Changing From Gravel To Sand

[Meggie :)]

So I have gravel in my ten gallon right now and I want to change it out for sand and make it look more natural...might try a planted tank with this one anyway, instead of going through the process of removing everything and washing the sand in buckets, could I just remove all the decor and gravel and use this method to clean the sand, doing this a few times to fill up the tank? http/m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?v=d-XB0bwtZh8


Also, are there any bottom dwelling fish I can put in there? I currently have 1 mature female guppy, 2 female balloon mollies, 4 ghost shrimp, and 12 ish baby guppies that I am moving out of the tank as soon as I can sex them...

 

[ZoddyZod]

that youtube link doesn't work - so I'm not sure what you are suggesting.

 

[Meggie :)]

That's odd...it's where they fill up a water bottle with sand half or two thirds of the way and then let it set in the tank until all the air is out...once all the air is out they turn the bottle upside down to get the sand out and the all the dirty stuff stays inside the water bottle...and it makes it so the water isn't cloudy...if you type into YouTube "how to clean aquarium sand the easy way" it should be the third one that comes up...if not just look for the one with the water bottle I don't know why the link doesn't work it works for me...

 

[Tizer]

clean it in a bucket, dump it in, job done.

 

[ZoddyZod]

"how to clean aquarium sand the easy way" it should be the third one that comes up...if not just look

looks more like "how to clean the sand very slowly" to me. As Tizer said - wash it throughly first and then put it in. It wont be too difficult to move everything out of your tank. Just put the filter and heater in a large plastic tub/bucket whilst you do it.

 

[minnnt]

clean it in a bucket, dump it in, job done.

+1!!It is far quicker and easier to have all this ready done before you start moving fish and draining the tank.

 

[Rynofasho]

A 10 gallon is simple. Get a tub for clean sand. Rinse all the sand before you do anything with the old tank. Take a 5 gallon bucket, fill it about 20%, rinse the bejesus out of it. Usually I'll blast it with water and really swirl it and dump the bucket the first four or five times instead of just letting it run over because that initial amount of grime on the sand is pretty good. After that, just run the hose in the bucket and let it run over, swirling it occassionally and waiting til it runs clear. When you have 10 gallons worth, just put the other fish in something temporary, dump your gravel, rinse the bottom really well with hot water for good measure (and your ornaments), put in the sand, and siphon water into it on a dinner plate. Let it all settle for about 15 minutes so you don't suck up sand and then start the filter and toss the fish back in. I did it two weekends ago, took about 15 minutes.

 

[Meggie :)]

okay and i have a few more questions! my tank is 10 inches wide and 18 inches long...and i want the sand pretty deep...about 2 and a half to three inches deep...how much should I buy...and i want black sand and live in the US...any suggestions?

And I was also wondering if there is any kind of bottom dwelling fish I can put into there? because I know cories have to be in somewhat large groups