fish tank substrate to higher pH?

Question

i have a 55 gallon tank. I have blue gravel in there and i hate it. I hear crushed coral helps keep the pH a little higher. How would i get the blue gravel out to put the other one in?

Answer 1

The simplest way is to just use an aquarium net or plastic container to remove it (your water will cloud if there's a lot of debris in the gravel, but your filter will remove this). Just be aware here that removing all your gravel at one time will upset the number of bacteria that convert the ammonia and nitrite to nitrate. If you do a change, only remove about 25% of the gravel at a time, and add some of the new in (do this in sections so it doesn't mix) so the new gravel has a chance to be colonized by the bacteria from the old. It may make your tank look odd for a month, but it's the safest method for your fish.

I don't know what you're looking for in terms of pH, but using crushed coral or aragonite will only raise the pH to about 7.8. It will significantly increase your hardness as well. This si another good argument for the partial gravel changes, since it will change the water parameters of pH and hardness more gradually and let your fish adapt.

You should be sure that the types of fish you have can live in the new conditions - African lake cichlids and the common livebearers would like this better than neutral/soft water, but fish like tetras may not adapt as well or as quickly.

Good source for researching pH and hardness requirements: http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/

Answer 2

to change the gravel within a tank you need to set up a base tank with a filter and heater (if required) at the correct temperature and, move your fish into the new tank.

Then you can start removing all the items and water from the main tank. Be sure to keep the filter in a bucket withsome of the old tank water. (Only if an Internal filter)

once you have removed all the water and the items you can then attempt to remove the old gravel.
remove the gravel into somthing like a bucket or a very strong bag.

Once all the old grevel is out you need to wash the new gravel in hot water until the water turns clear. add the new gravel to the tank and start adding new water and the items.

put the filter and the heater back into the water and start heatig the tank up, once at the corrct temp move this fish back and then keep your eye on the fish and the water chemistry for the next 24hrs.