Changing Gravel ,NEED HELP !!!

[secretman_z]

HeY Guys ;
I hava a 70" ,24",16" L,H,W with 0.8" Gravel ...6 parrot fishes ,2 Oscars 3 catfishes .(ALL BIG)
and i lost 2 oscars cause of bad water and GRAVEL and it doesnt look good anymore...so im changin the gravel to avery light layer of BLUE Gravel which is so cool and looks good.i had in my little aquarium and it lookd off the hook.. Anyways i really need help with changin the gravel ,do i have to remove the fishes n where to or should i let them there...do i have to change the water or just move it out and then back in ...please guys gimme ideas ,im so scared to loose another fish !!!!

Waiting fot ideas !!!

[harvey]

I am pretty new here and am not sure how many gallons your tank is, but that is alot of fish for one tank. I have oscars, and the rule of thumb is one for 55 gal and 2 for 70....or something like that. They are nasty fish...not sure about the others. How often do you do a water change? I do about a 40% each week.

Sorry I am not of more help, others will be here to help.

[gm72]

Before you go changing anything you seriously need to get a handle on your water parameters. If you have bad water, we need to first determine what happened before you decide to go changing anything.

What size tank is this? Harvey is absolutely correct--that tank had best be at least 200 gallons for that many large fish.

[secretman_z]

Thanks 4 replyin guys...the tank is about 110 us galons ,450 litres....
the problem is that i cant know if the water is good or not ,and there is nowhere neerby to go and test it...the fishes are around 4 "each

[gm72]

Buy a liquid test kit and get back to us with the water results. You can't possibly be successful in keeping fish without a test kit, it just isn't possible. We'll be happy to help you, but only after you get the basic information to us.

[RobbieG]

You should wait until you can get a test kit - or can get the water tested. If you are having an ammonia or notrite problem you will make it worse by changing the gravel.

How long has the tank been running?

How much water do you change each week?

[secretman_z]

its been running for years...i change 20 % each week or two
i will try to get a test kit

[RobbieG]

If its been up that long it shouldn't be ammonia or nitrite - but I would still test the water before making any changes.

I would change a little bit more water and try to do it every week if possible.

I do 50% each week on all of my tanks

Sounds like a nice bunch of fish - how old are they?

[secretman_z]

thanks man...there about 2 years old each
i donno man...i think its the gravel ,i havent changed for along time now,thats y i wanted to change it to a thin layer instead

[kimmers318]

Punching in the dimensions you gave in your first post gives you a water volume of approx. 116 gallons. Definitely not large enough for the fish you had in there. And, yes, even an established tank can have problems with ammonia and nitrites if the filter and bacteria just can't keep up with the daily load from so many fish. Chances are though that your nitrates are building up too much between water changes due to the high load.
You will need a water test kit to figure out the problem, but larger and more frequent water changes for now will help the fish feel a lot better. You might be able to keep the exisiting fish healthy with a better w/c schedule. We found that even in a 90 gallon, 2 oscars and 1 pleco was bringing the nitrates up to over 80 between weekly water changes of 50%. That is just too much. Hubby seems to think he lost his oscars for other reasons, but every time he started to have issues in his tank I would check his water and find sky high nitrates.
Good luck with your existing fish.

[gm72]

Right. 20% each week or two is no where near enough of a water change to keep up with the waste that many large fish are producing. My best guess is that now that the fish are larger, your existing water changing schedule is simply not enough. I think you will be surprised when you start testing your water.

[RobbieG]

I'd really expect it to be nitrates -

Kimmers and gm72 are definitely right about the WC - with a tank your size it may be worth it to invest in a python and do 75% a week (heck with a python you could do 75% a day :hmm3grin2orange: )

Your gravel could very well be thouroughly funkified and in need of changing - but even if it was the worst I've ever seen it should be fine until you can get a test kit and find out for sure.

[secretman_z]

Thank you all 4 replyin...
if i wanted to clean the whole tank ,and put a brand new water ,how long should it take to cycle ,i mean leave it without fishes ???

[Chrona]

Thank you all 4 replyin...
if i wanted to clean the whole tank ,and put a brand new water ,how long should it take to cycle ,i mean leave it without fishes ???

Fishless cycling will take about 2-3 weeks. But where are you going to put the fish in the meantime?

Worst thing you could do now is to clean out the tank. Just do some large water changes, wait about a week, vacuum the gravel thoroughly and see if you can get a water reading (either from your own kit or from the LFS)

[secretman_z]

ok then how can i cycle it with my fishes ???
sorry guys im askin any questions but im really scared to loose sm more fishes

[RobbieG]

Leave the filters alone when you clean everything else - most of your beneficial bacteria is in the filter. There will be some in your gravel - you may have some sort of minicycle. I use a product called amquel to regulate ammonia when I do something like that - it nuetralizes the excess ammonia without removing it - this allows the regular cycling process to continue without exposing your fish to harm.

[secretman_z]

Thanks alot Guys...u ve been alot help...imma try the things u all told me to...and get back to u
THANKS ALOT

[Lady Hobbs]

Just to ditto the others. LARGE water changes are needed with those fish and once a week. Good filtration as well. I don't know if you have purchased a python gravel cleaner/water changer yet but they are well worth it especially for tanks of your size. Doing water changes becomes a breeze. I also do 50% on all my tanks each week and large fish can stand even more.

If you should decide to do a gravel change, just drain out half the tank, change out the gravel and refill but leave the filter media alone and make sure it's good and nasty before doing any gravel changes. Make sure you rinse the gravel very well. But you will have to have that test kit to check for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates after the change as you may have a mini-spike. You can do it without removing the fish but it makes it a bit more difficult.

I put my fish in a large dry box, put an air stone in for them, and do what needs to be done but have done it both ways.

[Spyder]

I have to agree it must be a nitrate problem. I would go about things a little differently, I would do 20% water changes daily until you get the nitrates down below 20ppm. Then figure out how often and how much water needs to be changes to keep the nitrates there. If your nitrates are off the charts you may shock your fish be changing all the water at once.

Also, how often to you maintain your filter and what kind of filter(s) are on the tank. If you don't maintain the filter it may be not filtering much and you could have poor circulation. You should have two large canister filters on the tank and maintain them bi-weekly alternating cleaning each filter each week.