3 replies to this topic

[Michael Wolfe]

I have to remove my soil/sand/gravel substrate from my 75 gallon and place it in a 125 gallon. I am guessing there is no way to do it without mixing it all up.

My question is would the gravel and sand blended with the soil hurt any of it's effectiveness? I believe the soil goes through a cycle along with the aquarium and if I started all over again I would be in effect re-cycling the tank. Is this correct?

So which is the lessor of two evils?

1. Mixing the soil substrate with gravel and sand then covering with a layer of sand.

2. Starting all over again with new soil and sand.

__________________________________________________________

Also non plant related question. Is there anything I can put in the cooler or bucket (whatever I use for the move) to provide O2 for the fish? Probably need about 4 hours of O2.

Regards the soil... use the existing soil... yes there are probably some stratification of the soil and the beneficial bacteria as it sits right now, and yes, you will likely disturb that... but with the population of bacteria already in the substrate, it will quickly rebound once you put it back in the tank. Keep it wet during the move and you should not have a problem.

Regards the fish... what makes you think that you need four hours of oxygen? I have moved plenty of fish much lnger than four hours in ragular coolers. The fish will be fine as long as they are not overly crowded. Heck, I recently brough fish in form an an outdoor pond and kept them in coolers for a week with the lid open to let the temperature adjust to the inside temperatures, slowly. If you could put a sponge filter in your existing tank for a week, then you could use it to filter the cooler... this would allow you to keep the fish in the coolers for as long as you needed.