Gravel To Sand

[beaujacob17]

Hi, I want to change my 70l from gravel to sand, how should I do this? I was told to soak/rinse the sand before putting it in? How would I do this? Thanks Katy

 

[508]

Get a nice big bucket, dump the sand in the bucket so it's about a third full and start pouring water in the bucket. When the bucket is two thirds of the way full mix the sand to release the dust and then empty the bucket of water. Rinse and repeat until the water is more or less clean after you mix up the sand. 

 

[David J]

As 508 says. I had to repeat about 10-15 times until it was clear. Guess all sand will be different.

David

 

[GoldenRoses]

Hi BeauJacob,

Sand is notorious for holding lots of loose dust particles that, if introduced into your aquarium, can really cloud the water column. Rinsing the sand is extremely important.

The easiest way to do this, is to portion out the amount of sand you want to use and put it in a large bucket. Outside, prop one side of the bucket up on a piece of wood, and use a garden hose to run water through the sand. The light pieces of sand along with the dust will flow out of the side of the bucket, leaving the heavier sand in the bucket. Keep the hose flowing through the bucket until the water runs mostly clear.

Since the substrate holds a large amount of beneficial bacteria, you don't want to toss all the gravel at once, or this can crash your cycle. To prevent mixing the gravel and sand, you can keep all the gravel from the tank in a clean pantyhose for a few weeks after adding the sand. This will allow the beneficial bacteria to transfer to the sand. After a month or so, feel free to remove the gravel.

Hope this helps! Please let us know how things go.