seeing everyone discussing sand...

[Dbouchard]

makes me wanna put some in my tank.

but honestly I wont decide till I know the process and the effect it will have on my cycle/fish

how do you go about changing from gravel to sand?


im cycling my tank fish in, but im not showing nitrites or nitrates yet, doing plenty of water changes...


is this something I can change over one day while I have my hands in the tank anyhow?

and would I have to take the fish out to do that? and for how long?


Dee

 

[meegosh]

Here's what I do for complete substrate changes (I should really write this up as I've posted this a lot):

-Unplug heater
-Start draining tank halfway
-Remove decor
-Fill bucket with tank water
-Unplug filter and put media in bucket with tank water
-Net fish and add to bucket with media
-Drain rest of the way
-Use a container to scoop gravel out (or if you have a wet/dry shop vacuum, use that, it's sooo much easier)
-Rinse substrate (recommend using pillow case trick)
-Add Substrate
-Add base decor
-Add water halfway
-Plug heater in
-Add rest of decor/plants
-Fill up rest of the way with water
-Treat water with conditioner
-Drip acclimate fish
-Set filter up
-Net fish back to tank after drip acclimation

You can do this all in a few hours. As long as you keep your filter media wet you should only encounter a minicycle.

 

[Dbouchard]

wow I love the detailed instructions...

with instructions so clear I think I may go look and see if I can find some suitable sand for my tank.


thanks for the help

 

[meegosh]

Not a problem!

I've used Quickrete's premium playsand from home depot $3.49/50lbs. I've also used Aqua Quartz's Pool Filter Sand from a pool store for $6/50lbs.

Both grew live plants very well and both were easy to clean. I prefer the Quickrete though because it is smaller grains and bottom feeders can sift through it better. Nothing wrong with the Aqua Quartz brand though, just preference.

Good luck and take some before and after pics!

 

[Dbouchard]

I will, might be the weekend before I tackle it...but I think I will make that my weekend task

 

[VioletEmber]

Here's what I do for complete substrate changes (I should really write this up as I've posted this a lot):

-Unplug heater
-Start draining tank halfway
-Remove decor
-Fill bucket with tank water
-Unplug filter and put media in bucket with tank water
-Net fish and add to bucket with media
-Drain rest of the way
-Use a container to scoop gravel out (or if you have a wet/dry shop vacuum, use that, it's sooo much easier)
-Rinse substrate (recommend using pillow case trick)
-Add Substrate
-Add base decor
-Add water halfway
-Plug heater in
-Add rest of decor/plants
-Fill up rest of the way with water
-Treat water with conditioner
-Drip acclimate fish
-Set filter up
-Net fish back to tank after drip acclimation

You can do this all in a few hours. As long as you keep your filter media wet you should only encounter a minicycle.

My son and I did this pretty much exactly last weekend for his 10g and it was awesome. So fast and no trauma for the fish. The only change to the order we did was wash the sand before touching the tank so that it was ready to go in the second we took out the old gravel. Some people recommend putting a towel over the bucket with the fish but since we put all our live plants in the same bucket it didn't seem necessary. I think we were done in an hour. It looks great!

 

[Dbouchard]

I did this this weekend and it went well, aside from rinsing the sand what took the longest was netting my zebra danios, those things are so darn quick...and I am not LOL Ignore the mess on the table....seems the fish had all my attention this weekend rofl

 

[Dbouchard]

looking at my own pic makes me think I need a background....I havent yet seen one I like however.

maybe im too picky

 

[meegosh]

Very nice! Glad everything worked out for you. I'd recommend a black background to hide your cords and filter. You can use a black garbage bag and just tape it up to see what it would look like and see if you like it.

 

[VioletEmber]

Looks good! Test your water everyday for awhile - the tank we just switched has had a pretty massive nitrite spike and we've lost three guppies despite twice daily water changes (once we figured out what was happening). Test your water and be prepared for extra water changes and you probably won't have a problem.

 

[Dbouchard]

yeah your right, my nitrite was high last night and again this morning

I did 50% water changes and it seems fine now, luckily im just about finished my cycle and was tested daily anyhow

 

[gypsydancer]

looking at my own pic makes me think I need a background....I havent yet seen one I like however.

maybe im too picky

There are solid color backgrounds you can pick of the planted ones don't catch your fancy. Personally the black one works great.

 

[gypsydancer]

My sand tanks all have mystery snails in them. They do a great job of keeping the bottom debris free. Just make sure you have debris for them to ready before adding them. I've found that the mystery/apple snails work better on sand than other "cleaners". Especially on white sand like I have. Another thing I discovered when re-sculpting my 55g was to slope your substrate up as you go to the back. You just can't imagine the difference in perspective it gives a tank. It's AMAZING !

 

[Dbouchard]

I diddnt think of sloping the sand, might do that the next time I have to empty the water, tho honestly I hope thats not for awhile LOL

are mystery and apple snails the same thing?

 

[gypsydancer]

I diddnt think of sloping the sand, might do that the next time I have to empty the water, tho honestly I hope thats not for awhile LOL

are mystery and apple snails the same thing?

Basically YES.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Here's what I do for complete substrate changes (I should really write this up as I've posted this a lot):

-Unplug heater
-Start draining tank halfway
-Remove decor
-Fill bucket with tank water
-Unplug filter and put media in bucket with tank water
-Net fish and add to bucket with media
-Drain rest of the way
-Use a container to scoop gravel out (or if you have a wet/dry shop vacuum, use that, it's sooo much easier)
-Rinse substrate (recommend using pillow case trick)
-Add Substrate
-Add base decor
-Add water halfway
-Plug heater in
-Add rest of decor/plants
-Fill up rest of the way with water
-Treat water with conditioner
-Drip acclimate fish
-Set filter up
-Net fish back to tank after drip acclimation

You can do this all in a few hours. As long as you keep your filter media wet you should only encounter a minicycle.

Great instructions, but I have a question- lets say you have a 10 gallon tank, you put all the stuff in a 5 gal bucket with tank water. You get your sand and decorations back in the tank, fill it half up with fresh water and the other half with the water in the bucket that was tank water, would you still have to drip acclimate your fish? It would be like doing a 50-60% pwc wouldn't it?

 

[meegosh]

Thanks for the kind words, bear. I do drip acclimation after swapping substrates due to temp/pH swings that can occur. Not necessarily because of the actual water parameters. In theory I suppose it would be like doing a 50% WC in the scenario you provided. The fluctuations in temp is what concerns me more.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Thanks for the kind words, bear. I do drip acclimation after swapping substrates due to temp/pH swings that can occur. Not necessarily because of the actual water parameters. In theory I suppose it would be like doing a 50% WC in the scenario you provided. The fluctuations in temp is what concerns me more.

I didn't even think about pH and temp changes. So I guess in theory it would seem the same but in practice it may not be such a good idea, especially if you have fish that are pretty sensitive to changes.