Can I Change From Gravel To Sand Easily?

[george4593]

wanting to change my tank from gravel to sand but is it easy and possible?
if so how would i do this?
thanks

 

[BerryAttack]

very easy.. 
 
take out gravel and replace with sand.. hahah
 
rinse sand before putting in until the water runs clean because if not done then your tank will be all murky and will look horrible and can mess up the filter. (depends which one you have)
 
after cleaning the sand you can either leave your fish in or take them out, but i would put them in buckets with the aquarium water until you finish to limit stress... then remove gravel and with clean sand put it in, if there is still water in it then put sand in bowl and slowly fill it up with water and gently empty at bottom of tank, or take out all water until you have like an inch left and dump all the clean sand in.. way faster. 
let it clear with the filter and you can also do a water change set up your decor.. and then after letting it run for an hour or w.e then put your fish back in with the same temp of water.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Can't stress enough how important it is to rinse, rinse and rinse the sand. Then rinse it again. 
 
Definitely put the fish in a holding tank outside the tank you're making the switch in, because once you start removing the gravel the water will become disgusting from all the gunk that's down there. Then clean any algae or dirt off the glass before putting the sand in.
 
I had great luck putting the sand down, then putting a dinner plate at the bottom and pouring the fresh water on it so it dissipated and didn't send the sand flying all over.

 

[zain611]

Use the bottle method to easily clean the sand. just fill an empty bottle up with sand and place it in the tank with water

 

[This Old Spouse]

Use the bottle method to easily clean the sand. just fill an empty bottle up with sand and place it in the tank with water

 
It's a bit more complicated than that. From what I understand, you fill a soft drink bottle about halfway with dry sand, then put it in the tank and let it fill with tank water, turn the bottle upside down and the sand comes out and leaves behind the residue. I think this would work fine when you're topping up the sand at a later time, but to do this for a whole tank would take a long time. IMO.

 

[NorthEastFisherman]

I would highly suggest to take the fish out and put them in some container (5 gal bucket, storage container, something big to hold them in) and have the filter run in there. Another tank would be better but make sure it has the water from the tank. Then take all the decorations out and scoop the gravel out, you dont have to get every single one since the sand will cover it. I rinsed my sand in a 5 gal bucket until it ran clean then poked a hole in the top of a bottle and let the sand run through it when its in the tank. Then i scooped anything floating around (that isnt the sand) and let the othr sand settle for about 5 mins then scooped the remaining thats floating. Then i let the sand sit another 20 mins and then put the filter back. Its better to let the sand sit over night but you can only really do this if you have another tank for the fish. I didnt so i had my fish in the tank and it made a huge ammonia/nitrite spike and killed all my neons, 1 bolivian ram, and a julii cory cat. And make sure to do a water change since you are stirring up the leftover stuff that sat in the gravel. Otherwise you might risk your fish dieing. But of course neons arent hardy fish so they had a better chance to die.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I took all my fish and plants out of the tank, then cleaned out the tank thoroughly. It's probably the cleanest it had been since I first set it up. Filled it up with fresh treated water, and since I didn't do anything to my filter the tank was cycled right away with no spikes.

 

[Noahsfish]

I've heard many people say to leave fish in to minimize stress...as this sounds great for especially those people with small tetras and cories I will never try switching with my fish in again. I switched my gravel in the 20 gallon to tahitan moon sand. After cleaning the sand thoroughly, I removed all the gravel..even after vacuuming it's amazing how much gunk is trapped under, plus while putting the sand in it can't help but cloud the water even more. All my fish seemed very stressed and I'm now a bit worried about my sterbais and cardinal tetras...best bet is to remove all water and put in 5 gallon containers..

 

[This Old Spouse]

I don't understand about putting all your water in 5 gallon containers? 
 
If you put your fish in a container (I used a 30 gallon plastic tub) with the filter running, take all the gravel out, clean the tank, put in the sand, fill with warm dechlorinated water, place your plants and decor and put your fish back in they should all be fine. Might be a little stressed from being moved around, but it's much better than subjecting them to all the crap from under the gravel.

 

[Noahsfish]

I don't understand about putting all your water in 5 gallon containers? 
 
If you put your fish in a container (I used a 30 gallon plastic tub) with the filter running, take all the gravel out, clean the tank, put in the sand, fill with warm dechlorinated water, place your plants and decor and put your fish back in they should all be fine. Might be a little stressed from being moved around, but it's much better than subjecting them to all the crap from under the gravel.

Well I meant 5 gallon containers because I at least don't have anything bigger laying around. I'd put the fish into different 5 gallon buckets, and then the rest in a separate container draining the whole aquarium BEFORE I change the gravel. I don't see how your method would work though, at least with my fish like cardinals and sterbais...because if you had totally new water the tank would have to cycle again? Maybe not fully because of the filter but it's kind of like a huge overkill isnt it? I mean like nobody does anything larger than 50% water changes at a time, correct me if I'm wrong..

 

[This Old Spouse]

People do up to 90% water changes quite often, especially with things like ammonia spikes and the like. The beneficial bacteria is in the filter media, not the water.