Changing gravel 2

[BGK]

well i'm planning to change my gravel..
i've already taken 50% out and added 50% new gravel
i was wandering when i should change the other 50% of gravel?
in 1 week?

also does anyone know how to get rid of spot algae on the glass?
it takes a whole lot of energy to scrape it all out and it keeps somming back
they r tiny bright green spots on the glass

[kalebjarrod]

alge can be reduced by a few methods

reduce the amount of light in the tank, i have had the same alge over the past week i have reduced the light time from 8-10hours down to 3-4 hours

make sure sunlight is not hitting the tank

add a CO2 system, if your plants grown more they will use the nutrients needed for alge to grow

try a razor blade to remove the algee

vac and water change after cleaning, they are a single celled organizim(i think) and they break up into thousands as you clean

[BGK]

would turning the light on for 3-4 hours per day affect the discus and my other fish?

[kalebjarrod]

shouldn't

they will naturally have days of overcast weather in the wild

3 hours a night is what i have, so when i come home i can keep an eye on them

it is jsut a little annoying for the family during the day, bit boring

no more alge though, gets rid of blue green as well!

now it's back to normal :wink:

[Trebs]

Assume it's already setup? If you have Discus, or any fish in the tank for that matter make small gradual changes to the substrate. A lot of nasty stuff can be released into the water column when you mess with the subsrtate.

[kalebjarrod]

did not even think of answering your main question

dunce for me AGAIN

agreed trebs,

don't ...... with the substrate to much especially to qiuck after a 50% change

give it a couple of weeks and keep the water cahnges up!

[BGK]

but i siphoned all the gravel out..
so all the poop diodn't go everywhere..

[Trebs]

You still disturb a lot of bacteria and other nasties that don't always get syphoned. Better to be save than sorry.

[BGK]

well i've already done 50% before i made this post..
should i wait a couple of weeks before i do the other 50%?

[Trebs]

I'd wait a while then do the rest in a least three separate parts. Wait a week in-between each part. Keep the water changes up in the mean time and keep a eye on your fish and water parameters. I would also expect that you would get more algae during this time. Any major algae blooms will point to nutrients being stirred up into the water column. On another forum (awforums.com/discus) there was a post where someone had removed all there gravel in one go and ended up losing 6 of his 12 discus. I'd hate to see the same happen to anyone else.

[Merrilyn]

BGK - glad to hear the first part of your gravel change has gone smoothly. You did the first 50% in two parts over two weeks, right? Now you would be safe to do the next 25% section and a week or so after that, the last 25% then you're all done. This will cause minimal disturbance to your bio filtration. Your 60 gallon tank is well catered for with your eheim and aquaclear filters, and you do not have an excessive fish load with three discus and a knifefish. Keep up with your water change, and don't feed too heavily during this time.

[BGK]

thnx for the help all
much appreciated