Sand and rock questions...

[reberly]

We're thinking of changing our substrate to sand and adding some local rock... af. cichlids just don't look right in all these plastic decorations. First question, there's a creek nearby that has all a bunch of shale pieces that we can pick up... will this affect water params at all? Secondly, is there a black sand we could use in our tank? We were thinking how much more visible the fish would be on a black substrate. Third question, if we completely replace the gravel with sand, is our tank going to have to cycle again? We have a biowheel... what do we do with that while the hood is off? Do we have to take out the fish completely during this time? Should I save the tank water? Sorry for the barrage of questions. We just want to make sure we know what we're doing before we change our fishes home.

Ryan

 

[Pacu Man]

for my SA cichlid tank i used natural gravel and rocks i got from a landscaping company something like 20 lbs for 5 or 10 bucks CDN and it worked out great

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

May I suggest lava rock and maybie some base rock, although I think base rock might change the pH. I'm sure there is black sand, I've seen it in saltwater. Your tank really shouldn't have to go through much cycling if you replace the gravel with sand, I wouldn't think you would have to worry about that. You could do the aqua scaping without taking out water or anything while your fish are in there as long as you are careful. Lastly, any rock you take from outside it is good to flush it out good in super hot water in a bucket periodically for a day or more, and test it in the bucket to see if it makes the pH change much (thats what I have done)

 

[TheNewGuy]

Just some of the things that come to mind.

This is going to be difficult it takes sand a while to settle. I don't know what kind of filter you have but most likely you have a impeller and if you get sand in it you are going to have some issues. I would move the fish to another tank for the switch and remove some of the water to help the sand settle. you are going to need an amonnia source when you do this. So the bacteria has food and doesn't die off.

the list would keep going but it's late and my brain is went to sleep a hour ago.

 

[aimeovaldi]

Be careful of using lava rock as it may contain metal particles. Indiginous rock will not hurt your tank, shale, particularly will not change any tank parameters. I also have collected rocks from the local creek beds and from landscaping stores. Make certain that you wash the rocks really well, I usually clean the rock and then soak overnight in a 1 to 10 bleach/water solution. I then rinse, rinse, rinse and then add dechlorinator to the tub and soak the rock another hour or so in a strong solution of dechlorinator and water. I have had no problems in my african cichlid tank, oscar tank or my new neon tetra tank with black sand, black shale and granite (rocks collected locally). It looks great. I light it with a dual 13 watt PC 10000K and actinic. As for your tank situation, I agree that you should save the water, drain it down before adding the sand and turn off the filter, removing the fish and add to the tub you stored the water in. Remove the old substrate, drain out the dirty water almost completely, rinse, rinse and then rinse the sand again, add the new sand, rock and other aquascaping items, let it settle for about 30 minutes, add as much of the stored water to a height that the filter will draw it through and filter the water until relatively clear. Add the remaining water and fish. Then top off the tank with fresh RO water and enjoy. This is the method I always have used and never experienced a concern. Best of luck.

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

I'll second the advice from Aimeovaldi.

CaribSea has a line of african cichlid sands that I use; there is a solid black one called "Tahitian Moon" that sounds like it would be exactly what you're looking for.