Substrate Question, Need Help!

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Stingrays

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 9, 2011
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Upstate NY
I have gravel currently in my 55 and I absolutely hate it both in an aesthetic sense and also in a maintenance sense. I was wondering if sand would be easier to keep clean and also keep hidden food and waste from messing up the chemical balance.

Also I was wondering what the best way to introduce a new substrate into an established tank with fish? Is it possible? Or do you have to remove the fish for a day or two? The tank is an african cichlid community tank, all mbunas if it is relevant. Thanks!

Thanks a bunch guys.
 
I went sand in most of my tanks, just easier. I can see the large poops on top and the muck doesn't get down to deep the sand bed as it did with the gravel. Pool Fliter Sand one of the best $10 that I ever spent in my tanks. I have a cichlid tank with sand, and goldfish tank with sand. Both tanks had gravel that I removed some of the water, then took out the gravel that I had, had the bare bottom for a few minutes then added the sand slowly with the filters off for a few minutes. Make sure you rinse the sand real well as it can kill you impellers. If you are worried about the BB in the gravel you can leave some in a mesh bag in the tank for a few weeks until the BB moves into the sand. Best of luck.
 
I've found that sand is far superior to gravel. Sand doesn't trap detritus and it just looks nicer and more natural in my opinion. That's not to say that gravel doesn't exist in nature, it just doesn't in the same volume that sand does. I have a strong alternating current in my overstocked mbuna tank and there is never any waste in or on the sand or even floating around in the water for more than a few minutes.
 
COG Commando said:
I've found that sand is far superior to gravel. Sand doesn't trap detritus and it just looks nicer and more natural in my opinion. That's not to say that gravel doesn't exist in nature, it just doesn't in the same volume that sand does. I have a strong alternating current in my overstocked mbuna tank and there is never any waste in or on the sand or even floating around in the water for more than a few minutes.
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Agreed. Sand is the way to go IMO. Im actually going to be switching my FH over to sand soon which will make all my tanks sand except one.
So much easier to keep clean because most everything stays on top of the substrate or gets sucked up in filters rather than getting stuck between the gravel and becoming that nasty sludge.
Just a side question Marcus, how do you make an alternating current in your tank, just curious.
 
I have never done a substrate switch with fish in because I switched when I upgraded my tank, but I know of people that have done it without removing fish. One trick to removing gravel substrate is to use a colander (or strainer of some kind). Keep the colander in the tank until it is full of gravel and then you don't remove water at the same time.

What kind of filtration do you have on your tank? That will really determine whether you need to worry about BB after the switch.

When adding the sand make sure you rinse it really well (as stated above). When you think it is rinsed well enough rinse it three more times, TRUST ME. When adding it to the tank I would pour into a big bowl and lower the bowl into the tank, pouring from as low as possible. That way you get less debris in the water and don't stress the fish as much.

If you do get cloudy water from the sand you can wait it out, or you can secure paper towels over your filter intakes (NOT OUTPUTS) and switch them out as needed. This will clear your water up in a few hours if you rinsed it beforehand. You don't want to put the paper towels over the outputs because you don't want the debris getting into your filters. As mentioned it will destroy impellers.

Good luck, and I say go with pool filter sand - it is great!!!
 
One think i will add is that if you have to rely partially on your substrate for BB, then you probably dont have sufficient bio filtration to begin with IMO.
 
Thanks for the info guys. The filtration is mediocre to be honest, a top fin 60 that came with the tank and a marina 10 gallon slim to pick up some spare stuff on the other side. I have an air pump running for circulation too. Do they generally carry pool filter sand at Lowes?
 
Pool filter sand for sure. I bought 8 50 pound bags for my pond and it was like 65 bucks. Looks great, nothing gets underneath it.

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When I converted my mbuna tank from crushed coral to silica sand I turned off all my filtration then scooped out all of the crushed coral with a kitchen strainer (took forever), then I washed the playsand thoroughly to get out any really fine particles. I then took scoopfulls (using a large tupperware container) and carefullydipped them into the water, allowing water from the tank to slowly enter the container without stirring the sand like crazy. Once in the tank, I poured (close to the bottom for as little dispersion as possible) the sand into the tank. One hundred and fifty pounds later I was done. It was a pain, but the water stayed fairly clear and there wasn't the extreme hassle of having to catch and remove all of my fish and drain my tank.
 
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