Switching To Sand Tonight!

[Owen386]

Hey All,


Bought some play sand last night at my local Home Depot gonna put in in when I get home from work!!! Very Excited got Khulli loaches about a Week ago with the intent to switch over to sand as soon as I could Feel so bad for them they be trying to dig in the Gravel and cant!! Pour little guys! So just looking for little advice currently I have around 3 inches of aquarium Gravel, My plan is to only put the sand on half the tank my question to all yall is can I just poor it over the old gravel? I realize some will go through the gravel but Can i just pile it up until it settles on top of the gravel I like the Idea of having a couple inches of gravel and then an inch of sand on top (for looks) and then I figure this will give my khuli loaches half the tank to dig there hearts out. any advice suggestions or criticism is Welcome and appreciated Thanks Alot guys! Hope to hear from Ya`ll !

-Owen

 

[fluttermoth]

Unfortunetly, if you put sand on top of gravel, it will just sink right through and you'll end up a layer of sand with gravel on top!

You really need to clear the whole end of the tank where you want the sand; I'd syphon it out with a wide bore pipe, like a hose.

Make sure you wash the sand really, really well before you put it in, or you'll have cloudy tank for days!

Your kuhlis are going to love you

 

[Owen386]

Update:

New sand in Successfully!

Took fluttermouths advice and removed gravel on one side of tank. Thanks!

Cleaned Sand for about and hour, constantly stirring in a bucket with warm Water running, was very dirty to begin with. Was not hard at all to get clean though, here are results taken about 35 min after sand was put in and plants replanted etc...


-Owen

 

[fluttermoth]

Looking good

 

[Randi]

very nice!

 

[Owen386]

Thanks Guys!

Took about two hours to actually make the switch. I just de-rooted the plants as carefully as I could and just let them float on the other side of the tank as I did this work Think they will survive? Is there any special way of doing this, in case i make the full switch over at one time or another?
Tank looks awesome with half sand half gravel though looks much better in person.

-Owen

edit: currently have 2-3" of sand too much?

 

[This Old Spouse]

I have a tank similar to this setup with half and half, and I really like it! Good job, yours is very nice!