several questions...

Question
Hi Chris!
Things are going well for our 20 gal tank.  We now have a thoroughly over loaded tank and are enjoying every minute of it!  We have two baby platys in a breeding box, three sunburst wagtail platys, two gold twin bar platys, two minnie mouse platys, two paint platys, two emerald cories and two oto cats.  All are doing wonderfully, even the otos and cories (if you recall, my panda cories basically starved to death due to my lack of experience and knowledge).  Although the tank is overloaded and requires more work and added expense, I truely do not mind.  I have found a wonderful product called nitro-zorb which is a pad that is placed in one of our two filters (biowheel and fluval underwater)  It removes excess nitrates and the best part is that the pad is rechargable and is good for three to six months!  

I am not certain I want to try this but, I recently read that it is not completely neccessary to have gravel on the bottom of your tank, thus making it easier to clean.  I have seen several LFS that follow this practice, so I assume it is not totally out of the question.  What is your opinion and what are the pros and cons of this practice?  If I decide to do it, how do I go about making the change without completely disrupting the bio-filter?  Should I take the gravel out in small increments or should I simply remove it and place some in a nylon? (remember, I was going to change the gravel becasue of the color scheme my daughter had chosen (blue and white, YUCK)and the nylon was your suggestion to me!)

My next question has to do with power outages.  Recently our power was out for several hours.  I was in a panic.  I knew that smaller tanks lose heat faster, so I wrapped the tank in several blankets to help reduce heat loss.  What is the best thing to do in this situation?  Our power was going to be out for up to 8 hours, but thankfully was only out for about three.  Would it be a good idea to purchase one of those metallic survival blankets?  (hey, they work for people, why not fish!)  What do you do?

Thanks for all the time and effort you've taken to assure that I have a successful tank.  Your advice has been my guiding light and so far, all is going really well for my fish and for me!  Have a great day!

Thank you again Chris!!!
Cathi

Answer
Hi Cathi;

I'm so glad they are doing so much better! Gravel is really not necessary. It's mostly for our benefit. It does have beneficial bacteria in it though so watch the levels of nitrite and ammonia afterward for a week or so. Just take out maybe 25% of it and wait few days and take out 25% more, etc..... This way maybe the filter can compensate for the loss of bacteria. You can also add a second filter to the tank. Maybe an internal power filter or a second outside filter.

For power outages I just do exactly the same thing you did. I wrap the tanks up if it will be out for awhile. I've never used those survival blankets, but they sure would be handy and don't use up much space!

Watch for ich after an electrical outage and use the heat/salt remedy if your fish show signs of it. Ich looks like tiny white salt specks, usually starting on the fins. It's better not to use medicines if it can be treated naturally. Medicines add stresses of their own on top of the illness.  Raise the temperature up to 82 degrees and add aquarium salt at the rate of one teaspoon per gallon of water. Leave it that way for 2 weeks. Regular water changes will slowly remove it over time once the treatment is over so don't worry about getting the salt out right away. But remember, do all this only if they get ich.

Keep up the good work!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins