so I have a 55 litre aquarium and I was hooping to change my gravel too some aquarium soil, I have done some research and it says that I should buy a plastic box,take the water the fish and everything else out,including the filter and the heater and put it into the plastic box. And then add the new soil, fill the tank back up with the water from the plastic box which I would have removed, and then add the fish,the plants the filter and the heater back in. Is this good advice,or is it too risk too do.
I think in order to change your gravel you will have to take your fish out because it will be too stressful to keep your fish in while doing this type of change and it may raise ammonia levels up a bit from the settled gravel. Basically you have to take everything out and begin your new layout.
Can I keep them in a plastic box for say like one day and then move them back if I use the same water and filter?
I am not so sure about a whole day, maybe thats too long hopefully someone can come give us the correct answer here soon. I think if you were to leave them in a plastic box you would need the heater and some type of air movement with a bubbler, but im not too sure. But the water doesn't matter. What matters is your filter as that holds the bacteria for the water. What kind of filter do you have ? And is your tank cycled?
Then i think you should be okay. You just need to keep the bacteria alive and going in your filter while you do your gravel change.
As long as the container is big enough your fish and cycle should be fine for a few hours or even as long as a full day as long as you keep both heater and filter running on it. The fish don't care what kind of container they are in. Just be sure to wash it well before moving everything over to it. I would give the new substrate time to settle before putting the fish back in there by filling it half way with fresh water. Once it has settled you can then finish filling it with some of the water you saved and then move the filter over to the tank. Once it is up and running move the fish over. Both your fish and the bacteria should settle right back in and just think they have had a 50% water change. Keep a close eye on your perimeters because some of the bacteria does live in the substrate so you will be removing a very small portion of it by removing the gravel. The bacteria should catch back up quickly.
I am by no means a professional aquascaper, but I pretty obsessively watch aquascaping videos and tutorials, and I'm pretty sure soil and dirt needs to be capped or it will muddy your tank up. Meaning, you put down a 1 inch layer of soil, then you put a 1.5 or 2 inch layer of gravel on top of it, to keep the soil from becoming mud in the water column.
Some aquarium soils release ammonia into the tank. Watch out for that. What plants do you plan on keeping? Most plans can be kept in gravel.
