Changing gravel to sand

[Edelman12]

I've had a 20g freshwater tank for about the last year. When I got started up I threw in a 20 pound bag of gravel in it. I've been wanting to change out the gravel to sand recently but have no experience doing that. From what I understand I should not do it all at once. For people who have done this before, what do you recommend?


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[ImACoolguy]

Pretty simple process.

1. Put fish/invertebrates in a 5g tub/bucket.

2. (Personal opinion) drain as much water as possible.

3. I used a big cup like you get at ball games (those big 44oz plastic ones) and use it to scoop out as much as I can. You can use a siphon hose to get out the little stuff you can't by hand.

4. Put in your new substrate(make sure to rinse it first for any dust!)

5. Gently refill the tank with new water the same temperature as it was before. Gently is to help prevent clouding up the water too much whole everything settles.

6. Acclimate your fish back the tank.

7. Test daily for about a week for any spikes in parameters.

That's all there is too it really!


Caleb