Switched Substrate

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meegosh

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 2, 2006
Messages
6,067
Well I finally won the battle with the wifey. I convinced her to ditch the psychedelic colored gravel and decor and to go with something more natural. I picked up a 50lb bag of Quikrete Premium Play Sand at Home Depot for $3.52. I rinsed the sand about 8 times before I was satisfied with how clean it was.

I am very pleased with the look of it! I think my cories like it too! They were busy digging through the sand and checking out their new tank. Now for the pictures. :)

Before:
12085-albums37-picture277.jpg


After (about 10 minutes after adding sand):
12085-albums37-picture3375.jpg


I love how the java moss attached to my barrels:
12085-albums37-picture3376.jpg


My peppered cories enjoying themselves in their new home:
12085-albums37-picture3374.jpg


I think I have enough left over to do my 30g long also. I will wait to see how this works out in my 10g before I do the 30g. What do you guys think?
 
Sounds like you might have needed to wash it some more. Either that or it was really dusty/dirty. It did clear up rather fast. Yesterday when I got home from work the water was crystal clear. :)

12085-albums37-picture3387.jpg
 
Thanks for the compliments. :) It is a little barren now but I am going to stop by the LFS today and get some more plants. My swords seem to be doing fine, they aren't growing fast but they aren't dying either! I replaced the bulb in the hood, the old one was almost 3 years old, what a difference that made. I'm still debating about what I want to add to the tank. I'm thinking a kuhli loach or two to help stir the sand. I'm going to change my 30g to sand also and was looking into gobies and maybe a peacock gudgeon for that tank.
 
I'm not sure, I know they burrow a lot. My brother had a few many years ago and we thought they were dead for like 6 months. I imagine they could dig up some roots. I don't know about completely uprooting them though. I'll let you know though!

I'm going to a LFS that has some 'odd ball' type fish and I'm hoping I can find some neat new additions. I'm going to QT the fish in my 10g until I get the 30g's substrate switched out.
 
Sounds like you might have needed to wash it some more. Either that or it was really dusty/dirty. It did clear up rather fast. Yesterday when I got home from work the water was crystal clear. :)

12085-albums37-picture3387.jpg
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Did you have your filter on during the time the tank was clearing? I didn't but when i did turn it on the water cleared incredibly fast in about 2 days it was crystal clear.:cool:
 
I turned it off when I added it, after about 10-15 mins I ran it again with some polyfiber over the intake. It polished the water nicely. It was a little cloudy when I went to bed, when I got back from work the next day it was crystal clear. I took the polyfiber off the intake (had a little cloud which quickly settled) and that was about it.
 
What are you using to stop the fine particles from jamming the impeller?

I set mine up it looked like this
22651-albums502-picture3475.jpg


this is what it looks like this afternoon, IDK what happened but I had a bacteria bloom and its never really cleared since, water chemisty is perfect according to my LFS fish guru.
22651-albums502-picture3485.jpg
 
I used some polyfiber (the same I use in my filters) as a prefilter. I just wrapped some around the end of my intake to my AC50 and put a rubber band around it to hold it in place. I let that run for 12 hours and then took it off. The water was crystal clear, I did have a little cloud form when I took off the polyfiber from the intake. Other than that, no problems, the AC50 is still really quiet.

Did you change your filter media when you changed substrate? I haven't had a bacterial bloom or any ammonia readings so far. I'm not sure what would've caused you to experience a bloom and not me. I really don't have a high bioload on it now, only two small peppered cories. Maybe that could be part of it.
 
I used some polyfiber (the same I use in my filters) as a prefilter. I just wrapped some around the end of my intake to my AC50 and put a rubber band around it to hold it in place. I let that run for 12 hours and then took it off. The water was crystal clear, I did have a little cloud form when I took off the polyfiber from the intake. Other than that, no problems, the AC50 is still really quiet.

Did you change your filter media when you changed substrate? I haven't had a bacterial bloom or any ammonia readings so far. I'm not sure what would've caused you to experience a bloom and not me. I really don't have a high bioload on it now, only two small peppered cories. Maybe that could be part of it.
your bioload is alot smaller then mine, i was doing a completel level renovation to my house and thats where the tank was originally tore it down, sat for 6 months in storage, had a 10, for 6 months set up the 26 and put the tetras and crap in there. It is a new tank still less then 8 weeks up. My bloom was natural.
 
I have such a powerful filter i don't think the impellor could get jammed easily on it.

youd be suprised what a grain of sand will do to the impeller. I was only 3" into the water and it was still jamming( 3rd and final penguin 150).
 
Well I finally won the battle with the wifey. I convinced her to ditch the psychedelic colored gravel ?

had the same gravel when I got my second tank four years ago. ;)

switched to red and white now.

...and I am a female..I totally take offense to that "women and there decorating"

haha. j/k.

I have an excuse for my "decorating" I'm OCD.
 
Hey I didn't say anything about women and their decorating... LOL. :) AMDPhenomX4 might want to lay low for a bit... haha! I know better than that! I just convinced her the fishies would like a more natural habitat!
 
I have sand right now in my 55 gal and with live plants i have to go and stir it up every 2 weeks because the plants roots cant get through it and start growing up out of the sand. Also each plant needs its own root tab to help prevent the roots from gorwing up. Looks great though.
 
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