Woohoo I'm Changing To Sand Tomorrow

[babybell911]

I've got live plants and i really dont want them to die as they are doing quite well in gravel so shouldi put aquatic compost in the bottom to keep them nourished or leave some gravel in the bottom they can root to or will they be ok just as they are?

 

[Boxermom]

My plants are thriving quite nicely in black Tahitian Moon sand.

 

[babybell911]

Thats good then thanks for your quick reply think i might go for a layer of compostjust incase also how long will my fish have to stay in the bucket? I mean if the waters going to stay cloudy for a long time can i only put them in when itscrystal clear or will it be ok to put them in when its still cloudy

One more thing should i move my sponges into tank water while I'm doing the change so the bacteria doesnt die?

 

[Boxermom]

Are you taking the tank apart to do it?

 

[babybell911]

yeah putting the fish in a big bucket and emptying it why's that?

 

[clunkster]

you could actually leave your fish in while you add the sand if you want, just rinse the sand before adding it to your tank, i think the reason Boxermom asked if you were taking the tank apart is, are you switching your fillter off ?

 

[babybell911]

yes I'd prefer to have the fish out in a bucket with the heater so less stress they get freaked out enough when i do a tank clean so think thiswould be a little too much for them

 

[clunkster]

when i changed over to sand i did so with the fish still in the tanks and had no problems, the reason i did it this way was i did'nt want to turn any of my fillters off as i did not want to lose any of the benificial bacteria, so not causing any knock on effects

 

[scubadoo]

So long as you wash your sand thoroughly first you should have minimal cloudiness anyway.

When I put the sand in my tank (argos play sand), I washed it thoroughly and to be honest the water was pretty good straight away, but the little silt that there was disappeared by the next morning thanks to the filters.

In any event, the silt in the water wont do your fish any harm at all, its only for aesthetic reasons that we dont like to see the water cloudy.

 

[goldfish]

Compost is unneccesary, unless you're using plants which require it, and therefore already have it underneath your gravel. My plants' roots developed much better in sand (I removed one - one small one - a week ago and the roots stretched half the tank) than in gravel. Don't worry about it.

As for the fish, make sure they've got a stable temperature'd place to stay. Apart from that, worry about your filter media the most. You'll need to keep your filter going. What sort of filter do you have?

 

[babybell911]

I have a jewel filter so cant keep it going really as it's all builty into the tank

 

[scubadoo]

Just take the filter sponges and plonk them in a bucket of tank water while you do the changeover.

Keep them wet and limit the time they're in there and you should be fine.

 

[babybell911]

I put them in a bucket with tank water and put an airstone in there to keep the water circulating a bit all done now will post pics when i can

 

[scubadoo]

Good stuff - look forward to the pics!