Changing my substrate

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mapexmac007

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
Messages
127
Location
Las Vegas
Hello cold water Goldie keepers,

I am seeking advice on a fairly straight-forward situation. I'm thinking of converting my tank's substrate from the current small white crushed granite substrate to a black granular sand-like substrate.

I read somewhere (from JLK I believe) that having pebbles or gravel small enough for goldfish to fit in their mouths is a danger to them, as the fish can get this gravel lodged in their throats or digestive tracts.

Aesthetically speaking, I think the black sand would look quite dramatic with some nice, vibrant green live plants and my two beautiful Veil Tails swimming about!

Knowing Goldies love to fiddle with the gravel in a constant hunt for food, does using sand in such an application pose a risk to the fish's health?

Bonus question:
It's a serious challenge to keep my home cooled below 78° F. Thus, our aquarium, which resides in our kitchen, runs an average temperature of about 78-80° F.
A] Is this too warm for goldfish?
B] What methods might I employ to reduce the water's temperature? I've read that increased aeration can help in heat transfer. Anything else??

Thanks in advance folks; any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
 
I kept mine in sand for 17 years. Previously, I had a couple die with gravel substrate. So, I would recommend sand. 78-80 is hot for a goldfish, you may try fans across the surface.
 
I kept mine in sand for 17 years. Previously, I had a couple die with gravel substrate. So, I would recommend sand. 78-80 is hot for a goldfish, you may try fans across the surface.

Thanks Duces!

I'll be gradually (over two weeks time) replacing the granite gravel with the black sand — little by little so as to not upset the BB more than I already have. (It's another story for another thread; suffice it to say my stable aquarium has fallen out of a healthy Ammo-Nitrite-Nitrate Cycle :banghead: ).

With cooler temps hitting Las Vegas, I can now get those temps down to the low-to-mid 70s.

I've also considered placing ice cubes in a floating isolated water vessel — I trick I learned from a sidewalk surf bar in Huntington Beach, CA. They served pitchers of beer with a glass of ice floating within the pitcher. Kept the pitcher cool while NOT diluting the beer.

I've also considered running the "FILTER RETURN" hose through some sort of cooler. Something elaborate but an idea which may very well work.
 
I changed from gravel to large pebbles I had two experiences of my moors getting gravel stuck in their mouths and that was enough for me. I find the large pebbles easier to clean and less waste gets buried in them.

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For those aquarists who have (or had) sand, any advice on vacuuming it without pulling all of it out?

I'm completely new to it and it certainly requires a bit more of a touch than gravel. I'm developing a bit of a "swirl the vacuum in small circles to stir-up the waste sediment" technique.

Just wondering if there are other methods/tricks.
 
Vacuum at a slower rate. But, Goldfish usually feed off the bottom and has never been a problem for me. In addition, make sure the filter has adequate flow...not so much as to disturb the substrate, but enough to get the water flowing. I find Eheim canisters superb for this because the water return wand has many holes allowing more flow with less disturbance.


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Thanks Dueces,

I have a Fluval 206, and in this 29/gal tank, it's got very adequate flow. My filter return/clean water feed is at the surface, agitating surface water tension as it should; I've never seen any sand (yet) be disturbed by filtration flow. So I'm fairly confident that is in good order.

My biggest battle at the moment is getting the tank to re-cycle. I'm still not sure what caused the Nitrate cycle to fall-apart. Likely it was filter maintenance from several weeks ago (standard 1 year maintenance stuff, so a great deal of work was done on it).

That filter cleaning and elements replacement likely caused a significant BB drop-off, which boosted Nitrates, which caused an algae plume to run rampant... the rest is painful history.

So for now, it's large frequent WCs and a few treatments for algae with Seachem's Algaefix.
 
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