Any Advice On Changing Gravel To Sand

[leroythebetta]

I'm going to change my substrate from gravel to sand. I was just looking for some advice from the people who has done it. Thanks!

 

[Box]

IMO I would take every thing out! But that's just me

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Get some buckets fill them with tank water. Put all your fish in them. And move them into a dark room to keep them calm.

Then drain all the water from it remove all decor (obviously) and filter.

Make sure you wash the sand thoroughly, if you put the sand in a bucket and run a hose pipe into it to fill the bucket and leave it running so it overflows and swish the sand around until there are very little- no small particles floating in it (if you are in the UK and cant use a hose pipe use the bath).

Then put the sand in. Fill half way with dechlorinated tempreture matched water, net the fish back in pour the water from the buckets back in, sort out your scape put the filter back in. fill the tank up again with temp matched dechlorinated water and hey presto.

It will cloud up a fair bit no matter how much you cleaned the sand, but the more you cleaned it, the quicker it will clear.

Oh and do water tests everyday for a week just incase you go into a mini cycle.
Hope that helps and if I've missed anything someone will say so.

Edit: Reduce the amount of food you give them a week before and a week after to minimise ammonia build up when in the buckets and reduces the chance of a mini cycle.

P.s when emptying the tank clean the gravel very well with your gravel vac

 

[KISSfn]

I replaced my gravel to sand when I had my 190L tank with the fish in the tank. I did a thorough gravel vac. Moved half of the decor over to the opposite side. Removed half the gravel. Replaced with CaribSea Naturals Tahitian Moon black sand (super clean expensive sand that required almost no pre rinsing!) All other sands require extensive pre rinsing. Same procedure with other side. No clouding or sand in filter with this brand. Sand is so superior to gravel I love it and you will too!

 

[KISSfn]

Double post.

 

[Staxx]

been thinking about changing my tank to sand lately. at the minute its just got a mix of fine and semi course gravel. dont really like it too much tbh

 

[UKSPEED]

Would definitely recommend removing everything. It's a good opportunity to have a deep clean of the tank too!

 

[Saltcod]

Yep, I removed everything when I changed mine over. I just put all the fish in one of those large plastic toy boxes, the decor in another and the plants in a bucket. The Argos playsand didn't kick up nearly as much dust as I was expecting so the thorough rinsing I'd done paid off! I didn't keep any of the original tank water... Just filled the tank with temp matched dechlorinated water. All my fish and shrimp survived the move but I lost 2 out of my 4 apple snails. In hindsight I think they might have starved to death due to the lack of food buildup in the new substrate