How Do I Put Sand In A Tank?

[TofuSushi]

I got a Corydoras paleatus today, he is adorable. He tries to school with the guppies, they seem up to it! haha


I have smooth tan gravel in the bottom, but this week I added some mondo grass, and realized I need more substrate. I also see that corys should have sand so they don't get torn up.

My question is two fold:

can I put the sand on top of the gravel, and it will stay that way when I vaccuum?

How do I put the sand in there? Do I need to take the fish out, THEN pour it in? Thanks!

 

[ghent_3rd]

If you put sand on top it will all just fall through eventually and you'll be back to where you started I'm afraid

You could push all the gravel out the way using bogwood or stones to create a hole that the gravel could not fall in to then fill that with sand. As regards adding the sand, I just got good quality aquarium put into a plastic bag, dip the bag into the tank and split the bottom. You may get a bit of it kick up into the water but it isn't too bad. There will be people on here that say you should wash it and so forth but that's the way I did it and I had no problems at all. I was cutting corners really as I was quite pushed for time!!

 

[fishboy619]

argos play sand: £2.49 for a 15kg bag, cheap sand. i would remove the fish, all the plants amnd decor etc.give the gravel a good vacumm then scoop it out.wash the sand well and add the water and fish. save the old tank water you remove to add when you have finished.or you could have half the bottom covered in gravel and the other half in sand.or a thin layer of gravel then planty of sand on top.

 

[TofuSushi]

Ghent - I see in your pic that you have a cat on gravel -- does he do okay? Mine is smooth, so I wondered if it might not matter...

Aside from that, he has been schooling with the guppies pretty much non stop, so I guess nobody told him he's a bottom fish!

argos play sand: £2.49 for a 15kg bag, cheap sand. i would remove the fish, all the plants amnd decor etc.give the gravel a good vacumm then scoop it out.wash the sand well and add the water and fish. save the old tank water you remove to add when you have finished.or you could have half the bottom covered in gravel and the other half in sand.or a thin layer of gravel then planty of sand on top.

Wouldn't this get rid of all my beneficial bacteria though?

 

[ghent_3rd]

Not my fish I'm afraid although I have and other people do keep Corycats on smooth gravel with no problem.

 

[fishboy619]

no it wont effect your bacteria much, its mostly in the filter but some lives in the gravel. if you do change over, moniter your water for a few times after. i did and they were no problems.if your worried about the bacteria goin, leave half the gravel and only have half and half. but honestly, i think it wont look asgood and bacter will form back in no time.again ive heard cories living on smooth gravel, but its not the best enviroment. they live on sand in the wild and are naturaly avolved to live on sand, digging and searching on food.

 

[ant0]

i've just dropped it in approx 1 spoon at a time after washing it. Probably not the best way, but any fish underneath the sand quickly got out of the way and stayed out of the way until i'd finished