Switching to sand

[jordan barnhart]

I'd like to get this topic pinned. Because I go around here and see people asking about doing it all the time and complain about how long it takes to settle and what not.

There is a way to get around all that and I will share it all here.


ENJOY


Here is what you'll need.

- Wheelbarrow/Large bucket
- Your sand of choice
- A stocking/Panty hose/ Knee high or w/e
- Some screen that you can sift with.
(Used for playsand as it contains small pebbles and a giant roll of this can be purchased at good old walmart for 6 bucks)
- A new large trash bag

You'll need to take the stocking or whatever and place a few handfuls of your old substrate into the stocking and tie it at the end and leave it in a bucket of emptied aquarium water as not to kill off your beneficial bacteria. Sand has a far greater surface area than gravel for your bacteria to colonize. Pretty cool eh?


Step One
Start with your sand. I used a 50lb. bag of playsand as it looks really great and is only $2.69 a bag from Home Depot. So I went this route.

Step Two
Get a wheelbarrow if possible, or a large bucket. Place some screen over it and poor some sand over the screen and let it sift down into the bucket or wheelbarrow. Any remains left on top of the screen should be discarded however you see fit.

Step Three
Now that you have your smoothe sifted sand. It is time to wash it. Just a good rinsing in the wheel barrow for about 5 minutes is all you really need. Just enough to remove dust and floating particles.

Step Four
This is optional but I did it. I let my sand dry out before I placed it in my aquarium so that it wasnt wet and stick to junk. I thought it might help keep it settled once I put water on it.

Don't know if it was necessary but hey. It worked so w/e.

Step Five
Now place the sand into the aquarium. I assume your not leaving the water in your aquarium as you'll have to wait for the sand to settle. That defeats the purpose of me telling you all this.

Step Six
Take your large trash bag and spread it out over your sand. If you got them, place small stones around the corners of the trash bag to keep them from rising once you add some water.

Step Seven
Now your ready to fill it up. Gently place water you may have saved from your tank from where you emptied out the water. If you have a python like me, this is much more efficient than a bucket to help fill your aquarium. Hook up your python to the faucet and turn it on. The water will be hitting the trash bag as not to stir up sand. Once you have your tank filled, turn off your python, and remove the stones and trashbag gently.
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NOW YOUR DONE!

Add the stocking of old substrate if you got it and it will help colonize your sand.

This is how I've always done this and water comes out crystal clear everytime and no need to let my sand settle.

If you follow this right you should have the same out come I did.

I hope this helps some of you looking to switch or start a new tank with sand.

 

[Discomafia]

Now that you have your smoothe sifted sand. It is time to wash it. Just a good rinsing in the wheel barrow for about 5 minutes is all you really need. Just enough to remove dust and floating particles.

From my experience, this isn't always the case. I had to wash my sand for an hour before it washed clear...Furthermore, using a wheelbarrow is troublesome and ineffective. No offence meant to the starter of this thread... Let's just see what others have to say.

 

[smithrc]

I used a clean dustbin... and likewish had to wash for over 1 hour...

we've got playsand and its very fine (no stones or pebbles at all)

 

[cutechic]

I usually need to wash my playsand for an hour and a half, too. Great article though.

 

[jordan barnhart]

Maybe I got some really un-dusty sand?

LOL. lucky me

 

[abstract]

sorry, but IMHO all of these threads talking about taking out your fish, emptying your tank of water completely, and rinsing for hours are ridiculous and extremly overkill.

I'll admit that we all have different kinds of sand...but I changed both my 20 long and 46 gallon to sand from gravel easily and in very little time. who cares if your tank is slightly clouded for a couple days? IT WILL CLEAR UP AND NOT HARM ANYTHING - except POSSIBLY filters if it is clouded for a very long period of time. assuming you give the sand a few quick rinses in a bucket (emptying about 5 times) I don't see how there can be so many problems with clouding.

Maybe I don't have enough time on my hands to go through hours and hours of cleaning/rinsing/refilling etc to get such a simple task done, but i just find it completely unneccessary.

Normally I'm not one to put down posts but I think too many people are being deceived by how difficult this task is - it's not difficult at all.

scoop out your gravel with a tupperware....rinse your sand in a dishpan or something else with a large area for 5 mins per 10 lbs.....turn off your filters and scoop sand in to your tank with a tupperware, tipping it over when you're near the bottom.....wait a half hour or so before you turn filters back on and within a day at most your water should be just about normal...if not throw in some filter carbon....hope this helps - i just don't see the need for all of these extra steps and material.

Again, I don't mean to bash anyone elses' methods or their efforts for posting, but there are simply better ways....

 

[aloaring]

I used abstract method when changing my gravel, idin't empty the tank or remove my fish, the wte rcleared uup overnight and all the fish survived to play in the new gravel. but if you want to be careful then Jordan's method is very good!

 

[rykitten]

I just changed to sand on Tuesday and ended up with a huge thick cloud that refused to settle. I had to empty the tank and start again. So I'd say it's very important to wash your sand if you want to see your fish.

 

[Bustacapp]

I spent about an hour cleaning my sand as well but im very glad i did it because the first 5 or so dumps (I put my sand in a bucket and then poured water in it and dumped the water out ) were very very muddy and i also used the play sand substrate

 

[jordan barnhart]

Only took me around 30 minutes for me to make the swap and have my tank back to normal with absolutely no clouding and still fine up to day. I don't see how it could take any longer than that to do it and the switch over was in a 55 gallon tank...

 

[Yenko]

I wash my sand in big buckets. It took forever to prepare the 30 pounds of sand I put in the 32 gallon (Actually an hour, but it was freezing outside and my arms were wet). I must of used 200 gallons of water in the washing operation, but it worked, and I got only slightly cloudy water. It took about 2 days to settle, which is actually faster then the time I used gravel.

 

[TonyUK]

Last christmas I started keeping fish after a 15 year gap (partying, wife, and kids were a distraction). When I started again sand had become a lot more popular, not able to get clear answers I stuck with what I already knew and bought gravel.

Is there any advantages of sand or is it down to personal preference and cosmetics of the tank.

How do you clean the sand, you can't vacuum the rubbish out (or can you)?

 

[konrad05]

I don't see the big hype on sand. I like the smooth transition of color from plants to substrate, to me it looks more natural I guess it doesn't matter much now since I can't even see my gravel
A tank with sand can look awesome too, I've seen plenty on this forum that look stunning, personal preference I guess.

 

[RYO]

the main advantage of sand is that all the crud sits on top of the sand and is easier to clean with a gravel vac or a plain piece if tube. You dont need to dig into the sand as with gravel,just hover the tube abouve the sand .
if you have a tank like konrad05 (i wish) it wont matter on what you have