Adding More Sand?

[JamesP]

Hi Guys,

I've had my Juwel 125Ltr tank set up with sand as a substrate for the last couple of months. All I want to do is add another couple of inches of sand as I didn't quite put enough in the first time round. Bearing in mind that I now have over 20 fish in my tank what would be the best way to go about adding the sand so as not to upset the fish?

Cheers

 

[moggy]

Hi Guys,

I've had my Juwel 125Ltr tank set up with sand as a substrate for the last couple of months. All I want to do is add another couple of inches of sand as I didn't quite put enough in the first time round. Bearing in mind that I now have over 20 fish in my tank what would be the best way to go about adding the sand so as not to upset the fish?
hi nice tank i have the same i changed from gravel to sand with fish still in when putting extra sand in just go on the slow side making sure you are not burying any fish also make sure you clean sand many times before adding to tank
Cheers

 

[Chri$]

How deep is your substrate now? Adding a couple of inches would make it quite deep. Just take it slowly when adding, don't just throw it in all at once!

 

[geo7x]

yeah 2" of sand is quite a deep on its own, personally i would not have a sand bed much deeper than 2". How much is in now? Its up to you how you do it, but whatever you do, wash the sand well, otherwise you will get very cloudy water. Personally, i would remove the fish as it could get pretty stressfull, however i realise that removing 20 fish may not be the most convenient thing to do! So either way, just make sure you add it quite slowly and wash the sand first

 

[BigIan]

i`m assuming you know how to wash the sand? wel make sure you wash it realy really well.....


i mean REALY well.

and you don`t want more than an inch or so of sand on the bottom or you will run into trouble....

 

[Torrean]

No need to remove fish. If you rinse well you will get very little cloudiness. The cloudiness shouldn't hurt the fish. My rule for rinsing sand is put an inch of sand in a container and fill with water. Once it's full stir the sand up a bunch. Then count to five and dump the water (not the sand which should have settled). When you think your done fill the bucket stir the sand and count how long it takes for the sand to settle completely. (I would personally accept 10-20 seconds to go crystal clear.) Oh and if you have a magnetic impeller in your filter then you should take precautions. Sand can mess up impellers. That means you should put the intake atleast 2" above the sand (I would go more) Also be careful if you have fish that really kick sand around. You can add a prefilter to your intake if you like. ok back to adding sand. Take the rinsed sand and rinse it again...=) then take it to your fishtank. If your terribly worried about your filter you should turn it off while adding sand. Get a coffee mug or plastic cup or something similair. Lower the sand to the bottom of your tank with the top up the whole way down. Next dump the sand on the glass (in the corner furthest from your filter if you have impeller)

Finally post pics of your aquascaping in the members fish and tanks forum. =)