Gravel to Sand...suggestion

JayK1320 · Jun 20, 2008

Finally, I will be switching over to sand from gravel. I am really excited and cant wait to get to it this weekend. I just picked up 50lbs of PFS from a wholesale pool supply company that is a customer of mine. $6 for 50lbs, is that a decent price?

So when I do the switch, does anyone have any suggestions? Things that I might not think of?

I plan to rinse the sand as I put it in the tank, I got a tote that I am going to fill up with half the sand I think and then fill with water and move my hand around through the sand to mix it all up. Then drain/bucket out as much water as I can then repeat until the water stays pretty clear. Then I will add it to the tank, slowly pour in the water until its full. I was thinking of keeping some of the pea stone gravel that I have in there, kinda doing a mix of both, like 80-90% sand with 10-20% gravel just to break up some of the sand, make it look a little more natural. I am afraid if I do this though it will stir the sand up again if I do it in the tank...I guess I could pre mix it in the tote and then just add it to the tank...probably would work better.

I also plan to cut the intake tube for the filter up a bit, how many inches should the intake be above the sand? I am thinking the 50 lbs will be about 1.5" of sand, it is a 55g tank. Would 4-5 inches above the sand be enough separation so it wont suck up a ton of lose sand? I am running a Fluval 304 canister filter...

Is there anything else I need to know about the sand? I have got Peacock cichlids and I hear they mix up the sand pretty good so will I have to worry about the gas buildup that I have heard can occur in the sand? I have also got a crawfish that will be running around in the sand.

Any help or suggestions would be very helpful, I want this to go as smooth and as easy as possible, I know tons of people have sand...so please give the "dont forget about this!" haha

DigThemLows · Jun 20, 2008

I put sand in a 5 gallon bucket, and ran a hose into it, turned it on and let it go.........that rinsed it pretty good.................I put the fish in a bucket with an AC filter on it and spent the day taking out rocks and putting in sand.................you'll still have cloudy water at first, but it'll be worth it!

Bawb2u · Jun 20, 2008

I've never bothered rinsing pool filter sand. It's not dusty like playsand and is a larger grain that sinks well. As far as adding it, when I changed over I made something like a cake frosting bag. I cleaned the OUTSIDE of the bag, took enough water out so that it wouldn't overflow the tank and put the entire sealed bag in the tank. I then cut out one of the bottom corners of the bag, cut another hole in the top of the bag and just let the sand flow out the bottom hole slowly. Sounds weird but it worked perfectly and the clouding was minimal.

Tommydeal · Jun 20, 2008

Don't forget the gravel has lots of beneficial bacteria on so you might experience a mini-cycle when you take it out. Keep a close eye on the water parameters in the next couple of weeks and feed lightly. In terms of anaerobic zones in the sand, you're probably fine if you have fish that root around in the substrate. If you're really concerned about toxic air pockets just use less sand.

Tommydeal · Jun 20, 2008

Bawb2u;1903064; said:
I've never bothered rinsing pool filter sand. It's not dusty like playsand and is a larger grain that sinks well. As far as adding it, when I changed over I made something like a cake frosting bag. I cleaned the OUTSIDE of the bag, took enough water out so that it wouldn't overflow the tank and put the entire sealed bag in the tank. I then cut out one of the bottom corners of the bag, cut another hole in the top of the bag and just let the sand flow out the bottom hole slowly. Sounds weird but it worked perfectly and the clouding was minimal.

Now that's some innovative advice from a pro!

JayK1320 · Jun 20, 2008

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the good info...great idea with the bag...I will have to look to see if I have a big enough bag to do that...

Would it be smart to add the sand slowly over a week or something instead of doing it all at once and possibly creating a small cycle? Like do 10 lbs of sand every couple of days and take out an equal amount of gravel at the same time?

If it did start a mini cycle what would I do to correct the problem?

mojo2776 · Jun 20, 2008

I added pool filter sand to my bare bottom 55g a few weeks ago, and I cleaned it exactly as you are planning to. I shut off my filters and drained 50% of the water, then slowly poured the sand in from the two 5 gallon buckets that I cleaned it in. I know some people like to let the sand settle for a while before turning the filters back on, but I just made prefilters for my intakes out of filter floss and fired them back up after about 15 minutes. I had to clean the prefilters twice a day for the first 2 days, but after about 3 days everything was crystal clear.

JayK1320 · Jun 20, 2008

And what about the filter intake? How high should that be above the sand? I have heard you can use pantyhose to cover the intake too, to prevent sand granules getting into the filter...

Tommydeal · Jun 20, 2008

I've used pantyhose on the intakes before and is clogs up really quickly, I would go with filterfloss like mojo said. Or a sponge over the pantyhose.

I think your intake should be at least 6" from the sand with Peacocks but I have fluvals within 1"-3" of sand in some of my tanks and they're working just fine but my fish in those tanks don't kick up the sand very much. The fluval just deposits the sand in the bottom of the canister body and it can be removed easily. I'd be more worried if it was an HOB filter. I've ruined a few of those with sand.

Would it be smart to add the sand slowly over a week or something instead of doing it all at once and possibly creating a small cycle? Like do 10 lbs of sand every couple of days and take out an equal amount of gravel at the same time?
That sounds like a hassle but it would probably avoid a mini-cycle.

If it did start a mini cycle what would I do to correct the problem?
You can do more frequent water changes and use something like Prime to keep down the level of toxins.

CHOMPERS · Jun 20, 2008

Instead of finding ways to live with a crappy wash job, doesn't it make sense to just take the time to do it right?

Your reward for not having the patients to get it perfectly clean is a lifetime of silt in your impeller housing...and a noisy impeller.


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Gravel to Sand...suggestion

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