Adding Sand To My Established Tank

[benthyer]

Hey Guys,
 
I have recently got some Cory's and all I read about it how much they love sand and how a gravel substrate could damage their barbels.
 
Unfortunately I have only gravel in my tank but was thinking about digging out a channel to add the sand substrate, would this be possible to do whilst the fish are still in the tank or would I need to remove them whilst it all settles?
 
Ben

 

[The Taffy Apple]

It would be pretty pointless in my opinion...your water changes, usual filter flow and fish would spread the sand around the tank, unless of course you have a BIG tank and using ALOT of sand.Depending what size and shape gravel you have now there may be no need to include sand...rub some between your fingers, if it irritates you then it's probably not best for your Corys.
Is there any particular reason you wouldn't want to change all your substrate to sand?
 
Terry.

 

[BelldandyShanny]

I did the same thing, well to a bigger degree, I really liked the color of my gravel, which is a nice bright rainbow mix, but I really liked the look the the tahitian moon sand as well, so I bought a big old bag of it, cost like 30 bucks for like 20 pounds of it and scooped out 95% of my gravel.  After washing the bajeezus out of the sand I added it to my tank while the fish were still in it, a bucket at a time on one side of the tank.  Flattening it out as I went.  By the end I had a nice bed of sand and an attractive sprinkling of gravel.  You can leave more gravel in than I did though, if you really like your color or something.  My loaches are super happy with it and having the gravel in as well isn't a problem for them, infact I think it makes it more fun for them, just my opinion.
 
So, my advice is, don't do 90% gravel 10% sand, do 90% sand!  They will thank you for it.

 

[benthyer]

Only thing stopping me really is the cost which I will be able to afford next month and whether you can make this change while the fish are still in the tank or not? 
 
I do like the gravel I have as well but it's deffinitely not ideal for cory's as it is quite large it's not fine gravel

 

[BelldandyShanny]

you can do it with the fish still in if you only add it to one half of the tank and spread it out from there, just do it like you would do a water change, take like 40% of the water out so it doesn't splash too much, it's gonna be a job cause the sand will be wet when you add it from all the rinsing you need to do first.  But you do need to remove some of your gravel.  Your other option is to drain your tank, bucket the fish and do it all at once that way.  Either way is a pile of work, but both are doable just depends on what you want to do.