Switching from UGF to Canister

[Soggy]

I'm trying to figure out all the details on switching from a UGF to a canister on my 55gal tank. The UGF I have is the full size of the tank powered by 2 Aquaclear 30 power heads and has about 3-4 inches of gravel on top of it. I want to switch over to a canister and sand for ease of use, fish safety, looks, etc... I'm trying to figure out what the best way to make the switch is as I don't have another tank to house the fish in and want to cause them as little stress as possible.

The plan at the moment is to first get the new filter and run it on the tank for 2 weeks to a month to get it cultured with all the bacteria it needs. after that I'll have to take everything out of the aquarium to remove the UGF and clean out all the crap that collected under it.

My question is...what would be less stressful on the fish

1) leave them in the tank while I remove the gravel, UGF, crap....and then replace it with sand.

2) move tank water and the fish into another container and then do the work on the tank.

I'm hoping that someone else has already done this or something similar and can chime in with a few nuggets of wisdom.



Another question I had real fast is if anyone has use paving sand (pic below) in an aquarium? I'm in western Washington and we don't have very many pool stores around and I haven't been able to find pool filter sand yet. Paving sand is a lot larger than play sand and even a bit larger than I would like but it's better than getting sand sucked into the filter.

the paving sand is in the bag and that is play sand on top of the bag for reference.

Thanks eerybody

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

2. The fish would not appreciate substrate being hurl at them while you aquascape.

 

[Sniperofgods]

what i would personally do depending on the fish you have and everything is get a rubbermaid tote a big one probably run you around 20 dollars or so depending on what size you get and transfer the water into that and hook it up with your heater and filters etc... then put the fish in there and clean ur tank out and proceed from there. I think it might be the best way or maybe cheapest way i can think of, but i could be wrong.

 

[Hot Slime]

Letting a canister run to culture up is what you need to do. As for whether to take the fish out while you redecorate depends on the fish. I've had fish that didn't give a crap when I was switching out gravel for sand while others I would put in a holding tank.