Is it safe to completely swap substrate?

[Tanlefan]

Hi. I have a small tank that houses a single alien betta and a few pygmy cory as well as some plants. When I first set it up, I used Amazonia for my substrate. I learned not long after that I hate Amazonia. I covered it with sand and for the last couple months that worked for me. Now I've removed a couple overgrown plants and inadvertently unearthed a bunch of Amazonia and I'm being melodramatic and feeling as if my life is ruined.

Is it generally considered okay to just go in and do a complete substrate replacement all in one go? Would that ruin the cycling? Is there a way to go about it without it being a huge shock to the fish's systems?

[Cory]

I'd say think of it like a liver transplant. Sure if done 100% correctly, it's safe. However there can easily be complications. So if I was wanting to do it on one of my tanks, I'd have no problem doing it. I know not to feed for a few days before and like a week after. Do some extra water changes, monitor things, and in general can get through anything like that cause we do that all day long every day with importing fish. However fort he average person at home, it becomes a loaded question. If people are wondering can I scoop it all out, and put new stuff in and do nothing else differently, then that can't work. 

[Tanlefan]

Thanks. Would a safer option be to move everyone into my community tank (assuming the betta gets along with them, he can be sassy), do the substrate change and then wait a while to make sure everything is balanced before moving them back?

[Brandy]

Couldn't you just vacuum the offending Amazonia off the sand? Like a gradual thing?

[Tanlefan]

7 minutes ago, Brandy said:

Couldn't you just vacuum the offending Amazonia off the sand? Like a gradual thing?

That's a possibility. There's a lot in there, but I can imagine taking out a bit every water change would eventually get rid of all of it.

[Cory]

34 minutes ago, Tanlefan said:

Thanks. Would a safer option be to move everyone into my community tank (assuming the betta gets along with them, he can be sassy), do the substrate change and then wait a while to make sure everything is balanced before moving them back?

This is an option that is often done at the store, easier to just move the fish to another tank, lets the new substrate and plants get established again, test parameters and then move them back. Obviously it's better if all the fish are healthy any such. There is really no "right/easy" way to do it, only having a decent plan in place to have maximum chances at success. 

[KBOzzie59]

If the betta gets worked up you could always solo him in a 2.5'ish or so gallon "tank".