Switching from gravel to sand?

[Tropical]

I have black gravel in my 20 gallon tank. The dye is starting to wash off of it and its starting to look bad. I have some extra white PFS, so I was thinking about changing it.

I've heard that white sand makes brighter fish look washed out. I have a german blue ram and neon tetras. Is that true?

Also, how would I go about switching it? Should I take out the fish, empty some water, and just take it all out? Will the fish be ok in cups for an hour or two?

 

[aa108]

they certainly won't have colors as bright as they did with black gravel but it should be okay. i would just put the fish into another tank or a bucket with an air pump if you have it and switch out all of the substrate. if you only have cups, they might last depending on the size of the cups and the fish.

 

[joel618]

I am considering doing the same thing. Should you leave a container the old rock in the tank to avoid a mini cycle?

 

[00youknowit00]

I just did the same thing not too long ago and LOVE it. Fish do not look washed out. I took everything out, put in buckets. Took all the water out, took all a gravel out that I could easily. Took the tank outside washed out all the little stuff with a water hose, then put my sand in, filled it up about half way, put my decorations and plants in, filled it up the rest of the way, then re-acclimated the fish. And BOOM, beautiful tank!

 

[00youknowit00]

I am considering doing the same thing. Should you leave a container the old rock in the tank to avoid a mini cycle?

I didn't put any old gravel or anything in mine and didn't see a budge in my paramaters.

Only thing I did was keep all decorations and plants in the tank water I took out til they went back in.

 

[00youknowit00]

Oh! And make sure to wash the sand our veryyyy well! I put mine in 5 gallon bucket and stock a water hose down to ever bottom (letting the water over flow off the sides) and rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed til the water coming out was all clear.

 

[Tropical]

Thanks!

Do you think I could leave the fish in though? I spent 20 minutes trying to get the neons out and I couldn't even get one!

 

[00youknowit00]

Im sure you could, other people do. I was just more comfortable taking them all out, and I don' t see a way to get all the little pieces of gravel out if you leave the fish in, and that would bother me

 

[eco23]

I just switched from gravel to PFS a couple weeks ago. Personally I left all the fish in the tank simply because it would have taken me longer to catch them all than to actually switch the substrate. It does get absolutely murky and nasty in there, and I actually did 2-3 pwc's during the process just to get them some cleaner, fresh water. If I only had a few larger fish I would have removed them, but since it's a community tank full of Tetras, Danios, Corys, etc...it was just easier and less stressful (for both me and the fish) to not try and net them all.

Absolutely rinse the sand well. I put mine in buckets with the garden hose at the bottom, and ran the water for ~20 minutes churning up the sand with my hands every few minutes. It was only cloudy for a few hours. What's nice is that PFS is larger grained and sinks right to the bottom (I lowered it down in cups) instead of clouding up. I actually left my filter running, but I wouldn't necessarily advise that to others unless you're keeping a sharp eye and making sure the sand isn't being sucked up into the filter.

As for parameters, it was a great testament to how much bacteria there is in the filter vs. the actual tank. Not only did I remove every piece of gravel, but I also scrubbed the walls really good and cleaned my deco and plants under tap water scrubbing them well. So basically the only bacteria left was inside the filter. I tested every day, and I had zero ammo and no2...no spikes whatsoever. Obviously though, make sure you test every day and be ready to change water just in case.

 

[pictuslover23]

For me sand is the way to go, as the waste stays on top and is easier to clean. I've done a couple substrate switches and fid it's easier to tank everything out of the tank. Just remember to save your water! Also, if you're worried about the white sand washing your fish out, get crushed black granite grit. I just switched both my tanks from white sand to it, and I absolutely love it!