Or an old colander. Really anything that has small enough holes for the sand to go through but not the rock.
I would kill your filters and probably remove the fish for a bit while doing this. Looking at quite a mess
Hello; This should work. Good idea. Might be that the gravel/sand is now wet. I have sifted dry sand to remove fine stuff and wind up with larger size particles from construction sand.
I guess with a garden hose the finer sand can be washed thru. Might be hard to save the sand unless several buckets are used.
I always have used very cheap construction sand so never felt bad about discarding it. If the OP's sand is costly it might be worth the effort to try to save it.
Get a long tube with large enough diameter to suction all the substrate. Start a siphon and discharge the output outside into a tub or bucket that has a strainer or screen with the right size mesh to separate the gravel out. Sand goes into the tub or bucket, discard strained gravel. Dump sand back into the tank.
You say you have very small gravel. Technically, very course sand and very fine gravel can both be 2 mm in size, so in that case, a sieve won't work and you may have to hand separate them. Are they the same size?
Assuming they are very different in size (e.g., medium gravel to medium sand), you just need to find an appropriate sieve. Colanders don't all have the same size holes (they range from small to large), so you'll have to work out which one is best for you.
You may even find that a kitchen strainer will work out better since it has smaller holes and can fit inside a tank much easier than a standard colander.
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/st...chen-tools-gadgets/colanders-strainers/12106/
Assuming they are very different in size (e.g., medium gravel to medium sand), you just need to find an appropriate sieve. Colanders don't all have the same size holes (they range from small to large), so you'll have to work out which one is best for you.
You may even find that a kitchen strainer will work out better since it has smaller holes and can fit inside a tank much easier than a standard colander.
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/st...chen-tools-gadgets/colanders-strainers/12106/
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If it’s play sand or pool filter sand and under 100# I wouldn’t waste my time separating the 2, just toss it all and call it a lesson learned.