Adding Sand With Fish In The Tank

[scolby]

I have a tank thats bare bottom right now and I'm adding the sand soon. I know that the water gets cloudy when you add it, would that harm the fish? I don't know if I should take the fish out for a few hours or what.

 

[Ahoy89]

I have a tank thats bare bottom right now and I'm adding the sand soon. I know that the water gets cloudy when you add it, would that harm the fish? I don't know if I should take the fish out for a few hours or what.

Wow that must look bare!
Take the fish out for an hour or so while you put the sand in your tank, it would be best to turn off all of your equipment too so you can let it settle.

 

[scolby]

Wow that must look bare!
Take the fish out for an hour or so while you put the sand in your tank, it would be best to turn off all of your equipment too so you can let it settle.
[/quote]

Very bare, and algae is starting to grow on the bottom so its time to put sand in. Just didnt have enough money before and thought the live rock and equipment was more important. Should I was the sand first until the water runs clear? Or is aquarium sand pre-cleaned?

 

[Smoothy]

I had to wash my sand for ages ... and this was specific aquarium sand ... so I would definitely wash it until the water runs clear

 

[ben1987]

Try washing a bit, then if it runs clear you know the rest should be clean. If its dirty wash it all.

Get a funnel and some thich hose. Then slowly poor the sand through the funnel down the hose and onto the bottom of the tank. This should keep the tank a lot cleared than just dumping it in

 

[scolby]

Try washing a bit, then if it runs clear you know the rest should be clean. If its dirty wash it all.

Get a funnel and some thich hose. Then slowly poor the sand through the funnel down the hose and onto the bottom of the tank. This should keep the tank a lot cleared than just dumping it in

But still remove the fish while I do that right? Can the cloudiness from the sand hurt the fish, or just stress them out?

 

[shibby]

i would just keep the fish in be more stressful catching them the dust wont reli scare them if u wash it enough beforehand your wont have much cloudiness anyway, and do bens tip

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, the fish will be fine if you pre-rinse it and then add the sand. It's no worse than a storm on the reef

 

[Trod]

In the wild the sand regulary gets stirred up by strong winds and currents, fish should be fine

 

[mutantbigman2000]

Cut the base off a 2ltr pop bottle and used it as a large funnel. You can direct the sand where you want and the cloudiness should be limited in this way also.

 

[Nim]

I have changed the substrate on my SW tank about 3 times now with the fish in. JUst rinse the sand in RO a couple of times to get rid of any nasties sitting in there and once in SW. Turn off all circulation pumps and go for it. The coke bottle idea as above works very well and in SW the turbidity will clearn within a few mins but your skimmer will temporarily go mad.

Nim

 

[kornflake]

sand is bad for pumps mk turn them off . i got sand in a pump once not good. a spunge on the intakes helps with sand a bit and helps with small fish and more bio area too.

 

[Truck]

sand is bad for pumps mk turn them off . i got sand in a pump once not good. a spunge on the intakes helps with sand a bit and helps with small fish and more bio area too.

ooooold topic!