Converting to Sand

[dixaisy930]

I've read the other threads about gravel versus sand, and would like to inquire about how to go about completely changing out the substrate. My biggest concern is throwing the tank into a cycle.

Also, is there any fish that have "problems" being in a tank with sand?

Any recommendations on type of sand, or what to look for in a good sand that will settle relatively quickly?

In one of the threads, there was mention of some sort of colored, epoxy covered sand? ArtSand or something. Anyone have anymore info on this? Thanks.

 

[crimsontsavo]

Well- to do it gradually you can-

Remove about 1/4 of the gravel from one part of the tank-fill that with sand- wait a week-remove more-add more sand-so on and so forth.

Dunno about sand harming some fish.


I used creek sand- some people use play sand ( for sand boxes I think).
I dunno about the artsy sand.


HTH's!

 

[mollie]

Hi, i started off with two types of gravel, one at each end but during cleaning and thanks to my cat fish they are all mixed up and leveled. When i do a water change i syphon off the bottom cleaning the gravel and resculpt it, if i had sand i think it would be hard to clean as it would suck up the tube and it would be hard to resculpt. Just something to think about!
Mollie

 

[chunmak]

well as long as ur not using an undergravel filter then theres no problen and silica sand is the best looks good as well. if u got a UG then don't use sand if u don't then have you got bio media in ur filter? if you do then you can do the whole lot in one go like i did no harm done to fish

as with ur other question well neve heard of sand being a problem, some of the places that ur fish originated from had sand.

 

[CFC]

You can change all the substrate at once providing you put some bacteria back in to colonise the new substrate. I have done this by filling the foot of a old stocking with the old gravel and placing this into the tank once the new sand substrate is in place, you also must NOT FEED the fish for at least 2 days before changing substrate and 3 days after to allow for the time it takes for the bacteria to start spreading.

When i changed mine i just placed all the fish into other tanks (not a luxery everyone has but large buckets will do) and emptied the tank of water keeping 1/2 of it to be put back into the tank when finished. Once the tank was emptied of all water and gravel i put the already rinsed sand into the tank and spread it about, remember that sand is much denser than gravel and so is more prone to anerobic spots so shouldnt be more than 1 1/2 inches deep. When re filling the tank with water place a plate over the sand and pour the water slowly onto this to prevent the sand from being stirred up and making the water cloudy, and remember to keep adding kettles full of boiling water to keep the temperature up at the same as what your fish are used to. Once the tank is refilled place the stocking full of gravel into the centre of the tank and leave it there for at least a week, providing you do not feed the fish you shouldnt see any ammonia or nitrite spikes as the bacteria in th filter media will be able to take care of small ammounts.

 

[dixaisy930]

Thanks for all of your impute! CFC's suggestion sounds pretty do-able for me...I'll probably just have trouble getting all of my shrimp out of there though. But it shouldn't be impossible.

Thanks again.

 

[tdins_2]

i gought a 30kg bag of playsand made by quikrete it doesn't say silicone but im gonna do the vinagar test adn it says onthe bag it is screen washed and completewly dried and i picked it up for 5 canadian