transition from artificial plants to live plants - i really need your advice

[exchan28]

hello.. i have a 20 gallon cycled tank and although it looks good already but i cant help but drool on live planted tanks.. and i want to do that too in my current tank.. is the transitio possible without killing the fish?.. coz what im thinking is when i set up the tank for planted.. ill just use the existing cycled water so that the fish can adopt fast.. i cant have another tank die to space contraints..

[jiajuen900]

It is definitely possible with minimal harm to livestock.

Pictures as well as specifications of your current set up will help us advise you better on how to proceed.

Also, an rough idea of what kind of planted tank you want to have will be good so that we can advise on how major or how little changes you might need to make.
whether you just want to have simple plants like anubias, java fern or moss versus more demanding plants like Hair Grass, HC or other heavy root feeding plants will cause the set up to differ.

[mUAr_cHEe]

It will also help if you house your fish seperately during the transition. Maybe at another friend's house/tank or even in a pail under your table.

[AQMS]

It is also good to know what kind of fishes do you currrenlty have,some fishes are not suitable
for planted tank.

[Urban Aquaria]

Yeah, during the transition, its best is to house the fishes temporarily in another tank, those cheap plastic ones will do. If your fishes are large, then you'll need a larger tub. Run the main filter on the temporary container, or at least an air stone or sponge filter to provide aeration.

If you are using inert substrate (ie. sand or gravel) or low-nutrient substrate (ie. shrimp soil), then its possible to re-introduce the fishes back into the main tank after letting it run for a day or two. Make sure you do slow acclimation on the fishes (ie. drip acclimation) to help them transition to the change in water conditions.

If you are using active soil substrate (ie. ADA Amazonia aquasoil), that will release alot of ammonia initially, so you'll need to let the tank cycle again.

Using an established filter can help speed up the cycle but it will still take some time for the water conditions to stabilize, so your livestock will need to stay in the temporary tank for a longer period of time (usually a few weeks).

[bryan]

Take out fish and water.Keep the water. Put base fert. Cover with a rinsed inert gravel. Start scaping. Finish, put back water and fish.