switching to sand from gravel

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weemanch

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 5, 2010
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erie,mi
i had a couple questions regarding this mainly cause i have my precious mala in tank(let alone he is one angry SOB right now). i want to switch to sand so i still have something on the bottom compared to nothing and easier to clean. but i am worried about possibly all the trapped crap in the gravel(i do weekly water changes but you can only suck up so much) coming up when i move all the gravel(55lbs worth of gravel) which i also have two(fake) plants will they still hold it put under sand?



so who wants to stick there hand in my tank for me:ROFL:.but my little guy is only 5.5"s long which assuming he was right around 5"s when i bought him since they are known to grow about a inch a month or so until 12"s.
 
There will be detritus released from the gravel when you remove it but it will clear up. Your fake plants should do fine. Make SURE the sand has been rinsed thoroughly or else it will cloud up your tank pretty bad.
 
I recently changed out gravel for sand in my 55 planted. I used a rubbermaid container filled with tank water to place the fish and plants in for a day while I did the change over. I also had the filter system on the rubbermaid container. I then removed all the old gravel and sucked out the remaining water. I was then able to clean the glass so the tank looks nice and clean. I bought a 50lb bag of pool filter sand for Home depot. I rinsed the sand in a 5 gallon bucket using my Python and cold water. I rinsed the sand for about 20 minutes and then placed it into the tank. I had very little cloudiness. The sand was cleaner than I expected.
 
i love sand, so easy to clean and it looks better. i hated gravel so much when i used it before. sand should also keep the water cleaner aswell becuase its harder for nasty stuff (old food, poop, etc) to fall down between it and rot, instead it just sits ontop and you could throw a sand-sifting fish in there so constantly clean it, amking maintanance a breeze
 
aclockworkorange;4964497; said:
There will be detritus released from the gravel when you remove it but it will clear up. Your fake plants should do fine. Make SURE the sand has been rinsed thoroughly or else it will cloud up your tank pretty bad.
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do you clean it like the gravel with a strainer and ****. cause i think i'd have to buy one lol.
 
weemanch;4965216; said:
do you clean it like the gravel with a strainer and ****. cause i think i'd have to buy one lol.
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I cleaned my sand in 5 gallon bucket. I filled the bucket half full and stuck my Python in and let it run. Pushing the Python into the sand and letting the water run over the lip of the bucket until the water ran clear.
 
Be careful which sand you get. You dont want to get to fine of a grade and to coarse of a grade is not as nice either. I have found that the number 20/30 mix is perfect. I get my sand at a masonry shop. It is all graded the same for the industry, whether it be sandblasting or masonry. Im not sure how pool filter sand is graded as I live in Montana and well, there are not many pools.
 
I just switched from Sand to gravel, last week actually, because I got tired of cleaning the sand out of my Canister. The main piece of advice I have for you is rinse the sand very well, as others have stated. I thought I did when I put it in my tank 4 years ago, but it took about 3 days for the water to clear up and I never could get all the sand out of my canister. As others have stated, a good bottom-dweller will kick up the debris and the filters will generally suck it up, or it will settle a little closer to the intake and the fish will stir it up later. Once the tank was established I don't think I ever had a problem with water clarity, even though the sand in the canister had it running only about 40-60% capacity at times.

Also, when you put the sand in, after adding some water take a toy sandbox rake or a gardening claw or something like that and rake through the sand really good. I have read that gas bubbles can get trapped in the sand, and eventually become anoxic and poisonous to your fish. This is my 2 cents though, and I don't even know if its true or not about the gas becoming toxic, I just did that because I figured better safe then sorry.
 
My canister intake is about 4" from the sand and I've never had sand in it. Same with my other filters.

Also, pool filter sand (which is what I use) seems to be graded at #20 most often. Higher grade = finer
 
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