky substrate. My Oscar seems to like it better. He really likes it now that I've moved him up to the 75 gallon tank.

What I did was this:

I took a smaller divider, taller than the top of substrate. I used that to move the sand over, while I filled in behind it with gravel. I did the whole 33% per week deal. Worked like a charm.