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leaving some old substrate in tank?

fourmations

Member
Joined
30 Aug 2008
Messages
201
hi all

im doing a rescape
I have akadama & gravel in the tank and more akadama there to top up and build some mounds with etc

is there any advantage in leaving in all or some of the old substrate
its 6yrs old and has never been changed, its full of mulm
is it full of baddies or is there any goodies in it!
i dont think ill have to recyle the tank, im not doing dry start
ill be dropping the water to sort the substrate but refilling (or partially) pretty quickly

any advice welcome

thanks
 
Your choice really - there may be anaerobic pockets in the old substrate (that was my experience so I prefer to strip after dramatic fish loss, I also transfer fish etc out of the tank if I'm doing significant substrate upheaval - even on "newer" substrate ... it may've been an unlikely event but I now err on the side of caution) or substrate may be fine ... there are tanks with 10yr old substrate that are going along nicely.

I prefer to start with a completely clean/empty tank :)

What are your rescape plans?
 
ill be moving my three fish but as temporarily as possible, i dont have the facilities
they will be in a large bucket with a small filter
any food safe container is fine, just make sure volume is large enough should you move your heater over
 
A 6 year old substrate probably holds majority of your beneficial bacteria. Throwing it out may mean mini-cycle. That's not critical because nitrifying bacteria will multiply in a matter of weeks again plus the plants will help. However, the substrate may hold other beneficial micro-fauna that keeps the tank ticking nicely. Every micro-organism including bad pathogens have their tiny enemies in a tank and everything eats something else, keeping the balance intact so the fish stay healthy. If your tank is healthy, fish wise most importantly, removing the substrate will throw it out of balance and you may never get the same balance back as the process is unique, hence all our tanks differ in some way we can't easily see. Having kept multiple tanks myself, it does happen to have a "sickly" tank where fish just don't like it in there....But if the opposite is true, don't do anything major to disturb it...

So, if it were me, I would just cap/refresh the substrate if needs be...The mulm in the substrate grows plants really nicely. My crypts did not start growing well until the sand in one of my tanks got to about 2 years old. Since then they have been exploding with growth without me doing anything much about it.....I am happy, plants are happy and my fish are happy....why dump the substrate although I was almost going to one time to replace it with soil but figured no need anymore.....

If you have been dealing with odd diseases/deaths in the last year or so, I'd throw everything out, disinfect and start from scratch and be careful what you put in the tank from then on.....A stable tank will have healthy fish with no loss for years(considering their relevant maximum life spans). And stable means you've got enough microbes of each kind to balance each other out....Otherwise, one needs to keep a completely sterile tank, Discus like method with large daily water changes and wiping everything clean.....
 
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