I'm thinking of switching substrate, and I'm doing a fairly big rescape this week. Since I'm tearing the tank apart anyway, now would be a good time to change the substrate if I'm ever going to.

So my question is this - I have SMS red with some peat mixed in (it was transported after initial setup, so it was mixed together). Can I remove the top half of what's there, or enough that it's not visible, and put Aquasoil or that Eco stuff on top, rather than trying to remove ALL of the SMS, AND do a major rescape all at once? I don't want to stress my fish too much.

Another idea...remove most of the plants one day, and float them in buckets. Begin removing substrate. Leave the tank alone and allow the fish to settle back down. Then the next day, refill the substrate and rescape. (or just do the substrate and put the plants back on the third day???)

I *really* do not want to stress out my fish. I'm open to all suggestions, so fire away!!

I guess you could layer it, I saw a post on APC that He put Aquasoil in a Eco Basetank. And planted HC in the Parts of Aquasoil and Eco. They Grew at The same Rate. BUt in his Other tank where he had all AS. They grew Alot faster. So its what the AS leechs out of the substrate into the water

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...riment-hc.html

Thanks. I'm really wanting the Eco. I love the coloring of the black mixed with brown.

The only problem with mixing is creating anaerobic (dead spots) in the substrate. The small particles of the Eco will settle into the SMS.

My experiment was with Flora Base and Eco. It stayed layered for a while but then just stated getting ugly with muck. IMO one step for algae to take hold in the rest of the tank.

I understand you are interested in the mix of colors but you should go with an 80/20 ratio of Eco to the SMS. Unfortunately you really don't need the peat and is supposed to be on the base layer anyway.

As for the transition get the fish out too... They would be happier in a bucket than swimming in the dust of the SMS.

Okay, thanks! Oh, and I'm not trying to mix the 2 for the colors..I meant I like the colors already in the Eco. I'm just looking at having to spend $200 if I go with all Eco.

Forddna...Do this, I just did it yesterday, swapped from gravel to Eco, took many hours, but the fish all survived just fine and I don't think too stressful at all (at least for them, for us its a little stressful, you want to take longer to design your scape but know its a rush to get it done to get the fish back in) You won't regret using Eco!! Don't skimp on the $$ on substrate, its such a big part of the process, and the time you'll spend on it now combined w/ the remorse of not doing it right later on, will make you glad you spent the $$. Go w/ Eco's recommendation I think, 2lbs per gallon for around 3 inches.

https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/su...tml#post472492

I think your best preparation for not stressing the fish out is building your plant mass to the max if you can, that'll help lessen the mini cycle that's going to happen and maybe save your fish. IME, changing everything while keeping the fish in the tank is way more stressful than transferring them to buckets, I even killed a few that way. It'll also lessen or even avoid the minicycle if you fill a nylon sock with some of the old SMS and lay it on the new substrate for a few weeks. I did it in a smaller tank where bad fluctuations happen easier so I did it in sections over three weeks, looked like this...

Thanks for the tips. I'm still not sure if I'll switch or not, but if I do, I have some good advice here!!

hehe, its a big move...I waited to do it for months, but it feels pretty cool to have finally done it....