Sand

[RSki]

I'm thinking of replacing my gravel substrate with sand in my 120g. I've got a few geos and a fire eel and feel it would be more natural for them to have sand to dig around in.
What kind of job are we talking about here?
Would it be better to pull all the fish and out or can I do it by just changing it 1/3 at a time?

 

[Cross127]

Pull the fish out replace it all at once because the gravel will just mix into the sand and you will have lots of rocks in it. For your tank its not all that bug of a job all you need to do is of course drain the tank a little, scoop out the gravel then wash your sand and make sure there is no clumpd in it, dump sand into tank, add new water that you took out, wait till its all settled and turn on filters and heaters and stuff. Add fish

 

[Dr Joe]

If you have the extra tank space for the fish and filters (so the bacteria doesn't die) thats the easiest (?) way.

Otherwise remove the gravel (usually over a period of several days so as not to stress the fish too much) (a little extra stress zyme during this time doesn't hurt).

Depending on the type of sand your going to be using (I don't suggest play sand as you may never get it clean enough) rinse it till water runs clear (pool filter sand is very clean out of the bag).

Put the sand in slowly and allow it to settle so the fish can breathe (I put it in all at one end and after it settles, slowly push it level).

Any way you do it it's a piece of cake .

Dr Joe

.

 

[ThePBM]

gravel vac the hell out of your tank as much as possible before introducing sand cause it will be harder once the sand is in there. but once the sand is in there, any new poop should stay on top of the sand. just don't want to go burying old poop when you put in the sand.

 

[enkrypter]

I have never ever ever seen anyone get sand clean. If your fish don't mind swimming in milkshake water, then throw them in a kiddie pool for a few days out in the garage... Sand with a good rinsing and thurough cleaning will still mess up a tank for a good 4-5 days with an uber filtration setup.

Also, I'd advise that each day after you put sand in for the first week, depending on your filters, that you regularly check them and clean the impellers.

I burnt up an otherwise perfectly good Emperor 400 with sand bits. It was warantied though so my LFS guy hooke dme up with a new one !

Sand looks nice and IMHO is easy to take care of if you take care of what you put in your tank and get the right kind of fish to keep it clean.

 

[KABB44423]

I have never ever ever seen anyone get sand clean. If your fish don't mind swimming in milkshake water, then throw them in a kiddie pool for a few days out in the garage... Sand with a good rinsing and thurough cleaning will still mess up a tank for a good 4-5 days with an uber filtration setup.

Also, I'd advise that each day after you put sand in for the first week, depending on your filters, that you regularly check them and clean the impellers.

I burnt up an otherwise perfectly good Emperor 400 with sand bits. It was warantied though so my LFS guy hooke dme up with a new one !

Sand looks nice and IMHO is easy to take care of if you take care of what you put in your tank and get the right kind of fish to keep it clean.

how do you keep sand clean what do you have 2 do and what types of fish help?

 

[smpage]

I have never ever ever seen anyone get sand clean. If your fish don't mind swimming in milkshake water, then throw them in a kiddie pool for a few days out in the garage... Sand with a good rinsing and thurough cleaning will still mess up a tank for a good 4-5 days with an uber filtration setup.

Also, I'd advise that each day after you put sand in for the first week, depending on your filters, that you regularly check them and clean the impellers.

I burnt up an otherwise perfectly good Emperor 400 with sand bits. It was warantied though so my LFS guy hooke dme up with a new one !

That's insane. did you not rinse your sand at all? I used play sand in my tank (the dirtiest sand there is according to other mfkers) and rinsed it thoroughly before putting it in my tank. my water was crystal clear in 12 hours. 12 hours! I didn't even have my filters running at all until the water was clear.

FOR ANYONE WISHING TO USE SAND: do the extra work and just rinse it a little and you won't have any problems with murky water.

 

[smpage]

how do you keep sand clean what do you have 2 do and what types of fish help?

Malaysian trumpet snails are a godsend in a sand tank. they keep the anaerobic pockets from building up under your sand and killing all your fish.

 

[Cross127]

I don't have to stir mine because my Salvini does it for me. He constantly picks up sand and spits it all over. My tank looks like the damn Rocky Mountains. LOL. When you clean it just use a syphon hose and keep it 1/4 to 1/2 an inch off the surface of the sand to prevent any sand getting sucked up. Suprisingly when I put my sand in I only had to do a quick rinse and dump. No cloudiness one bit and no air pockets.

 

[aropal]

This is a grain size comparison between play sand on the left and pool filter sand on the right.

Pool filter sand settles out of the water column proportionally quicker than play sand due to this size difference.

I'd suggest using a thin layer (I'm using half an inch). The larger particle size should maintain some flow through the substrate whilst still preventing detritus from settling in between the grains.

It's also a great deal easier to avoid sucking up pool filter sand with a vac.