Changing From Gravel To Sand During A Fishless Cycle

[Warehouse]

I'm on day 6/7 of my brand new fishless cycle, (I have a log thread running). I'm constantly reading up on the fish and plants I want to put in the tank, and I think Cory's will definately feature. For this reason, and also because of other threads I've read, I feel I've made a mistake going for the standard fish shop gravel. I want to change to sand but am a little concerned because, as mentioned, I'm in the middle of cycling.

So, if I do go for the change I'll obviously have to turn off the filter and heater, empty the water, remove the gravel, put in the cleaned sand, re-fill with warmish de-chlorinated water and let it settle with the heater on, then turn the filter back on and re-dose to 5ppm ammonia.

As my ammonia has just started dropping will this mean a big problem for my new a-bacteria? Is it wise at this stage to have to turn the filter off for the 2 hours that I estimate this will take? Will sand floating in the water clog the filter?

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Should be no problem.
Even worse case scenario would put you back 6/7 days which is unlikely.
You have just started cycling really.
Sand clogging could be avoided by making sure you fill carefully. If you are using a pipe/hose, let the water flow slowly and onto a plate or something similar.

 

[Warehouse]

Thanks BBB. Is it an idea to put something over the intake to help keep the sand intake down, like a piece of womens tights?

 

[Rynofasho]

You could do that, yes, and also when you go to refill it, siphon the water in onto a dinner plate or something to keep from really knocking the sand around. So long as you go slow it should be fine (I just did it last weekend). If you are going to do this and plant the tank too, you may want to consider putting down a small layer of something like flourite, laterite, or ecocomplete and then cap it with sand. It isn't absolutely necessary, however if you get heavy root feeders like crypts it will certainly help. I unfortunately didn't do that and my crypts perished.

Last thing I will say is to not actually plant the tank until after the cycle is over. Another mistake I made was that I planted right after I switched substrate and cleaned out the gunk off the bottom, so I wiped out pretty much all macronutrients that the plants need. So either let it mature a bit and build up some nitrates, or consider buying macronutrient fertilizer to have on hand for when you plant. I bought dry ferts and mixed my own macro solution and after doing the math it is about 44x cheaper over the course of one year than buying various Seachem products (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, etc.).

 

[Warehouse]

Thanks for the advice Ryno,

Play sand is reserved at Argos so I'm going for it.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Thanks for the advice Ryno,

Play sand is reserved at Argos so I'm going for it.

good for you

 

[Tizer]

No real need to empty the tank of its current water, just lean in with a dust pan and scoop out the gravel, the new sand when washed will just fall to the bottom and in a few hours time your tank will be nice and clear. i did exactly the same as you when i realised i wanted lots of Corys best thing i did. You can leave the filter and heater going, the sand is pretty heavy and aslong as you have an inch clearance from the bottom of your intake, it wont get sucked up.

Cleaning the sand can take a while, but its worth spending 15/20 minutes on each bucket you do to make sure the water runs clear, just keep scooping it around.

 

[Warehouse]

Thanks for the info Tizer, I now have the sand in the car so I might just try your sugegstion of leaving the water in there whilst I remove the gravel. I will leave the heater on, (apart from when my hands are in the tank), but I will be turning the filter off whilst I dump the sand in, and perhaps for an hour afterwards too. I'll move the intake to the top half of the tank for the night as well.

 

[Tizer]

Thanks for the info Tizer, I now have the sand in the car so I might just try your sugegstion of leaving the water in there whilst I remove the gravel. I will leave the heater on, (apart from when my hands are in the tank), but I will be turning the filter off whilst I dump the sand in, and perhaps for an hour afterwards too. I'll move the intake to the top half of the tank for the night as well.

I would suggest leaving the filter pump running, stopping the flow of water starves the bacteria in it of oxygen and although i doubt an hour would have a negative effect, there isnt really any need to stop it. You can always dump the sand in at one end (i scooped mine in with a pint glass) and move it along with your hand if you are worried about it being sucked up. Its not the sand particles that discolour the water anyway, but much finer particles of dirt which you would have mostly washed out in the sink.

The more time you spend cleaning it in the sink, the quicker your aquarium will clear.

Im not sure how fine playground sand is, but i used a medium silica sand from the local aquatics store, which is quite expensive at £20 a bag Good stuff though, very very smooth and the corys i have seem more than happy with it.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Im not sure how fine playground sand is, but i used a medium silica sand from the local aquatics store, which is quite expensive at £20 a bag Good stuff though, very very smooth and the corys i have seem more than happy with it.

It is much finer than builders sand (kids have to play in it after all) & my corys love it.

Argos playsand is £2.99 for a 15kg bag. which is a massive saving over any aquarium substrate you can buy.

 

[Kesaph]

I washed my sand in a batches in a bucket with a hose, running the water until the water was clear. I had no cloudiness when I filled the tank or floating sand to threaten the filter.

 

[Warehouse]

I washed my sand in a batches in a bucket with a hose, running the water until the water was clear. I had no cloudiness when I filled the tank or floating sand to threaten the filter.

Good idea Kesaph, and thanks for the other info above. I'll take a few before, during and after pics.

 

[Tizer]

I did mine in the sink with the hot tap, coz the cold water was bloody freezing

 

[Warehouse]

Right, it's done. I took Tizer's advice and removed the gravel then put in the sand with the tank full and the filter running, with the heater on when my hand wasn't in there. The sand was OK to clean, just put 1/3 of a bag into the bucket and half filled with warm water, then stirred vigorously, left for 20 seconds and dumped the water out. Repeat until the water is clean, (about 6 flushes). The play sand is most definately NOT clean, the first flush produces a filthy colour of water.

Before I began, my lovely gravel tank:

I removed all the gravel with a small dustpan. It was very easy to do as there have been no fish or food to mess it up.

Because the sand is so fine and the filter was running, I was VERY careful about putting the sand in and basically kept as far from the filter intake as possible, (the masking tape is marking the 1.5 inch deep point)

Finally done and fairly level, reminded me of raking a bunker at the end!

Now it looks so much better. Please ignore the little sphere bushes, the kids insisted! A water test tomorrow evening will see how much damage, (or not), I've done to my cycle

Thanks everyone for the advice above, it was much appreciated.

 

[Joshwainwright]

Great work on preventing the water from going cloudy!