Need advice - Changing Gravel to Sand

[Crawdaddy]

Hello all, I need a little advice. When I first set up my 55gal cichlid tank, I used gravel because the wife liked the look. Cleaning it is a pain though. It seems like I can never get all the waste out of it. I'm wanting to change the gravel to sand. My questions are these:
1. The easiest way to do this?
2. The type of sand? I used coral sea cichlid sand in my 37gal for my barbs, and really like the look of it, so should I go with the same, or can I use pool filter sand and add some colored sand to it for affect?
3. Do I need to remove my fish to do this, or can I get away with just removing the decorations and some of he water and then scoop out the gravel? Remember, this is a 55gal so there is quite a bit of gravel.

I have been trying to think of the best/easiest way to do this that will reduce the amount of stress to the fish. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[jetajockey]

Your best bet is to remove the fish to a bucket while you are doing substrate change. It'll make the process easier since you don't have to worry about hurting any of them while scooping the old gravel out. A clean dustpan works great to scoop out old sand or gravel.

You can mix sand types if you want, people use everything from playsand to pool filter sand to blasting sand. Is the tank for african cichlids?

 

[Crawdaddy]

Yup. I have never been able to get the nitrates down where hey should be, even with lots of water changes. I know this is because of not being able to clean under the gravel as well as it should be. I really like the look of sand, and wanted to go with sand from the beginning, but my wife really wanted the color from the gravel. I should have stood my ground, but the things we do for our spouses, lol.

 

[jetajockey]

The nitrate levels may also be in large part due to stocking levels. The detritus that collects has the potential for nitrates but I believe that the majority of the eventual nitrates are directly due to ammonia excretion by the fish themselves.

With any substrate you have you'll never be able to get them completely clean, so I think at some point it's just ends up being a lot of work for minimal gain.

I would suggest live plants to help with nitrate reduction but depending on the kind of cichlids you have it may not be possible.

 

[Crawdaddy]

Tried the live route, and they provided hours of fun for the fish, and hours of frustration for me . I was new to keeping fish, heck even after a year I'm still new to it, but they really liked to pull them up. Every night when I got home from work I had to replant them. Currently I have fake plants with real heavy bases on them so they can't move hem.

 

[Importcrew]

Tried the live route, and they provided hours of fun for the fish, and hours of frustration for me . I was new to keeping fish, heck even after a year I'm still new to it, but they really liked to pull them up. Every night when I got home from work I had to replant them. Currently I have fake plants with real heavy bases on them so they can't move hem.

My fish are pretty much the same way. I have 1 turtle (baby painted turtle), 2 Koi, and 1 cichlid. I had 3 live plants in there along with a few soft plastic and silk plants and lets just say that I'm down to 2 Live plants now. I'll be buying a couple more later on.

The fish doesn't even touch the plastic/fake plants at all. So I have no worries about that. But since I will be getting another painted turtle, I'm setting up my 10 gallon tank and putting the turtles in there from now on. I just have to clean it out, put the sand, decorations, basking area, ect. And as soon as I do my next water change on my 65 gallon tank, I will be making some stone "caves" and will be adding a few more fishes.

 

[Soccerfish]

My fish are pretty much the same way. I have 1 turtle (baby painted turtle), 2 Koi, and 1 cichlid. I had 3 live plants in there along with a few soft plastic and silk plants and lets just say that I'm down to 2 Live plants now. I'll be buying a couple more later on.

The fish doesn't even touch the plastic/fake plants at all. So I have no worries about that. But since I will be getting another painted turtle, I'm setting up my 10 gallon tank and putting the turtles in there

Do you have your koi, turtle and cichlid together?

 

[Importcrew]

Yes. Well I did. I just took out the turtle today and placed the turtle in a smaller tank since I will be getting an additional turtle tomorrow.

As for the turtle being with the fish, (turtle is only a couple inches at most), and has not attacked my fish.

 

[Malawi Freak]

You need to split up your koi and cichlids. They have much different water parameter needs.

 

[Soccerfish]

Yes the koi and cichlid need to be split up, and your koi, will outgrow your aquarium. Although not for awhile (you said 65 gal, correct? So a few months, at best) Your Koi will be much a happier in a tank cooler then the cichlid. You also know a ten gal. Is going to be small for two painted turtles, and they will out grow it fast. It is easier to keep hatchlings in smaller aquariums, but I would recommend a 20long. Its thw same height but about 10 inches longer and I believe slightly more wider.

 

[Texasreef]

I just did a gravel to sand conversion about a month ago. I used pool filter sand and left the fish in as I did the change. I added the sand slowly after removing the gravel and the fish got out of the way. Mine is a 90 gallon so it took some time. The water was cloudy for about 4 days with the filters running the whole time. I rinsed the sand thoroughly before adding it but it still clouded up a ton. Now that it's finished i'm really glad I made the change, yes it marginally easier to clean but the payoff for me is watching my cichlids dig and play in the sand. Here's a before and after pic of mine.




Before



After

 

[Crawdaddy]

That looks real good. What is that beast on the holey rock?
I actually went out and bought 60 lbs of cichlid sand last weekend, planning to do the switch this weekend,,,,,but the wife tarted talking about and then looking for a bigger tank. Currently it's a 55gal, it a couple of my guys have gotten big enough they are getting territorial, and we discussed a bigger tank to help reduce this. So I might be getting a new one, and hen to have to worry about swapping the substrate, yea . I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[Texasreef]

Believe it or not that's a common pleco.. Here's a quick pic of him chilling by my driftwood. Not the best because I took it with my iPad but you get the idea. He's about 16 inches right now. Makes the 90 lok small.lol

 

[Jacobsal91]

My way of doing this is by removing all fish and placing in a bucket while
Doing this as said above. Scoop out all gravel, clean it and store it away or throw it out whatever you wish to do with it. Then while
Your at it might as well do a water change. I did a 50% when i changed mine. Then make sure
Sand is clean and dump it right in. I wouldnt turn filters on until water clears up the waterborn sand can damage certain filters. Then you are all set to go! Its
Going to be a bit annoying no matter how you do it but i find this to be the easiest way. Heres mine before and after (dont mind roman ruin theme i know its cheesy but i find it to look decent. Working on new decor as we speak)

Before




After




And a side note, here was my old common pleco, the get pretty big lol

 

[Labenator65000]

I would be interested in seeing a "before" and "after" picture with gravel swapped out for black sand. I like the look of a dark substrate.

 

[Crawdaddy]

I just did a gravel to sand conversion about a month ago. I used pool filter sand and left the fish in as I did the change. I added the sand slowly after removing the gravel and the fish got out of the way. Mine is a 90 gallon so it took some time. The water was cloudy for about 4 days with the filters running the whole time. I rinsed the sand thoroughly before adding it but it still clouded up a ton. Now that it's finished i'm really glad I made the change, yes it marginally easier to clean but the payoff for me is watching my cichlids dig and play in the sand. Here's a before and after pic of mine.

Before

After

What light fixture is that. I'm wanting to convert to LED and I'm not sure what length to get. The tank is a 55 gal, 48 inches long.

 

[Texasreef]

It's a 48 inch Coral life T5 dual. It's probably a bit overkill for freshwater no plant tank but it makes the colors of my cichlids pop. I've been considering doing some led moonlights though for the evening..

 

[Crawdaddy]

Tomorrow is the day. We attempt the change. I think I have everything I need: buckets, check, 60lbs sand, check, new dustpan/scoop, check, quiet time to work, check. Will post pics when done. Thanks for all he advice. Here are a couple of before pics.

 

[gman42]

I added about. 30 pounds of playsand yesterday, and one advice i can give u is you can never clean the sand too much. I cleaned mine for an hour and a half and it really payed off. I had virtually no cloudiness, and that means less wc's to get rid of the cloudiness. Good luck on your change to sand!

 

[Convict2161]

I'll be doing the same in the near future so I'll be following along. I may ask a bunch of questions so be prepared lol.