Changing To Sand....advice Please :)

[Zoepop]

I'm planning to change over to sand for my corys as they are hurting their barbles on the gravel....but I see a couple of problems....

firstly I have a plant substrate down under my gravel, I was planning on leaving a really thin layer of gravel to seal this and putting my sand on top will this be ok? I know a few of the bits of gravel may work their way up through the sand but thought that might be better than the sand mixing with the plant substrate... (wish i'd never put it in now!)

also I was going to net all of my fish and put them in a bucket while I change over, I have read I should put an airline in there to keep the water fresh while they are in there but should I pop the heater in there too?

how long can I keep the filter off before it will start effecting the bacteria in there and how much of the water can I safely change? Will it be ok to go down to 90% and refill with fresh after the change or should I keep some of the old tank water and put it back in the tank?

Oh and how long should I let the sand settle before putting the filter back on??

Sorry for all of the questions and thanks in advance for the help

 

[BackToTheFishes]

If you an get all the gravel out it would be better.just put the sand on top of the plant sub like you said
Heater may be a bit dodgy in a plastic bucket,you have a warm place to put them?Airing cupboard?
As long as the water is treated you can change as much as you want,and as far as I know,the bacteria can go dormant for AGES
Wash the sand WELL,it should be fine.ok,think thats it? lol

 

[Twinklecaz]

I don't know the answer to all your questions but keep the filter wet in tank water! Then the bacteria won't die!

 

[Zoepop]

Heater may be a bit dodgy in a plastic bucket,you have a warm place to put them?Airing cupboard?

Oh yes heater in a plastic bucket never thought of that!!


it is a lovely sunny day so they should be warm enough if i put the bucked next to the window...

The filter will be left full of water.

Just been to argos and bought four bags of play sand (the rest can go in the kids sandpit but I'm getting it first! lol

i'll take a pic before I start and let you know how I get on with it!....

wish me luck!!

 

[JoshuaA]

Make sure your bucket has never had any cleaning agents in it like bleach/washing up liquid etc.

 

[kaivalagi]

If you have a big enough bucket I would run both the filter and heater in that with all the fish in there too, that will give you all the time you need to get that gravel out and sand in...it will probably take a good deal of time and you don't want to be rushing it! Especially the sand part, otherwise you'll have a very cloudy tank for a few hours which you don't really want to put fish into

Homebase sell the 60 litre cement mixing buckets for around £10, IMHO it would be worth getting one of those so you can take your time

What size tank is it and what fish?

Here's what I did for a tank move:

 

[Zoepop]

I just bought the same bucket Kaivalagi! well mine's red lol

Never thought of running the filter in there.....that might be good...only problem then would be keeping the kids out of the bucket!!

I might try that as I'm probably going to have to wait for the plant substrate to settle before I put the samd in then wait for that to settle then put my plants i then wait for it all to settle again before putting the fish back in!!

This could be a long day!!!

right off to get my new red bucket out ...I see you've put yours on a table i'll have to do that won't I to keep it below the level of my filter...I have a fluval 405 running on a 240l tank...my fish in at the moment are a mix or corys and tetras and one ram..lost one yesterday oh and a SAE hope he doesn't jump out of the bucket!!!

 

[kaivalagi]

A nice towel over the top should suffice

And yes I put it on a table so my filter would work, just set it up that way before any water gets put in...I had to move a 60Kg bucket on to a table

(that was a doh! moment for sure)

Good luck!

 

[Zoepop]

it's done!!

took a bit of work I have to admit but it looks soooo much nicer

I tried to keep the plant substrate but i just couldn't separate it from the gravel and looking at the few inches of water that I had left in the bottom it looked like it would take a week to settle, anyway in the end i emptied it all out (with a little help from my friend I have to say big job!!!) even dried out the tank and then hoovered it to get out the last of the gravel!

My corys look much happier already just hope all of the fish will be ok as the water in the bucket got a bit on the chilly side and when I put them all back in the main tank they had all lost their colours so were obviously a bit stressed out!

the sand didn't cloud the water at all and it's crystal clear now so just hope it stays that way!

all seems well so thanks again for your help everyone

 

[kaivalagi]

Glad it worked out okay...pics next!

 

[Zoepop]

Glad it worked out okay...pics next!

in progress

 

[Twinklecaz]

Oh everytime someone says this it makes me want to change to sand......then I always decide not to but can never remember why!

 

[BackToTheFishes]

Glad it worked out okay...pics next!

in progress

Coool! Can't wait to see!

 

[Zoepop]

ok this was the before...

 

[BackToTheFishes]

ok this was the before...
View attachment 60264

Cant see