changing substate. please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dskidmore]

If the old substrate has not dried out yet, you can use that to help the new sand cycle if you really need to change your filter for some reason. Put some of the old gravel in 4 filter bags, socks, pantyhose, whatever, and place on top of the sand. Remove one package each week if all water parameters are ok. At the end of the month, your sand should have grown enough bacteria to support your cycle.

The other way to have a painless cycle with a new filter/substrate is to use fast growing stem plants, in great quantity, but then you either have another addiction, or a messy forest after that.

 

[FiShDuDe9]

i tried the panty hose as the prefilter today and it really works well. thx white devil for the idea

 

[kevin.getrhythm]

I have just started a 29G freshwater tank with a sand substrate, currently cycling the tank. I was just curious how do I clean the sand, and do water changes, does the normal siphon vac work?

 

[spoonman]

I do all the same stuff exept I dont jam the siphon down into the sand I just hover about an inch above it and it picks up all the junk. Everything else is the same. You can move the sand around with something if you want to, to rearrange it and such.

 

[dskidmore]

If a fine sand, you need to do something to release the gas buildup in a controlled manner. Denitrification bacteria cause a build up of nitrogen and sulphuric gases. The easiest way to do this is to get Malaysian Trumpet Snails or another sand burrower to do it for you. The manual method is to poke it with a stick before each water change.

 

[spoonman]

Personally I have Malawi Cichlids that are moving the sand around all the time. But, if the inhabitants dont move the sand then dskid has a valid point.

 

[mfdrookie516]

my pfs is heavy enough that i can take the gravel vac right on top of it and it sucks up some but it falls right back out just like gravel does... none ever comes up through the hose, i can even shove it down in there and it wont suck it up, it just leaves little hills if i do