Moving substrate to a running aquarium

[riioKen]

Hi guys,

When I first setup the tank in 2023, the substrate had a slope front - to back of about 7>13cm, it looked like that.
It's 110x50x60h



Now the substrate evened out at 10cm everywhere.


I was thinking of placing mesh bag with inert substrate at the back to restore and maybe increase the substrate height (the tank height is 60cm).

The problem is that I have livestock, its a running tank.

The idea is:

• remove all the plants.
• clean the top of the substrate
• move around 6-7cm of the soil from the back to the front
• place the mesh bags with inert substrate in the back(and center)
• move the substrate from the front to the back, creating a slope (6-7cm front to 15-17cm the back).

The problem is the livestock,should I remove it or no?

Or maybe buy another, standard, tank

 

[Koan]

The problem is the livestock,should I remove it or no?

The fish will appreciate not having to breathe the silt, for sure. They would benefit from moving to a bucket with an air stone during the construction.

Shrimps don't necessarily mind silt but you will get a bacterial bloom after stirring all this up that can affect your shrimps.

If you have shrimps, it would not be wrong to add some blackwater extract after you're done to help damp down any bacterial bloom. Boiling up some botanicals in the microwave will make some good tannin tea