freshwater tanks an sand questions

[davezxtc]

i dont understand do you remove your gravel and put new sand in what happens to your bacteria thats being held in the gravel a tank wouldnt have to re cycle with brand new substrate?

the vast majority of beneficial bacteria is in the filter media where the most water flow is present.


I have used both african cichlid sand and currently using tri colored 3m sand. The cichlid sand was liquid packed so i didnt rinse it and it did end up having a sediment layer on top after settling for a few days. The 3m sand is nice and heavy, doesn't hang in the water column when stirred, and is a breeze to vacuum off of. I won't be going back to gravel anytime soon.

 

[_Piranha_]

Lol.. Sand from the moon. Well its all clear and smells like a tank now. getting un-eayin food an poops a breeze to clean. I dont see myselfing using gravel anymore neither. Im gonna repost pics soon.

 

[zspidel]

likewise, i switched my gravel out for sand sat night. i dumped the sand out of the bag into a bucket and put the buck on a slant. turned my water hose on and rinsed til it was clear. i got caribe black sand. i used 40lbs to cover my 120 about 1/2" all the way around. it looks great