Gravel to sand

[Kimbie]

If I want to switch my gravel to sand, what would be the process? I have a tropical community, 6 plants, rocks, DW etc.

Thanks

 

[gilpi]

Take out the gravel, put in the sand.
Really, it's that simple. I've done whole tanks with both fish in or fish out, he plants I would take out before the switch.
Make sure whatever sand you use in rinsed very well.


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[Kimbie]

How do you place the sand so it doesn't cloud the water?

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[Angela1108]

Lots of rinsing it first! And using a cup/something to dump it in with close to the bottom instead of the top is easier


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[Kimbie]

Ok. I am thinking of getting some liquid fertilizer for the plants as well (newbie with live plants) I am hoping a transition to sand will brighten it up. I'll post before and afters if my husband agrees to it!

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[Cold Canadian]

What I did was I took down the tank, emptied water and everything than i put the fish and plants in 5 g buckets. I then added some organic topsoil ( I highly suggest you do the same good plant growth) than put sand on top. After i put in rocks and drift wood and planted the tank. I slowly added the water to not to move the sand then I added the fish. I love the look of the of the tank and plant growth with the dirt is amazing.


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[Angela1108]

Liquid is great for stem plants. With sand I would suggest root tabs for swords and other root heavy plants.

Mine is pretty low tech. Sand with a sword, anubias, horn wort, anacharis, and money wort in one tank then gravel and the same plants plus dwarf sag and some Val's


I do root tabs under the money, and the swords. (They last for 3-4 months seachem) and then I use flourish and flourish excel.




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[Autumnsky]

Do not clean out the filter pad for a little bit maybe 2 weeks before the transition. You are wanting to keep as much BB as possible for the water quality and healthy fish.

I am assuming you already have a cycled and stable tank. Do not change your filter pads almost ever... just rinse gently in tank or dechlorinated water, not tap water?

Frequently there is a mini cycle, even in a previously stable tank.

And keep the feeding at a minimum until your tank gets back to being stable again.

I would take out everything and put in buckets with water, clean out the muck (of course gravel too). After rinsing the sand twice as much as you think you should, unless you do Eco-Complete or CaribSea Instant Aquarium with the liquid which do not require rinsing, put it all back together again.

 

[Angela1108]

The other thing you can do to help and not have it cycle completely as well as what autumn said - take nylons and shove some of the current gravel in it and hang it in the tank until the mini cycle goes and does its thing.


When I upgraded my tank I didn't have a filter to move over - went from an internal to a HOB and switched gravel to sand at the same time. I put the internal filter pad thing in the tank and I moved over gravel in nylons and it cycled in about a week. Since you are keeping the filter it shouldn't take too long if you get a mini cycle at all


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[Angela1108]

Make sure of the filter is unplugged you keep the pad/filter medium floating in the old tank water to keep more bb alive- if it dries out you're mostly starting over completely.


It takes quite a while- unless you can rinse ahead of time


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[Autumnsky]

Very good point about the nylon of gravel.

 

[MMantelli]

There are a few vídeos on youtube that use methods similar to the way I have done it in the past. I will see If I can find a Link for you, but here is how i like to do it. Do a little at a time. Drain some water out of the tank mabey 15% rinse the sand very well and on the final rince use some de-chlorinater. Fill the bottle 1/2-3/4 the way up with sand and top off with tank water, depending on tank size I would use anywhere from a 20oz to 2l bottle, remove a strip of gravel no more than a quater the width or the tank and make sure any filters/powerheads are turned off. With your thumb over the opening flip the bottle upside down and get it as close to the bottom or the tank as possible. Start in the back and slowly slide your thumb off the opening and when the sand starts coming out let it make a pile the depth you want your substrate. You can control the amount of sand that comes out with your thumb. Then very slowly move it side to side to fill in the rest to the depth desired. To keep the sand from mixing with the gravel you can take a thin peice of plastic a little taller than the depth you want your sand and put it against the gravel before you begin pouring the sand in.

If it were me for say a 20g tank I would maybe do no more than 3 20oz soda bottles per week before your water change.

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[Kimbie]

The switch went great. The first weekend we did half the sand and the next weekend we did the rest. I feel like it has just lit up the tank immensely. Once we finally got everything back in place we were so happy. Thanks for your help and I will get some pictures up so you can check it out

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[Kimbie]

Here's the before, during, and after!

 

[Angela1108]

looks good!


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[dalto]

Nice job!!!!