Gravel To Sand

[Akasha72]

Hi Andy, I changed to argos play sand a couple of weeks ago and you are right - you need to set aside a full day to do it.

I notice you have a Juwel tank - is it this one you are changing to sand? If so, does it still have it's Juwel filter box in the corner or is it just the Fluval you are running?

I ask because I have a Juwel too (Rekord 800) and I stupidly left my filter sponges in the filter box during the change over when looking back I should've removed them and left them sitting in some tank water. When I re-filled the tank I used a hose wedged in the filter box and ended up causing myself a real water issue which I'm still dealing with.

The sand for me has dropped my PH off the bottom of the scale, the re-fill with fresh water that wasn't de-chlorinated until after it was full has given me back ammonia readings and all the gunk from the filter sat in the bottom of of the box unseen until I decided to strip it back in an effort to get rid of ammonia readings.

My advice would be (if your still running the Juwel filter aswell as the Fluval) to remove the filter sponges from the box before you empty the tank and then run a hose through the box to clean it out. You can also re-fill the tank that way with very little displacement of the sand.

 

[andyg81]

yes its the juwel tank im talking about, and I only run the fluval, for re-filling it would be a case of buckets and lots of walking to the tap and back, I de-clorinate by the bucket when I do my weekly water changes (got a 50% change down to about 30-45mins in total (and thats with 5 litre buckets lol) ive just brought some 10 litre buckets that just fit inside the tank so I can tip the water slowly down the glass when re-filling, obviously with sand id tip it onto a plate or something to stop the movement best I could.

 

[Dazzler666]

Be prepared .... I went to black sand when i got my 5ft. Washed & rinsed it thoroughly for several days prior to adding. When put water in took an age to settle and the water was filthy black. As i was draining water out I was adding fresh water back in, which i would say i must have lifted about 100 buckets!! Ran my two Fluval 304's which came with the tank uncycled with lots of filter wool in and the next day was all cleared!!! Then just stripped down & cleaned the filters, added my old media and hey presto!!! .
Hope all goes ok with your switch over. Will be worth it tho as i find it much easier to clean & looks great IMO.

 

[Peter C]

I'm just buying some Tahitian moon sand now for my brand new 45L

Got my filter in my 90L running alongside the fluval to get it cycled for a week or 2 until this tanks settled and ready