How To Change Gravel To Sand?

[Jayne23]

Hi, I need some advice on how to change gravel for sand, I have 4 peppered corydoras, (3 mollies and 9 neon tetras) and have just read that they will be much better with sand as they can injure their barbels on the gravel, I'am fairly new to fish keeping and I feel really bad on them in case they have already damaged them selves. I just need to know if changing the gravel to sand will stress my fish in the process, and if it will completely ruin the bacterial ecosystem? Also how should I do it, if I can change the gravel? I'v read lots of different things on forums, but just wanted to see what advice I could get from someone on here. Thank you. x

 

[Cazgar]

I've just changed 2 of my tanks from gravel to sand.
You can do it with them in if you're careful, but I removed the fish & put in a spare tank with heater while I did it.
Remember to turn off your filter as disturbing the gravel will probably release a lot of gunk into the tank

 

[MegaZerino]

Hi, I need some advice on how to change gravel for sand, I have 4 peppered corydoras, (3 mollies and 9 neon tetras) and have just read that they will be much better with sand as they can injure their barbels on the gravel, I'am fairly new to fish keeping and I feel really bad on them in case they have already damaged them selves. I just need to know if changing the gravel to sand will stress my fish in the process, and if it will completely ruin the bacterial ecosystem? Also how should I do it, if I can change the gravel? I'v read lots of different things on forums, but just wanted to see what advice I could get from someone on here. Thank you. x

i did this a few months a go, its pretty easy if you know what youre doing. First you gotta take all the fish out of the tank and put them in a seperate bucket. now you can just take out all the gravel without worrying about stressing the fish or hurting them. next you have to get the sand in a bucket and wash it (type into youtube "How To Clean Play Sand For Aquarium Use" its a very easy way to do it). now you have to slowly get a small cup and lower the sand into the bottom of the tank and pour it out (doing it slowly will prevent too much dust from being thrown up into the water and making it cloudy). then let it settle for about 1 or 2 hours, basically until the cloudiness starts to clear. then just put the fish back in the tank. piece of cake!

 

[Jayne23]

Thanks to both of you to replying, it has helped a lot and it doesn't seem 2 complicated like I thought it might of been. x

 

[This Old Spouse]

It's actually easier to take the fish out as stated, but then take everything out of the tank and give it a good clean. Then put the well-rinsed sand in the tank, place a plate on top of the sand, and add warm dechlorinated water, poured onto the plate to keep it from moving the sand all over. If you've rinsed the sand well this will keep it from getting hardly cloudy at all. Then replant, redecorate and add fish.

 

[Jayne23]

Thank you x

 

[ultimatebob]

i think you should leave the gravel you have in your tank, and just add sand. your bacterial colonization is already in your gravel. it would be a shame to dispose of it and try to rebuild the biological part of it. so maybe if you add sand with your gravel, you would not only keep your beneficial bacteria, but expand it as well with the use of sand. that is unless you are running an underground filter which the sand will surely fall into. but then again it all depends on what your gravel is made of. corys suffer barbel loss due to abrasive substrate(coral, lava, crushed rock). i wouldn't worry too much about it unless you have these kind of things as your substrate. keep a close eye on the barbels of the fish and this will tell you what you need to do.

 

[This Old Spouse]

i think you should leave the gravel you have in your tank, and just add sand. your bacterial colonization is already in your gravel. it would be a shame to dispose of it and try to rebuild the biological part of it. so maybe if you add sand with your gravel, you would not only keep your beneficial bacteria, but expand it as well with the use of sand. that is unless you are running an underground filter which the sand will surely fall into. but then again it all depends on what your gravel is made of. corys suffer barbel loss due to abrasive substrate(coral, lava, crushed rock). i wouldn't worry too much about it unless you have these kind of things as your substrate. keep a close eye on the barbels of the fish and this will tell you what you need to do.

This isn't accurate. The majority of your beneficial bacteria is contained in your filter media. Switching to sand won't affect it.

If you just add sand to your gravel it will fall through and all you'll see is the gravel.

Cory suffer barbel loss due to less than ideal water conditions. If you judge your water conditions by the condition of cory barbels, it's already too late and you're doing the cory a horrible injustice.

 

[Man of fish]

I agree with the above. The majority of your beneficialbacteria is in the filter and filter media, not in the gravel. Changing the substrate won't do anything bad.

 

[Jayne23]

Thank you all for the information, this is why I posted this question on here, as I had read so many different things over the last day or 2 and people were saying different things, I know people have their own way of doing things, but as I said I'm new to all of this and just want to do what is best for my fish. I think I will do what you (This Old Spouse) said, you seem to know a lot about fish keeping so I trust what you say, but thanks to everyone for their input, I really appreciate the help. x

 

[balajake]

i did this yesterday. took the water down to 30% fish still in and scooped out all the gravel with my fish net. then i rinsed the play sand and scooped it in. it cleared in a few hours.

15kg of playsand £2.99 at argos

 

[Flubberlump]

I changed the gravel in my tank a few days ago. Put the fish in a bucket with about half of the tank water. Scooped the gravel out of the tank using my fish net. Then I allowed the gunk that came out of the gravel to settle for a few minutes and sucked it out from the bottom with the tank vacuum, along with about half of the remaining water. Rinsed the new gravel in batches in a sieve, and put it into the tank. Then I put the fish and water from the bucket back into the tank, and topped the tank up with new water and tap water treatment. The water settled and cleared after a few nours Fish are all fine and dandy, and the new gravel looks lovely