Aces11
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I have bright blue gravel in my 20g and I was wondering if it's possible to change it out for sand or another color gravel. The tank has been set up for a little over 2 years and I would like it to look more natural.
Changing Substrate
- Thread starter Aces11
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
ashleynicole
Aquarium Advice Addict
Absolutely! When I decided I wanted to change to sand, years ago, with my 55 gallon. I drained all of the water and put the fish into Tupperware containers. Then I used a dustpan to scoop out the gravel into a large trashcan. I put some of the gravel into pantyhose so that i could use that to seed the tank a little bit. Then I bought my pool filter sand and washed it in buckets really well and filled the tank up with freshwater. Hooked up my filter and put my bags of gravel in the tank as well. I didn't have any cycle issues, and I just removed my "pantyhose" bags of gravel a little at a time.
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
sure you can. I'd put the fish in a tub and change away.
OP
OP
Aces11
Aquarium Advice FINatic
How long does it take to make the change? Will it effect the fish at all? Will the water get really cloudy after?
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
it shouldnt take more than 30 min or so, just get everything ready beforehand. Prewash the new substrate. If you drain most or all of the water out when you scoop the old gravel out it shouldnt be too cloudy on refilling.
OP
OP
Aces11
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Sorry for so many questions but how would I drain the water?
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
A gravel vacuum or a water hose, or a bucket. Same way you do water changes, just remove all of it.
OP
OP
Aces11
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Oh right. Duh! Sorry I wasn't thinking straight. I guess now the big Q is gravel or sand and what color. Idk what I want to do but the blue gravel looks kinda childish.
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
I'm a fan of black sand.
mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
I'm also a fan of black sand, but I've yet to find any larger grained black sand. PFS is my favorite sand because it's so easy to vac.... vacs just like gravel. But, darker substrate does look MUCH better.
OP
OP
Aces11
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Does sand look dirty with poop and food sitting on top?
ashleynicole
Aquarium Advice Addict
Sand is my most favorite substrate.
But if you go to home depot, you can buy small landscaping stones that look just as good, if not better than the 'natural stone' aquarium stones you can buy. I put them in a tank once and was very pleased with it. Pool filter sand can also be bought at home depot super cheap. (Just don't buy diatomaceous earth)
mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
You shouldn't have any food laying on the substrate... if you do, that means you're overfeeding. Poop shouldn't really be an issue either. Yeah, fish poop, but unless you've got tons of fish, you'll not notice it if you do regular water changes. I dont even vac my substrate anymore and I dont ever see poop laying around.
OP
OP
Aces11
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Well I have platys guppies and a pleco and they poop a lot. If everyone can post pics of their setups so I can get an idea that would be awesome.
mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
I assure you, if you're maintaining your aquarium properly, it won't be an issue. I've got tanks that are stocked far beyond the 'recommended' levels, no issues with food or poop.
I put pics up of some of my tanks with PFS in this thread - http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f60/pool-filter-sand-the-good-bad-and-ugly-171279.html
I put pics up of some of my tanks with PFS in this thread - http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f60/pool-filter-sand-the-good-bad-and-ugly-171279.html
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
Look for T grade 3m colorquartz sand, it comes in all kinds of colors and it is a very large grain. It's been discontinued though so finding it is a little tricky, but they have an estes replacement.
OP
OP
Aces11
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I gravel vac 25% every other week. Thanks for the pics
What kind of fish do you have?
ashleynicole
Aquarium Advice Addict
here is a pic of mine with the sand substrate. I do occasionally see waist on the sand, but it's not bad, and if you hover the vac over the sand when you do a water change it gets it up really easily. Also i have an aquaclear filter and I put an extender on the take-up tube so that it is just a couple inches above the sand, and it works really well sucking up the gunk.
ashleynicole said:Sand is my most favorite substrate.
Do they have black sand there too?
