Switch To Sand?

[DrSlackBladder]

I've only had my 100 litre set up for 2 months now, first 3-4 weeks fishless cycle completed, since then successfully added the fish in my signature and have a happy, thriving, community tank (thanks to all those on here that have helped me get this far!). But I've got a real strong urge to switch from pea gravel to sand; mainly after researching corys (although mine seem happy so far, sand is obviously preferred), and also aesthetics. I've done a lot of reading of similar threads, and most who make the switch don't regret it. But some say cloudy water, black spots and difficulty cleaning have made them switch back to gravel. Seems play sand, filter sand and kiln dried sand are the favourites, with mixed results for all three. Rinsing several times with tap water in a bucket until clear seems to be the only labour intensive prep required. And I guess I should be able to make the switch within a couple of hours, with fish in a bucket, draining maybe half the tank water to keep the fish in and leaving the rest in the tank while I scoop out gravel then replace with sand, before turning filter back on and returning fish. Any advice, comments, personal experiences, appreciated (as always, this is a great forum!) before I go for it!

 

[bikerfish]

Hi I changed awhile back from gravel to sand and is def best thing if you want cories. I changed mine over a couple of days and left my fish in tank . ist day empty 3rd of tank and took all plants out and wood and just left my caves in for fish to hide in and gave gravel as much as a clean as possible and slowly scoped gravel out with a new bowl and refilled tank and turned filter and other bits on but left light outs.
Next day washed my sand and again emptied tank by a 3rd and gave bottom a clean as very small amout of waste was there, put small amouts of washed sand in small bowl and put top facing into tank untill bowl was on floor of tank and tipped bowl on side andslowly moved sand out with fingers . if done slowly then not much clouding in water as settles straight on bottom of tank . when you have all sand in again just slowly move with fingers so as even as you want , then put back in any plants or wood ect and fill tank back up . I always slowly put water in over the top of my wood so not to stir the sand when filling . Then turn your filter and heater and airpump back on . All ways turn your filter of when doing any sort of clean up as the sand could get into your filter and clog it up .
Hope this helps
cathy

 

[cambojnr]

what I did with my 60l switch to sand was buy one of the big plastic storage conatainers you get from asda for like £5 which hold about 60l, I put nearly all the water in and plants and stuff then all the fish with the filter and heater so its just a plastic fish tank really. then I took all the gravel out and replaced with sand I had cleaned the day earlier, then I just put the water back in from the container so it was the same temp slowly to not disturb the sand much and then the filter, heater and fish. the tank will be cloudy for a while but you dont want to do it withe the fish in as it will stress them alot, as I didint lose any and the fish were still brightly coloured when put back in.

 

[bikerfish]

Hi I did not loose any fish with leaving them in tank as done very slowly , but both ways a good just depends which way you fancy
cathy

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Thanks to you both; will have a think about which method is best for me! Both clearly work.....

 

[zain611]

Im not very sure myself when i first used sand it left a cloudy look and i left it with my goldfish in there for about a month and it was the same so i switched to gravel although there must be a way for it to be crystal clear like gravel. by the way i think you must of read my post about corys and their recommended substrate hows your corys? im thinking of using pea gravel to reduce barb lose if i get my next tank

 

[phoenixgsd]

i transfered everything to a large tub with tank water and heater with a air stone for my change over, i washed the sand within a inch of life, put it in the tank with a quater water in then used ornaments to break the pouring water causing a exposion of sand, my tank was clear within half a hour and my corys and khulis love it

 

[Boromir]

I switched from gravel to sand just 3 days ago for 3 reasons, 1, I have corys and felt that sand is the best for them and most other fish. 2 I think it makes the tank look better and 3 I had been overcome by snails they were hiding in the gravel where I couldnt get them.

I took out all objects in the tank but left the fish in, I then got a one litre jug and put the sand in slowly, the water still clowded up but this cleared overnight. Most of my fish survived other than 4 neons which decided to get sucked up by the filter 2 died

and the other 2 made a 100% recovery.
When rinsing your sand clean make sure its not cold sand when you put it in your tank, as I did this and it drop my temp by 2 degrees in my big tank I dont know what it will do for a 100litre one.

At the moment apart from my neons getting into the filter everything went as planned.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

How far from the surface of the sand should the bottom of the filter be so as not to suck sand into the filter? I have an Aquael Fan 2 which has its inlet right at the bottom, and currently the bottom of the filter casing sits only about half an inch from the gravel bed. I can raise it an inch, maybe two, before the aerator will be at the water surface.

 

[zain611]

im thinking of the same thing as the next tank if i get it has a filter which the pipe goes down the tank and i was wondering if it sucks up sand but what i think is to move the and away from it

 

[Sammy1911]

I made the change in my 55G it took me 6hrs... never would have thought it would take sooooo long but its been about 50hrs since completion and i have all my fish swimming happily (touch wood!) i even left an apisto in one of the tubs but saw him just as i was about to pour the last bit of water into my garden border the day after - what a soilder...

I went from fine natural gravel which id had for about 5yrs to black tahitian moonsand, i'm still getting used to the look of the tank but overall it does look gorgeous the contrast with the black background/sand with the fish/plants is amazing and the change to sand is much better for the wellbeing of my fish as i have gymnogeophagus (earth eaters) and ive been able to moved my corys over from my 15G. a lot of hard work once the plants bed in i know it will be worth it

 

[zain611]

my next tank if i get it is a aqua style 980 so you may know how the filter looks