Gravel To Sand!

[RobberyinCSharp]

Hi everyone!

I'm contemplating switching gravel to sand. I have browsed through many user's photos of their tanks and I find that sand is so much more clean and tidy looking.

I currently have a ten gallon tank with freshwater fish and plants. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to make the transition? Obviously I would have to remove my fish for a while during the substrate change. This is not an issue. But I'm concerned about things like substrate cleaning. Would a traditional manual gravel vacuum work on sand, or just devour my substrate? Would I still be able to plant in sand? How predominantly does fish waste show on sand compared with gravel?

Any answers to these questions would be great. Thanks!

 

[mishmash]

Hi everyone!

I'm contemplating switching gravel to sand. I have browsed through many user's photos of their tanks and I find that sand is so much more clean and tidy looking.

Good move, it looks a LOT better (unless you buy the expensive darker very fine gravel which is almost like sand anyway)

I currently have a ten gallon tank with freshwater fish and plants. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to make the transition? Obviously I would have to remove my fish for a while during the substrate change. This is not an issue. But I'm concerned about things like substrate cleaning. Would a traditional manual gravel vacuum work on sand, or just devour my substrate? Would I still be able to plant in sand? How predominantly does fish waste show on sand compared with gravel?

Not that difficult. Especially if you have done a really good gravel clean at the same time. Manual gravel cleaners work but you don't plunge them into the sand like you do gravel, you just hold them slightly above the sand and it sucks up any fish waste from the surface. Most people just use the hose rather than the cylinder part of a gravel syphon. If you lost a little sand you can always sprinkle a little back in (best with filters very briefly turned off and the water still so it can sink).


Sand is an excellent planting medium. Search on "planted substrates" and "cat litter" to find out more that will help your plants (depending on how much planting you want to do) Im going to have cat litter (acts like a recepticle for the nutrients), planted substrate media, then capped with sand, in my tank

Fish waste shows more readily and you can suck it out as soon as you see it. Thats GOTTA be an advantage

Any answers to these questions would be great. Thanks!

 

[soybean]

If you search the forums for eg "changing to sand" using the search box in the top right, you should find loads of topics on changing over.

PS it's far better, just go for it.

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

Hi everyone!

I'm contemplating switching gravel to sand. I have browsed through many user's photos of their tanks and I find that sand is so much more clean and tidy looking.

Good move, it looks a LOT better (unless you buy the expensive darker very fine gravel which is almost like sand anyway)

I currently have a ten gallon tank with freshwater fish and plants. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to make the transition? Obviously I would have to remove my fish for a while during the substrate change. This is not an issue. But I'm concerned about things like substrate cleaning. Would a traditional manual gravel vacuum work on sand, or just devour my substrate? Would I still be able to plant in sand? How predominantly does fish waste show on sand compared with gravel?

Not that difficult. Especially if you have done a really good gravel clean at the same time. Manual gravel cleaners work but you don't plunge them into the sand like you do gravel, you just hold them slightly above the sand and it sucks up any fish waste from the surface. Most people just use the hose rather than the cylinder part of a gravel syphon. If you lost a little sand you can always sprinkle a little back in (best with filters very briefly turned off and the water still so it can sink).


Sand is an excellent planting medium. Search on "planted substrates" and "cat litter" to find out more that will help your plants (depending on how much planting you want to do) Im going to have cat litter (acts like a recepticle for the nutrients), planted substrate media, then capped with sand, in my tank

Fish waste shows more readily and you can suck it out as soon as you see it. Thats GOTTA be an advantage

Any answers to these questions would be great. Thanks!

Thank you so much for your thorough answer! I'm definitely going to go for it