Changing Substrate

[Just_Another_One]

Im just about to change out my substrate right now from tahitian moon sand to just regular natural gravel. The sand is hurting my poor cories whiskers and its hard to clean with my siphon so back to regular graval for me.

Does anyone have a quick easy and painless way of doing it that they would like to share?

 

[puppyjess123]

Could you siphon out sand into a bucket ??? Just an idea lol

 

[Just_Another_One]

I could.. but it may get kinda messy and I dont want alot of sand going down the toilet when i dump the water out. I think I've already let a bunch go down from the bits that get siphoned during water changes.





i think what ill do is put the fish in a bowl.....drain the tank....scoup all the sand out.....wash the tank out....then put new gravel in and fill up... and the best part is i get to rescape.

 

[puppyjess123]

Good idea

 

[rdd1952]

Could you siphon out sand into a bucket ??? Just an idea lol

Actually, with TMS, it should be relatively easy. If you take the vacuum end off and leave just the hose, it will suck up sand extremely fast. You ay have to add some of the water back to get it all vacuumed but since TMS really doesn't cloud the water, adding it back should create any problems. I've removed sand that way before and it really doesn't take long at all.

Another option that may be a whole lot easier is just to add the gravel over top of the sand. The sand will not work it's way back to the top. You would not have to uproot your plants and such and would make the least mess of anything.

 

[markandhisfish]

actually sand is a better substrate for your corys as its softer. i clean my sand with a lenthg of common or garden hosepipe just suck to start syphon with practice its easy to do without getting a mouthfull. then simply hover the hose about a centemetre above the sand and hey presto the crud gets sucked up but not the sand.

 

[Just_Another_One]

not this sand.....Tahitian Moon Sand is very sharp and looks like it is made of tiny peices of GLASS.

Its worn one of my cories whiskers down and the other two are starting to get shorter. Dont think its bacterial as they are perfectly healthy and fat other wise.

I also hate the fact that I cant just stick the whole gravel cleaner in and get all the dirt and poo out instead of just the top layer. I like the sence of total cleanliness that way. I think my cories will be thanking me for switching them to rounded off gravel instead of a layer of GLASS thats cutting up their whiskers.

 

[markandhisfish]

i use childrens playsand in my tank its lovely and soft and any crud just settles on the surface and doesnt sink down into the sand so there is no need to push the vac into the substrate.