Changing tank stones

mary · Feb 14, 2006

Hi there, just wondered if anyone could advise on the best way to remove the yucky small stones in my tank for larger ones. Being a newbie i didn't realize how dirty the tank gets and all the in these stones is to hard to clean. I thougth maybe i should do a section a night so as not to upset the tanks little bio system too much?

sharn · Feb 14, 2006

a section a night would be fine if you want to do it that way but little stones would get into the big gaps from the large ones.

i just got a large net and sort of scooped my old sand out (yeah, it even works with sand lol). made the water pretty gross but i did alot of small water changes for the next few days just incase of a min-cycle, all was fine.

large stones are harder to keep clean IMO than smaller ones, the siphon cant get around them and falls in between them all, you have to really dig you way to the bottom :S but they are better for your axie so as long as you keep an eye on the gunk it should be sweet as!

mary · Feb 14, 2006

thanks for that!! i might have to leave a few smaller stones for their dainty wee feet to walk over!

sharn · Feb 14, 2006

i wouldnt, i left a few stones (that stupid pea gravel) under the sand layer the first time i put sand in, they move to the surface and once i changed all that sand (even though there werent much stones in the old sand) they are still pooping out the odd piece, seems that if you have stones they wana eat em lol. a layer of sand with the stones on top would work well id imagine, stop the waste from getting right down there. i got my sand from a store like benchmark or something like that, ask if they have plasterers or builders sand, that stuff is normally ok (got plasterers sand myself)

kapo · Feb 14, 2006

Mary

We had the river stones on sand, just a small area cos I liked the stones but ended up taking them out cos too much seemed to get buried beneath them. But if you do want to get sand there is a place in Petone, used to be Hutt Valley landscaping I think that sells it.

mary · Feb 15, 2006

er i take it going down to the Hutt river to get sand would be too yukky or contaminated?

alex · Feb 15, 2006

yeah i wouldnt get sand from the hutt river. seems a we bit to dodgy for me.

kapo · Feb 15, 2006

Mary, The Hutt River hasn't been declared as safe yet; still has the toxic algae, so I wouldn't try to use the sand from there. Sand only costs $5-$6 for a 25kg bag at that place; so not too much money you do get your money's worth and cheaper than spending $2/$3 for a small bag of riverstones from Warehouse or $2 shop; esp. if you wanted to only fill your tank with riverstones, would work out more expensive.

Changing tank stones

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