Changing substrate

[zerlinafish]

Hey all. Ernesto is doing marvelously. He is active, funny, eating, and his fins are healing really well. There is no emergency and I do not want to rock the boat now, but...

I currently have a gravel substrate on my 2 gallon tank. Whenever I do a water change (yesterday I did about 50% and I vacuum the gravel), It kicks up what looked like dust. I add fresh water slowly. I basically siphon the fresh water from the bucket into the tank. The tank is about 6 weeks running. He is the only inhabitant. I feed him 4 pellets once daily and I change water 1-2X/week , so I do not think that it is ALL debris from him. Yes, the gravel was rinsed thorougly before setting up the tank.

Tank Stats:

**2 Gallon tank ( http://hawkeyeaquarium.com/aqview_360.html )

**Small bubbling filter with activated carbon (I took out the airstone...there was too much goint on) ( http://www.petco.com/product/12147/P...ilter-Kit.aspx )

** No heater right now...seems to be helping Ernesto heal the fins without...but i have a hydor 25 watt nano heater after he is healed. http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.as...sultRedirect=1

**"undergravel filtration" system (what the aquarium said it "came with")

So here's the deal: I think I want to change the substrate to something like marbles (the Glassy looking beads) to make water changes less cloudy. While the dust does settle quickly, I am sure it is not good. So my question is: will this stress him out? How can I (or can I) do this without stressing him? What are your experiences?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[willow]

hi
glad to hear he's doing well :)
do you see him eat all that food ?
i just wonder if that;s the cause of your problem,i don't get
why you have dusty bits,unless it's uneaten food.
i'm not saying don't change the gravel,if that;s what you would like to
do,then it;s your tank.Best to take him out and put him in a container
with his tank water in.remove the water from his tank,take the gravel out and replave with the stones you want.then put everything back,
you could always add some shrimp or a snail to clean up
whatever he leaves.
:)

[zerlinafish]

I feed him pellets, and yes he eats them all, I feed him one pellet at a time so I make sure he has eaten all of them.

I realized that there is a "grate" that the substrate sits on that leaves about 1/2" of space to the bottom the "under gravel filter". It could have something to do with it.

I will wait on it for now, as everything seems balanced.

Z-fish

[willow]

hi
yeah it could be bits from under there being draged up
on water change day.
good luck when you do change.
:)