Gravel To Sand

[fish.com1]

Hi all,

I am thinking of soon changing my tank over from gravel to a plant substrate capped with sand and i am just wondering if this way of doing it sounds ok:

1. Wash the sand.
2.take out all decor/plants(not fish) from the tank.
3. do a full gravel vac leaving half the water still in the tank.
4. Remove the gravel.
5. Add planting substrate through a gravel vac. This is the method described in another post - "i did this with fish and water in iu added half an inch of sand over my gravel and its working well
i washed my sand really well
then put the sand in the tank using an extra long gravel hoover tube with the end off i just spooned the sand into the tube and it went straight down the tube to the bottom of the tank and i could place it where i wanted i didnt even have cloudy water"
6. Cap with sand using above method again.
7. fill up tank with water and dechlorinator and plant ferts.
8. add plants and decor.

Will this work without causing any problems to the fish? Any advice appreciatted.

Thanks.

 

[OldMan47]

It sounds workable to me. Were you going to add the 2 layers through your tube then move to a new spot? That way it would never be left exposed was my thought.

 

[millie1]

i changed my gravel to sand by
washing all my sand.....
removing half the water/bagging up the fish and putting them in a bucket - keeping them warm

take out plants etc...

then gravel (cleaning it too)!

put the sand in

floatt fish..

release ......


then you have one cloudy tank lol... but it clears in 24 or so hours and looks fabby

im changing (possibly) to black sand after christmas..... i have light now nad all the poo is really orrible on the surface....!!!! so if i get bigger tank i will do that black if not this one is getting changed lol

 

[fish.com1]

It sounds workable to me. Were you going to add the 2 layers through your tube then move to a new spot? That way it would never be left exposed was my thought.

I was going to add the first layer of plant substrate all at once then add the sand over it. Would this be ok?

 

[Keithoms]

It sounds workable to me. Were you going to add the 2 layers through your tube then move to a new spot? That way it would never be left exposed was my thought.

I was going to add the first layer of plant substrate all at once then add the sand over it. Would this be ok?

Im interested in doing the exact thing as you in the next two weeks except i was going to bad up all of the fish and take all of the water out...

Tell me how it goes.

 

[Jazzzz]

It sounds workable to me. Were you going to add the 2 layers through your tube then move to a new spot? That way it would never be left exposed was my thought.

I was going to add the first layer of plant substrate all at once then add the sand over it. Would this be ok?

I did this with no problems just be carful when filling back up with water you don't expose the plant ferts and then get them mixed with the sand

To aviod this i placed a dinner plate in the tankl and pored onto this slowly.

 

[fish.com1]

I have decided to just go for a "complete substrate" eco - complete. Will this be ok to add to my established tank because some of the other plant substrates say to add it when "the aquarium is built" but does it matter if i add it 5 months into the tanks life using the method in the above post?

Thanks.

 

[fish.com1]

Anyone?

 

[OldMan47]

I would expect to be able to add anything but an under-layer at any time. It may be that the "complete" gives a lot of dust or other problems so make sure it is well rinsed and do it with the fish out at the time. If the water gets cloudy, just give it some time to settle and the fish could go back in.

 

[Ficious]

If the sand is rinsed enough and doesn't get thrown in but gently added..you shouldn't get clowdy water

 

[fish.com1]

I've had an idea. Because I am not likely to be changing the gravel over till after the new year could i take out some of the gravel,say half, while doing a water change before i change it over? I wouldn't remove so much you so can see the base of the tank just so there is a thin layer on the bottom of the tank and leave a thick layer in planted areas. I am thinking of doing this before the change-over so i can do the change-over quicker so it will be less stressful for the fish.