Adding gravel - in situ....

The gravel in my 5ft is currently around 1.5 inches (35mm) deep..... I wish to add more gravel to make it about 4 inches (200mm) deep.....

My plan is to just wash the extra gravel and slowly pour it into this tank little by little (over a 4 day period)......

I foresee no problem with this method..... Is there anything I have overlooked in my innitial "Risk Assessment"??......

 

Sounds fine.

 

The only thing i can think of is maybe getting one of your fish buried if they either camo in well with your gravel of you get distracted, and maybe afterwards you would have some cloudy water or a odd bacterial bloom?

 

Agree with Reedfish - get it done as quickly as possible, in one go, after rinsing it thoroughly to clean out as much of the dust in the gravel.
If you have a long plastic or acrylic cylinder I would use it and pour the gravel down the cylinder so you can kinda control where the gravel lands more accurately.

 

Think Cheetah has time on his hand, but I get the fact that cold gravel in that large a volume can cause some temperature fluctuation. Also means what the adding of the substrate could be done instead of a water top-up.

Best I have done was to add 40kg of substrate in one go, do a WC on the same day and plant what was needed .. seems to have worked, but must add this was an out-side tank and big temperature fluctuations are the norm.

Later Ferdie

 

I don't think doing it quickly is an entirely good idea.

Do remember that your substrate provides a large surface area on which your beneficial bacteria colonise. The most active of this bacteria occupies the upper layer of the substrate, as this area is in contact with more oxygenated water. Suddenly burying this layer will most likely reduce the oxygen availability to this bacteria, knocking on this colony and reducing their effectiveness.

I am unsure of the exact effect this would have, but it is something to consider.

Regards,

 

One day or fours days is going to affect the existing bacteria in the old gravel the same way - they are not going to colonise each amount of the new gravel on each day that it is added. The only way to prevent this from happening is to move the old gravel to one side, add the new layer and then cover with the old layer - way too much work I reckon. I would hope that the existing bacteria in the filter are sufficient and the new gravel will get colonised in due time
Maybe i am wrong but doing it over a 4 - 6 week period then would be more beneficial in this case

 

Just added my first half bucket of the new gravel, & whilst pouring..... my one Kisser jumped out.... (soft landing - fortunately - on my outstretched foot)..... and I sort of buried my Vallisneria..... Otherwise.... it is looking better already...... Kisser looks fine though......

 

Easy way to protect the bacteria is to pour all the new gravel in on one heap, then over the next few days spread it out slowly over the old gravel. By the time the entire base is covered the new gravel will be seeded with bacteria as well.