Another Sand Topic!!!

[jason72g]

I just bought a 50 lb. bag of play sand from Lowes, and i think i am straight on how to clean the sand itself, but how do i go about adding the sand to my tank? And when can i reintroduce my fish back to my tank when sand is in?

Here is what i am thinking about doing, is this right?
1. Take all cycled water out of tank, and put in buckets
2. put fish in the buckets
3. take all decor/gravel out.
4. put cleaned sand in.
5. put decor in
6. put cycled water in
7. put fish in.

It probably isn't right, so does anyone else have a good way of going about this?

Thanks
JAson

 

[shmax101]

Thats about right, just make sure to use a large bowl, or small syphon to put the water back in, and try not to stir up a lot of sand debris, as there will be quite a bit anyway. Personally I put the sand in, then filled using a big bowl to pour water onto, making it go lightly into the tank all around the bowl instead of plowing in in a small spot. Then I just syphoned the rest in with a small hose and let it flow into my cupped hand to keep it from stirring up too much sand.

 

[The-Wolf]

Read this How I changed to sand
HTH

 

[FishDan]

Looks good. It is not necessary to save all your water. There is no such thing as "cycled" water, as the bacteria live on surfaces, not in the water column. I did a 50% water change both times I changed from gravel to sand. This is, of course, totally up to you.

\Dan