switching from gravel to sand

[nfeagle5]

anyone got some helpful hints

 

[Meredith]

when I switched, all of my fish were in qt so I didn't have to worry about them. BUT I am sure I did it the hard way. I left in most of the water and scooped out the gravel with a cup. rinsed the sand and added it... with a cup. It took a while. If I were to do it differently, I would have rinsed the sand before anything else.

 

[joedarat]

what are advantages of using sand instead of gravel?

could you you use both? like leave the gravel, and add a layer of sand?

thanks

 

[urville]

one thing for sure rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse it should run clear and it will take a little while.

keep a cup or two of gravel and put it in the end of a clean nylon or something and keep it in for a week. this would be a bad time to change the filter media too.

downsides to sand? without plants and with a deep enough bed theres alot like hydrogen sulfate i think. in anaerobic pockets. the key if you got these would be not stirring deep, like more than a 1/2 inch at every water change. i feel maintenance is easier, just wave the wand above the sand and suck up mulm, much easier than sucking gravel.

2 inches outta do. if your planted theres tons of ups hardly any downs, with plants no pockets of anything.

use the proper sands... for non cichlid tanks use tahitian moon, or quikrete premium playsand (home depot) are two i know of for sure. others like building sand have silicates which is bad all around. and the other sands have calcium carbonate which will raise ph. DONT USE an Under Gravel Filter.
uh...

lots of people use layers of sand and gravel but mostly like soil or laterite or flourite and other subsrates. as a rule epoxy and colored painted gravel is bad in any situation and should not be used IMO.
thats all i got at the moment

 

[brendan]

I switched to sand and had nothing but problems with algae.

 

[FawnN]

I just recently switched from gravel to sand in my 45, 6 and 10 gallons and had no problems at all. My fear was causing a mini cycle in my tank, but that never happend. As an added percaution though, I did put some of the old gravel in an old pair of pantyhose and left it in each corner of the tank.

From my experience and from what I've read, there isn't a significant amount of beneficial bacteria in your gravel bed or water when removing it to do any damage. Just make sure that when you do the switch that you don't clean or replace your filter at the same time.

I personally love the sand so much better then the gravel and plan on using only sand from now on. Besides it being easier to clean, I personally like the look of it. It seems more of a natural environment for my fish.

 

[Menagerie]

Put the fish in a safe place if you have them already and take all the water out of the tank. Scoop the gravel out--it's a PITA. If the gravel is small enough, siphon it out. Add the rinsed sand and add water. You can use new water or old tank water. I switched out two tanks with gravel for sand and it was easy. My filter was established and I did not rinse it the prior weeks before taking out the gravel.

 

[nfeagle5]

what about a bubble wall......if placed above the sand

 

[nfeagle5]

bubble wall?

 

[spence0416]

I use a bubble wall under the sand and it works just fine. It occasionally "digs" itself out but I just cover it back up during water changes.

 

[Menagerie]

what about a bubble wall......if placed above the sand

If you like the looks of it, go ahead. They really don't do much, except increase the surface agitation a little bit.

 

[Cafe Jeff]

Just remember, with sand poop is just that much more visible. Jeff