Switching from gravel to sand

[_]im]

Hi,

So I cant stand looking at tanks with sand, they look a lot better than gravel IMO. I want to switch it over and have read a couple of posts with the general opinion that its not harder to upkeep either one and that it must be cleaned before putting it in the tank.

My question is how much should sand cost? I was going to go to the beach and get some, not a good idea, so im looking at LFS but dont know whats a decent price (in canadian dollars). also will the switch be a bad thing on the fish, i can hold them in a 10g for a while until the sand settles.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Matty]

I'm thinking about switching to sand as well...and I have a question. Wouldn't replacing the gravel with sand al at once throw your water chemistry off and put your tank through a mini cycle again? Does sand hold beneficial bacteria like gravel does?

 

[freddyk]

Sand can cost up to 60 bucks for 40 lbs at the LFS, depending what type it is. I went to home depot and purchased 50 lb bags at about 4 bucks each of beach play sand. Much more to my liking, and very natural looking too. And yes, rinse it very well before using it no matter what type you choose. Another cheap and popular sand you can use is pool filter sand.

In a tank with a power filter, most of the bacteria resides in the filter, and exchanging the substrate is safe. This is because water is constantly pulled through the filter at a high rate--so the toxins have the tendancy to reach the filter first. On the other hand, if you use a UGF, you are relying on the gravel to act as the filter, and in this case you will be removing the bio-filter.

Moving the fish is probably a good idea - when you pull out that gravel you'll really see just how much crud it collects. If you use a power filter you'll also want to turn this off while you do the switch, or the sand will ruin the impeller.

 

[_]im]

Thanks for the help, home depot it is!

 

[Matty]

are you telling me that for 10 bucks, I can put sand in my 90g?

 

[CTS]

Could you post a pic of the sand from home depot???

 

[Raechal]

Walmart has it cheaper! You can get a 40lb bag for $1.67 of play sand. It took like 5 bags to fill up my 120 gallon pretty nicely. Although it would have been better if I had like 6 or 7 bags to make it a little deeper. Oh well, it looks fine how it is.

The thing with sand is that the poo and leftover food are really visible on top of the sand. I usually do a vacuum everyday to clean up the poo on top of the sand. It only takes about 10 minutes for my 120 gallon so it isn't that bad.

 

[freddyk]

CTC, here's a all I have. It's not easy to tell in pics, lighting really effects the color.

Here's my old bi-color hovering over it

Here's a leleupi scoping it out

Raechal, this is the best advice I can give you regarding sand. Get a couple of powerheads and place them pointing where the crud is settling more. The current will kick up the crud, where it can be caught by the filters. I vacuum my sand about once ever month or so, to get those places by rocks and stuff that it still accumulates.

 

[_]im]

so its an everyday maintenence thing to take car of sand then? I plan on lighter sand so is it really that bad for everyone?

Al

 

[nc_nutcase]

I just priced pool filter sand at $10 for 50 lb. I've been told that the uniformed grain size of the pool filter sand is better for bacteria and so forth... but I donno... I've never asked bacteria

 

[newfishies]

pool filter sand is not supposed to be as hard to rinse...i think and hope...i just got 50# for $12!!

 

[Matty]

for some reason, your pics didnt quite load up...

anyway...play sand at walmart?

 

[_]im]

where would you get pool sand??

 

[CTS]

CTC, here's a all I have. It's not easy to tell in pics, lighting really effects the color.

Here's my old bi-color hovering over it

Here's a leleupi scoping it out

Raechal, this is the best advice I can give you regarding sand. Get a couple of powerheads and place them pointing where the crud is settling more. The current will kick up the crud, where it can be caught by the filters. I vacuum my sand about once ever month or so, to get those places by rocks and stuff that it still accumulates.

I dont see anythinig!!!

 

[Y2J]

i see the pics. looks nice