Gravel To Sand

[andyg81]

im thinking of changing from gravel to sand in my tank , the reason is I still have a snail problem and while doing a full 100% clean I might as well change at that point.

hows best to add the sand, wont it just spread everywhere when water is added ??

im a couple of weeks away from doing this as I wont have the time till then but getting everything ready for the change.

which sand is best (and cheapest) to buy

also when doing weekly water changes wont the sand get sucked up by the hoover ??

 

[DrRob]

Good luck getting rid of the snails. Although I've always found that they'll hitchhike on anything, so unless you replace all of your decor and plants (or deep clean them as well) and in tank kit then they'll most likely come back.

What is best depends, as always, on what you want to achieve, both with look and practicality. Sand ranges in colour, sharpness and grain size. Worth making sure that you don't end up with a marine sand in a freshwater tank, unless you're going malawi. Cheapest is play sand.

As for getting sucked up, just hold the hoover an inch or two above the sand and swish it around gently to dislodge the gunge.

 

[andyg81]

also how much sand for a 3ft tank ?

everything will be getting a deep clean, plants replaced - the new plants will be in my hospital tank for a week or so prior to going in the main tank, I want to try and limit the chance of getting snails in again, but with light coloured sand im hoping if i get them i can see them better where as my gravel is a horrible orange, white, black mix (seemed a good idea at the time !!!)

 

[Gavin3171]

i just changed mine over to sand. Will never look back! argos play sand was £2.99 a bag. You just need to clean it alot to remove the dust. I used about 3/4 of a bag i think for my 65L tank.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

There are substrate calculators out there, if ya have a google

As far as adding the water after putting your sand in, there's a couple of options. If you are filling with a hose, place a bucket in your tank on a flat surface like a large plate so that it's larger around than the bucket and stick the hose in to begin filling, when the bucket over flows it will hit the plate stopping displacement of your sand. If you're filling with buckets/bottles just place a dish of some kind in your tank and pour the water over it, same principle as before really

If you'd rather have black sand instead of white then the popular choices are Caribsea Tahitian Moon Super Naturals or Unipac Limpopo but it's more expensive than say Argos Play Sand, which is white.

Be sure you wash whatever you get A LOT I used a wooden spoon and a bucket and just kept swirling it til the water seemed to run clear.

Regarding your snails, you'll get rid of most of them during the switchover but if you go ahead and get an assassin snail at the time then it will maybe stop the population for getting out of control again.

Cleaning is much easier IMO than gravel because all of the poop stays on top so you can easily get it all, you can use your same syphon tool but like said before, just hold it a little above the substrate and wiggle it a little to suck up the nasties. You'll maybe get some sand the first couple of times but you can just rinse it off and add it back in when you're done

 

[andyg81]

thank you, we are going to change to sand definatly but we will need probably a good few hours to sort it all out and get things back into the tank so planning a empty day in 2 weeks time.

should I clean my filter at the same time and would you recommend saving some of the current tank water to go back in rather than 100% fresh water ?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I wouldn't clean your filter as you are removing any bio-film in the aquarium so your bacteria will need some time to bounce back. Some people experience a small spike in ammonia/nitrite after changing their substrate (although I didn't) so be sure to test daily for a few days after the change.

I would use 100% fresh, dechlorinated water as there won't really be anything useful in the old tank water.

 

[andyg81]

thanks, was just thinking if there are any snail eggs in the filter they could easily end up back in the tank ?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

You're right there but I think you're risking landing yourself in a bit of bother on the bacteria front. Put an assassin snail and it should take care of the diminished population. Since they are male or female (unlike pest snails) you need at least two for them to breed. But even if they do it's at a slower rate and they are easy to get rid of as people want them

 

[andyg81]

I'd only clean the filter in old tank water as normal would that be ok ?
Really just dislike snails lol. Would an assasin survive inside the filter ?? Then it wouldn't be on show ? Just a thought

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

lol no don't think so. Hey it's up to you, I think it's a bad idea but if you're not afraid of water changes then go for it! Also, I don't think you're going to get rid of all of the snails by cleaning the filter anyway so...it's kind of a waste of time if that's the reason you're doing it.

 

[hensonc4098]

It's really unlikely that there will be any snail eggs in the filter anyways to be honest - to get there you have to go through a lot of piping and dependant on you filter, may have to go through an impeller to get there. Just get an assassin or 2 - I've never seen any of mine breeding and they keep the tank floor clear too as they also eat debris.

 

[andyg81]

I cleaned my filter 2 weeks ago and found about 40 snails in the filter along with a large amount of slime and eggs thats why I thought the eggs could come back into the tank after id done the big clean

I have a fluval 305 filter

 

[hensonc4098]

Your snails are insane

 

[andyg81]

when i opened the filter there were what looked like about 6-8 large "adults" and then loads of pin head sized young. - the filter had gone 9-10 weeks without a clean. killed them all and gave it a good clean out in old tank water