Changing From Rocks To Sand

[bumpylemon]

I thought it would be nice to finally change my Geo tank from rocks to sand. 50Lb bags of #20 Silica Sand for 6.99. Only question i had is.....will this kill off my bacteria? if im taking out all these rocks and replacing it with new sand....what effects is this gonna have on my beneficial bacteria? thanks guys...

 

[andyjs]

Most of your beneficial bacteria should be in the filtration. There is some bacteria in the substrate, but it isn't that important. You shouldn't see any major effects from switching it out.

 

[bumpylemon]

thank you....thats what i had thought....now where to house my fish while i do thissss...ughhhh

 

[bumpylemon]

is 45-55mm an ok sand to get?

 

[shelbyzman]

thank you....thats what i had thought....now where to house my fish while i do thissss...ughhhh

get a styorfoam cooler, that way if the fish hit the sides it won't hurt them like a hard plastic cooler would.
If it's going to be a while, put a air stone in the cooler.

 

[IKeepPacu]

ive always done the change overs with the fish in the tank. just use a big fish net to scoop the gravel out, then add the sand in slowly so as not to make any giant splashes

 

[vfc]

Don't underestimate the BB in the substrate. I have a 26G tank running with just a pump to circulate the water over the substrate. Been running over a year supporting four cichlids between 2 & 4".

I would change half the substrate, wait two weeks, then change the rest. Here is a picture of a tank that I switched over to sand. My only regret is I should have used a larger grain sand. The fine sand is too hard to clean and gets sucked into the filter when the fish stir it up.

 

[stixx]

yeah I agree vfc as I'm in the process of switching out my black sand for natural sand and though i did switch substrate once before this time I took all the sand out with in two days and am currently dealing with an algae outbreak and a slight increase in my readings nothing has changed except taking out the sand. Last time I did a substrate change I did it over a two week period and everything went well. So yeah "Don't underestimate the BB in the substrate. VFC"

 

[andyjs]

Don't underestimate the BB in the substrate. I have a 26G tank running with just a pump to circulate the water over the substrate. Been running over a year supporting four cichlids between 2 & 4".

In that case though, the bacteria colonize the substrate because there is no other filtration. With traditional filtration, the filters themselves should contain enough bacteria to sustain the tank if all of the substrate is removed.