converting a 10g from gravel to sand questions

[bobc4d]

I tried a search for gravel to sand and not much came up.

I have a 10g, lightly planted with some grasses and one Betta. I like the look of sand and am thinking about converting the 10g over. I have read on other threads to do about 1/2 the tank then given time the other half.

questions:
how much stress would this cause my beautiful blue Crown TailBetta? He is a cool fish and I don't want to stress him too much. He is happy and if this will stress him, I'll leave his tank as is unless the sand will benefit him in some way.

how would I go about it? ie: how would I remove the gravel then add the sand without stirring up the sand and destroying the bb?

if doing the 1/2 thing, how long should I wait in between changing out the halfs?

 

[tamtam]

I read this article a while ago and it seems to be the best info on the process I've found so far. It's a bit wordy as it covers a lot more than just the switching from gravel to sand. If you want to skip it all just give a scroll down a bit to the process.

Sand for the Aquarium

I hope it helps you out.

 

[bobc4d]

thanks for the link, this should help out in making my decision and direction to go

 

[Zimmanski]

I did this not too long ago for my 30 gallon. it was a little bit difficult but easy enough, I didnt look up anything though, just went for it haha. I vacuumed the gravel really well so I wouldnt kick up a bunch of crud, by the time this was dont my tank was at 50%(that made it easier) then I used a large plastic cup to scoop out the gravel. A plastic cup is good because it bends and lays flat like a shovel. you could also easily use a fish net and just scoop out the gravel. then I used the same cup to transfer the sand to the tank(after rinsing of course). I used the cup because I found that the less the gravel falls through the water, the less residual dust got kicked up into the remaining water. doing half and half sounds like a good idea but might not be necessary if you have a good cycled tank since a lot of bacteria are in your filter. after I replaced all the gravel with sand I monitored the parameters very closely and added a little prime just in case I missed something.

 

[tamtam]

thanks for the link, this should help out in making my decision and direction to go

No prob! I haven't done sand yet but I've got it stashed away for when I do.