Moving to sand

[Fidgetromeo]

I'm looking for any advice on how best to remove my gravel and add sand without harming my fish,

 

[Kushgodrex]

I simply put my fish in a large tub with aquarium water, then emptied my tank out and put the sand in, I thoroughly washed the sand though, then just filled it and added a recommended amount of tetra safe start, a lot of people of this website recommend cycling your tank before you put the fish back in, but I've had no problems or deaths using safe start

 

[Kushgodrex]

Or have a spare cycled tank they can fit in for a month or so

 

[jwh0818]

I simply put my fish in a large tub with aquarium water, then emptied my tank out and put the sand in, I thoroughly washed the sand though, then just filled it and added a recommended amount of tetra safe start, a lot of people of this website recommend cycling your tank before you put the fish back in, but I've had no problems or deaths using safe start

You don't have to re-cycle a tank when switching to sand.

OP, take your fish and put them in a bucket with tank water. Take another bucket and place your filter media in it. You don't have to re-cycle a tank because your not replacing your filter media which contains all your beneficial bacteria. Remove the gravel by any means neccesary and add the very well washed sand. Now place your filter back on and let it run for a few hours if you like so the sediment from the sand settles and then check parameters and add fish back. You may see a small cycle but I've done that with around 60 tanks and have never seen a mini cycle

 

[Fidgetromeo]

Will any particles of sand clouding the water be harmful to the fish?

 

[jwh0818]

Will any particles of sand clouding the water be harmful to the fish?

No they won't be but wash your sand very well. The things you see floating are silicates and are not harmful to fish and don't affect your water parameters

 

[Kushgodrex]

It takes me an hour to thoroughly wash a 50lb bag of play sand from Home Depot. Some people always have problems with sand but they don't clean it we'll enough

 

[Mebbid]

I didn't even bother washing the pool filter sand when I did my dirted tank and it gave me absolutely no issues. The play sand from home depot is horribly dirty though.

 

[jwh0818]

It takes me an hour to thoroughly wash a 50lb bag of play sand from Home Depot. Some people always have problems with sand but they don't clean it we'll enough

It takes me around 4 hours to wash 100lbs of PFS. I fill a 5g bucket halfway and fill it, run my hands through it and drain it. I do that around 10x per half a bucket

 

[Fidgetromeo]

I've bought a fairly heavy grained sand, I tried plays and once before and found it clouded the water too easily already know to wash it well, my main concerns are just trying not to stress out my fish too much

 

[jwh0818]

You don't have to re-cycle a tank when switching to sand.

OP, take your fish and put them in a bucket with tank water. Take another bucket and place your filter media in it. You don't have to re-cycle a tank because your not replacing your filter media which contains all your beneficial bacteria. Remove the gravel by any means neccesary and add the very well washed sand. Now place your filter back on and let it run for a few hours if you like so the sediment from the sand settles and then check parameters and add fish back. You may see a small cycle but I've done that with around 60 tanks and have never seen a mini cycle

Just do this and you will be fine!

 

[Kushgodrex]

If you clean it till it's white, it looks amazing( the play sand came in a yellowish color until I washed it

 

[Fidgetromeo]

Did the change today, all went well and fish seem happy.. thought id put up a before and after, thanks for the help guys.
Before:

After:

still waiting for the water to fully clear but its better than i was expecting.

 

[jwh0818]

Looks great! It'll clear up in about 6 hours if not just do a 50% wc tomorrow

 

[Fidgetromeo]

The filter is clearing it great, I ran a second filter with just polyfill for a few hours to get some of the worst out, ill get a better pic 2moro when it's hopefully crystal clear again