gravel to sand

[fishdud]

I have a setup 36 g with gravel. I wanna switch to sand. Is it possible? If so, how will I go about on doing it?

 

[WinksFish]

I've wanted to do the same thing and I was told to do the following:
- Pick out the sand rinse it A LOT
- Get a bunch of buckets and take water and fish out
- take out the gravel and replace with sand
- put back water and fish.

This will mess with your water quality so you will need to do water checks frequently.

If anybody else has other ideas, I'd love to hear them.

 

[fishdud]

Forgot to mention I have live plants

 

[fadetoblack06]

You dont have to do all that stuff IMO, I just did mine about 3 weeks ago, I scooped all the gravel out. I left the fish in and did not do a water change. I used pool filter sand in the bottom of mine and it turned out very nicely. I took the sand in a pillow case and brought it into the shower and got the sand wet and then scooped it in with a cup holding the cup straight up so that all the air came out then tipped it over by the bottom of the tank and it poured right out and the tank did not get cloudy and no casualties because of it.

 

[fishdud]

Did you have plants? How long did it take you?

 

[fadetoblack06]

I have plants in mine, I took the plants and put them in a bucket I use for cleaning the tank with the water from the tank. I think after everything was said and done it took close to 2 1/2 hours to do because of the fact that I had to let the filter do it's Job and clear up the dirtiness. After it cleared up it was a piece of cake. I did my 55 gallon and I used one bag of pool filter sand.

 

[fishdud]

Okay, I'm gonna use pool filter sand too will it stir up a mini cycle?

 

[barterking85]

Okay, I'm gonna use pool filter sand too will it stir up a mini cycle?

Very good chance it will check your levels frequently and pwcs accordingly

 

[fishdud]

Okay, thanks. I'll see if I can think up an easy way

 

[fadetoblack06]

if you do not take out the water and leave the filter media in it should be fine but as with what ryan said keep an eye but you should be fine.

 

[fishdud]

I run two filter so maybe that'll help even better but I will.

 

[jeffp]

I just changed my 55 from gravel to sand the other day. 50 lbs of gravel turned into 100 lbs of PFS to make a 3 inch bed (I'm trying a freshwater deep sand bed, you shouldn't need that much).

I first washed the sand in a pillowcase then I just started scooping out my gravel until it was all gone. Took the sand poured it into a bucket and unplugged my HOB filters. then just started slowly scooping the sand into a cup and lowering it to the bottom of the tank so that when I poured it out, the sand wasn't flying everywhere. leveled it out like how I wanted, then added my plants in. let the sand settle for about 10-15 minutes then plugged my filters back in. just somewhat time consuming scooping out all the gravel, but other than that it was easy

 

[fishdud]

I just changed my 55 from gravel to sand the other day. 50 lbs of gravel turned into 100 lbs of PFS to make a 3 inch bed (I'm trying a freshwater deep sand bed, you shouldn't need that much).

I first washed the sand in a pillowcase then I just started scooping out my gravel until it was all gone. Took the sand poured it into a bucket and unplugged my HOB filters. then just started slowly scooping the sand into a cup and lowering it to the bottom of the tank so that when I poured it out, the sand wasn't flying everywhere. leveled it out like how I wanted, then added my plants in. let the sand settle for about 10-15 minutes then plugged my filters back in. just somewhat time consuming scooping out all the gravel, but other than that it was easy

Did you leave your fish in? Wish I could hire someone for this lol

 

[jeffp]

yeah, what I did was I left all my plants on one side to give them some hiding space while I put sand in the other side. after the initial spook, they actually started coming over and playing in the sand lol. then when I finished that side, I shoved all the plants over to the other side and filled the second half. I think the key is to slowly lower whatever you are using to scoop to the bottom of the tank so that sand doesn't fly everywhere. with PFS, it is heavy enough that most of it will just go to the bottom and won't float all around in the tank since the filters are off.

 

[fishdud]

I plan on using a cup. I think I may start of the left side then work my way to the right. What I'm mostly worried about is causing a mini cycle. I want sand soo bad, tired of blue gravel lol I didn't know I would get too into fish and just picked gravel. Now I love em, and try to make the best aquarium I could have xp

 

[jeffp]

I plan on using a cup. I think I may start of the left side then work my way to the right. What I'm mostly worried about is causing a mini cycle. I want sand soo bad, tired of blue gravel lol I didn't know I would get too into fish and just picked gravel. Now I love em, and try to make the best aquarium I could have xp

I barely experienced a spike and I took out all but 2 of my fake decorations and my driftwood. So even with removing all of the gravel and 90% of my decorations, the only thing I saw was a small spike in ammonia up to maybe .25, which went away really quick.

 

[fishdud]

May I ask for a pic, please? I would post one of mine but the app keeps crashing. Will one bag be enough for 36 gallons? Do you like your new look? oh, and why do you use a pillow case?

 

[fishdud]

Oh, instead of sand can I use eco complete? I think that's what it's called, so I can have nutrients for my plants too

 

[jeffp]

May I ask for a pic, please? I would post one of mine but the app keeps crashing. Will one bag be enough for 36 gallons? Do you like your new look? oh, and why do you use a pillow case?

I asked my wife to take a pic for me since our kid is sleeping on me right now, so it looks kinda bad lol. Anyway, the pillowcase is so that you can rinse away the dirt. The dirt particles are small enough that they can go through the pillowcase while the sand is big and stays in it. If you are going for a normal depth sandbed, then yeah, 1 bag should be plenty. And yeah, I like the look of the sand a lot better than the gravel we had before. Just need to finish getting my plants and putting them in now

 

[fishdud]

I asked my wife to take a pic for me since our kid is sleeping on me right now, so it looks kinda bad lol. Anyway, the pillowcase is so that you can rinse away the dirt. The dirt particles are small enough that they can go through the pillowcase while the sand is big and stays in it. If you are going for a normal depth sandbed, then yeah, 1 bag should be plenty. And yeah, I like the look of the sand a lot better than the gravel we had before. Just need to finish getting my plants and putting them in now

Wow, I love it. Looks really neat im definitely replacing the gravel ASAP!