So I am thinking about changing the substrate in my angel fish tank from gravel to sand because after seeing some pictures of other peoples tanks I like the look. Do you think it would be possible to do without draining the whole tank and starting over? If I can swap it out what would be the best way to go about it?
Angel fish tank substrate
- Thread starter dorrd
- Start date
what do you have in the tank now? I have done it before. just go slow. it's going to cloud the tank but won't hurt the fish. take at least half of the water out. my discus tank has carib-sea sunset gold. it's pretty expensive compared to pool filter sand, but it comes wet so no need to rinse and it's heavy, so it fall without much clouding. if you have something like eco-complete you will have a bigger mess than just course gravel.
when I changed the gravel I bought a kitty litter scoop or whatever they are called. better than a cup or bucket. the slots will let you take out only gravel and no water. worked great for me. I think I paid like 2.00.
bring in the garden hose or python or something similiar to act as an suction
suck out all the gravel, if you cant ,wait for another water change.
repeat till all the gravel is sucked out
than add desired sand
done
simple and easy and clean no messyness. no need to take out fish or anything.should be done in a day or 2. make sure to wash the sand really well before putting in. might still get a lil cloudy. doing a few water changes and your good. scooping the gravel out bit by bit takes too long and your going to stir up all the crap and its gonna make your tank all dirty and smelly.
suck out all the gravel, if you cant ,wait for another water change.
repeat till all the gravel is sucked out
than add desired sand
done
simple and easy and clean no messyness. no need to take out fish or anything.should be done in a day or 2. make sure to wash the sand really well before putting in. might still get a lil cloudy. doing a few water changes and your good. scooping the gravel out bit by bit takes too long and your going to stir up all the crap and its gonna make your tank all dirty and smelly.
If you're using fine grained sand, make sure you turn off any HOB filters if you have any and actually even canisters as much as you can while there is still sand floating in the water column before it fully settles to the bottom. I learned this the hard way. Sand gets into the intake really easy and it's good night Irine for your impeller and possibly your motor and you'll have to replace both if you can't get the sand out. Good luck.
Louie13;4872739; said:
Any recommendations on keeping sand out of the impeller/filter? I have a 72 Gal with black sand that has been in there for a while and it completely settled, but have lost a couple filters to what i suppose is sand getting into the impeller/filter? Both filters i have on the tank are HOB filters. Would making the down tube from the filter shorter help out with sand intake while still allowing good filtration?
OP, didn't mean to try and thread jack, just thought i would ask as Louie seems to have some experience in this issue....