# i need some advice for a tank tear down



## danski (Jul 22, 2006)

well ive had my tank set up for around 4 yrs with eco complete and fast growers but im ready for a change. i would like to do a complete tear down including rinsing the eco and a total re plant. can someone tell me if this is even reccomended? what are the pitfalls of this and how should i go about it? i want to order all new plants and clean everything off and start fresh with a completely clean tank. how much time do i have to complete this and what should i do to sustain all my livestock? im running two fluval 205s pressurized co2 and dosing EI. Thanks
Dan.

im running high lighting with 4 t5 55 watt bulbs over a 55 gal aquarium


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

You might experience a mini new tank cycle. If you keep your filters and NOT clean them it might not last as long. You will also probably have some of your plants need to re-acclimate to your tank since they not longer have any mulm to feed on in your substrate.

Can I ask why you are doing this if you want to use the same substrate? I would recommend that you can remove all your plants, and vacuum the substrate as you remove water. This will still leave some mulm in it, which is helpful to your plants. It will also keep alive all the good bacteria that is in your substrate. You can leave your fish in your tank and just continue to change water and leave your filter running. Make sure you use Prime to take out the chlorine and chloramine. You can even use a little more since you will be stirring up your substrate as you remove your plants. If you suction out your water as you remove your plants you should be able to get a lot of the debris out which will come up with your plants. Once you have everything out, substrate vacuumed, you can begin to plant again. After 2 or 3 weeks you can then clean your filters and you will be fine. 

Pros to the alternative approach - you can leave your fish in. You will not loose your nutrifying bacteria. You will probably not have a new tank cycle. You will leave some mulm for your plants. You can still have a new look.

Cons to the alternative approach - I don't see any.


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## danski (Jul 22, 2006)

I had no idea plants use mulm for anything. Thank You. I wanted to do a tear down to clean the gravel surface really good. I cant seem to clean it very good with the plants in there and it looks a little messy to me. I think i will take your advice and pull all the plants and do a good gravel claen that way.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

If the top layer looks a little messy I'd just try to suction it out. If you like your scape there really is more harm than good that can come from just pulling everything out to clean it. I have never done a full tear down except to change a tank or change out the substrate. I always just re-arrange a little at a time. I've done new set-ups like this - a little at a time.

Remember with your high light things can get out of hand pretty quickly.


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## James0816 (Oct 9, 2008)

I agree. I wouldn't break it down completely since you are going to be using the same substrate. Just vac the gravel really, really good after you remove everything

If you control the flow of the siphon, you will be able to clean out large portions of the tank while drawing out a minimal amount of water. I made a small gravel vac out of a soda bottle for just this purpose.


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