Changing To Sand!

[Jozlyn]

I want to change over to sand. BUT, I don't have a spare tank to put the fish in while I change it over, I can put them in some buckets for a while tho.

So, if I take the mature media out of my filter and chuck it in the bucket and put some new filter sponge in the filter and run it full boar how long will it take the tank clear (it's 90lt) so that I can put the fish back in? I'll be using pool filter sand, if that helps.

Or is this one of those "how long is a piece of string" type questions?

 

[Azaezl]

When I changed mine over I had 3 containers to hold my fish, 2 20L plastic boxes which each had 1 gourami and 1 senegalus in, then in a 17L plastic tank I had the 2 small gouramis and my 2 bn plecs, I covered all 3 up so it was dark and hopefully minimize the stress.

Emptied the tank took all the decor out gave it all a good scrub, gave the whole tank a good clean after I scooped all the gravel out with a new plastic shovel(you know the small cheap ones you can get).

I then washed the sand thouroughly, making sure the water was clear before adding it to the tank, then with a new plastic tray laid on top of the sand I slowly filled it up with water. The water was pretty much clear straightaway, tiny bit of cloudiness but you could only notice it when up close to the glass. Put everything back, turned the filters, heater etc back on gave it about 20 mins until the water was crystal clear then put the fish back in.

In total it took me just under 4 hours and that was scrubbing all the caves, glass etc.

I don't think the cloudy water will effect them(I could be wrong though) so I think you could put them back in straightaway. If your worried about putting them back in then do what you said and have the filter running in a container holding them all until it's 100% clear.

 

[Jozlyn]

Great Azaezl, thanks very much

 

[Yazan]

A buckey will be alright, it wouldn't take llong for the sand to settle.