Changing From Gravel To Sand

[CruX]

I did a search but came up with nothing suitable although I know I have seen threads here with some good info.

I have a Juwel Trigon 350 and the substrate is gravel. I want to change to sand but I want to do it in a way that is going to be quick and easy with minimal impact on the fish. I am not fully stocked but I have a decent amount of smaller fish so I might struggle to catch them. I spent over an hour trying to catch my melon barbs as they are moving house and never got one of them, but I feel moving the stock into a few buckets and a spare tank or two for a short time would be better incase I cause cloudy water wjile doing it.

Has anyone got a fool proof method? Or general tips would be great. Many thanks.

 

[chibi]

This is how I would do, however I have no experience with moving tanks or changing gravel to sand. I thought about it once, but gravel is just so much easier to clean and establishes good colonies of bacteria. May I ask why you want to?

Anyway, I would drain some of the water out and move the fish into another tank, along with their filter. It should be one that's okay for the fish to stay in for maybe 3 days. I'd scoop (or dump, if the tank isn't huge) the gravel out, then refill it with pre-washed sand. Let the sand settle for a day or two, stirring it around so no toxic bubbles form in it. When the sand has settled, fill the tank back up and move the filter back to the tank. If you have another filter, put it into the tank with the fish. If not, set up an airstone. Filter the tank with sand in it for a few hours to clean the tank up a bit. Make sure the water temperature and chemistry are very close the the old ones so your fish won't be shocked. Then float the fish for a while, and release.

This is how I would do it. I've never done it. Others, feel free to correct me.

 

[HEX]

pull out half the gravel from one end of the tank add the sand ,wait a week or two for it to get established then change out the other half.

 

[chibi]

pull out half the gravel from one end of the tank add the sand ,wait a week or two for it to get established then change out the other half.

That will make the water REALLY cloudy and messy though, especially if you have plants. Moving all that crap from the gravel. I suggest doing a super heavy-duty gravel vac before doing this. I'm sure it would work, though. Make sure you have adequate filtration for it. Careful with the gravel too, it can scratch the sides of your tank!

 

[Specter]

I would do a good job of siphoning and keep some of the original water with the fish in the buckets. Definitely should wash the sand thoroughly before putting it in there - and when filling up the tank, run the water against the side of the tank as to not throw the small sand particles up in the water and make it cloudy -you can also put a plate in there and run the water off it as well. I would let the filter run its course and let the tank cycle before putting your fish back in. This is what I did for my DP, not sure if it was the correct thing to do but it seemed to work pretty well.

-Maybe install a pre-filter device to keep the sand out of your filter if it's real close to the substrate.

 

[CruX]

-Maybe install a pre-filter device to keep the sand out of your filter if it's real close to the substrate.

Both filters take the water in from higher up the tank.

May I ask why you want to?

I think it would look nicer and I have read that cories prefer it to gravel.




I have been told by a guy that works in a LFS and who has 6 tanks that I could do it in one evening with care. Make sure the sand is washed then lots of water out, fish into buckets, gravel out, sand in and refilled, leave to settle an hour or two and fish back in. I am not convinced though.