# Changing my substrate



## barbarossa4122 (Dec 31, 2009)

Hi,

I just bought 160lb of Eco-Complete Black (15.99/bag on sale at Petco+free shipping with 60.00 or more orders) and I am planning on replacing my old substrate with the Eco. I don't want to mess up and I would like advice on how to do it best. Both my tanks are heavy planted.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jun 7, 2009)

If you have any fish, I'd advise against it. Eco Complete does have nitrifying bacteria, but some inevitably die off from weeks or months in a warehouse or pet store shelf. When adding Eco Complete to a tank, there will usually be an ammonia spike of some sort, which is quite dangerous to any fish or inverts you may have.


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## barbarossa4122 (Dec 31, 2009)

Axelrodi202 said:


> If you have any fish, I'd advise against it. Eco Complete does have nitrifying bacteria, but some inevitably die off from weeks or months in a warehouse or pet store shelf. When adding Eco Complete to a tank, there will usually be an ammonia spike of some sort, which is quite dangerous to any fish or inverts you may have.


Hi,

I do have 1 year old fancy goldies. They are very tough and survived the initial cycling when the ammonia reached 4 to 5 ppm. Maybe I can put some of the old gravel in a mesh bag and hide it in a corner for a couple of weeks. Anyway, I will not clean the filters or any media before I replace the substrate. I hope this will give me enough bacteria if not, I'll just do wcs until thing settle down.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

Axelrodi202 said:


> If you have any fish, I'd advise against it. Eco Complete does have nitrifying bacteria, but some inevitably die off from weeks or months in a warehouse or pet store shelf. When adding Eco Complete to a tank, there will usually be an ammonia spike of some sort, which is quite dangerous to any fish or inverts you may have.


there is ways to avoid that. when i switched the substrate im ,y 75 put my fish in a bucket and saved about 2-3 buckets of the tank water and poured EVERYTHING OUT meaning, all the plants, old gravel, rocks, and water. i added the substrates as wanted, added some water and decorations, added the rest of the plants more water, and finally the rest of the "saved" tank water, put the filter back on and about 2-3 hours later my fish back in...did similar with my 125, but keep the fish on the holding bucket for a day because i didn't have an extra 60 gallon container to save existing water

my fish inicluded plecos, angels, tetras, kribs, no shrimp though.


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## barbarossa4122 (Dec 31, 2009)

Hi,

12 hrs after changing the substrate update, if anyone is interested:

Gh-6
Kh-4
Ammo-0
Nitrate-10
Nitrite-0
Ph-7
Same as before, just the nitrates are a bit low.

Fish OK, I am OK.


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## barbarossa4122 (Dec 31, 2009)

6 days.........everything OK. Tomorrow I am installing 2 new Rena filters.


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