need opinions on how to safely remove and put sand in cichlid tank

[mariah]

I have had my cichlid tank for a while now (5-6 months?) Everyone is now doing great! There is a lot of digging going on and i don't want my slate rocks to fall so i will be getting some plastic grating to go under the sand which the rocks will sit on. My idea is, suck half the sand out and place down half the plastic grate.. then fill the holes slowly with sand, place the rocks ontop then sand around. Then maybe wait the next day to do the other side? Should i wash the sand once its out before i put it back? I'm not sure what i should do. I never disturb my sand unless i am rearranging the slate (about every month) but never the whole thing. Please help! Thank you

 

[Autumnsky]

I have had my cichlid tank for a while now (5-6 months?) Everyone is now doing great! There is a lot of digging going on and i don't want my slate rocks to fall so i will be getting some plastic grating to go under the sand which the rocks will sit on. My idea is, suck half the sand out and place down half the plastic grate.. then fill the holes slowly with sand, place the rocks ontop then sand around. Then maybe wait the next day to do the other side? Should i wash the sand once its out before i put it back? I'm not sure what i should do. I never disturb my sand unless i am rearranging the slate (about every month) but never the whole thing. Please help! Thank you

You can silicone the rocks together, the fish like digging. I haven't done this myself, just heard of many others doing it.

 

[lbirath001]

I have removed all of my sand in my cichlid tank and put in new sand. Here is my opinion and what I did. I used two methods of removing the sand from the tank. One was with a big cup and the other was with a syphon hose. Make sure you turn off your filter so sand doesn't mess up your motor. The water will get cloudy so FYI. I burry my bottom layer of stones so when they are digging the stones are in place and nothing will topple over. I don't like the idea of siliconing the slate and stones because then its a hassle to re-aquascape. It's going to take u some time and it will stress out your fish so FYI. Have fun.

 

[mariah]

I have removed all of my sand in my cichlid tank and put in new sand. Here is my opinion and what I did. I used two methods of removing the sand from the tank. One was with a big cup and the other was with a syphon hose. Make sure you turn off your filter so sand doesn't mess up your motor. The water will get cloudy so FYI. I burry my bottom layer of stones so when they are digging the stones are in place and nothing will topple over. I don't like the idea of siliconing the slate and stones because then its a hassle to re-aquascape. It's going to take u some time and it will stress out your fish so FYI. Have fun.

Yes, i was going to use a siphon to get the sand out so it didn't make the tank to dirty. Should I:
Remove all the rock, turn the filters off and heaters (like i do for a water change), siphon ALL the sand out?, give the sand a quick rinse like you do when you first buy the sand, and then slowly put it back once the plastic grating is down? I don't really need the grating... i push the rocks down quite far into the sand but there is a small layer of sand on the bottom because i can't get all the sand from underneath unless i remove the sand around the whole area. Also for the bottoms I use corner pieces of slate and they aren't flat. I don't want to silicon the slate because i love rearranging and when it gets green i scrub them all