Hoe Do You Change To Sand

[matchstickman47]

how would i go about changing from gravel to sand

 

[Truck]

drop the water line to 25%
put the fish in a bucket with a heater and filter media etc
remove gravel add sand,
top back up
get water up to temp using a kettle, but dont touch the glass with boiling water!!!
when its at the normal temp, add filter media and lots of floss, leave it all running and wait till the water is clear
make sure water is at right temp and add fish.


make sure you wash the sand first, although i have found with toysrus sand you do not need to rinse it there is no silt in it.

 

[VespertineStar]

You could try and do it gradually but I found it easiest to rehouse the fish for an hour or so and got the gravel out with a dustpan and then just added the sand straight from the bag as it didn't need washing, no fuss. Most sand will need washing before you add it though.

 

[matchstickman47]

how long would the fish be in the bucket for ??
isnt it cruel

 

[Truck]

a day or two, and no its not cruel providing the filter sponges and heater are in there with little water movement

 

[3ndl3r]

What fish are we talking? If it's just a couple of tetras etc then they will be fine. But if it's stuff like Oscars etc, then we could have a problem.

 

[matchstickman47]

fish in the tank
4 syno multis
6 neon tetras
7 bp tetras
1dwarf gourami
2 honey gouramis
3 bn plecos




ps i cant put em in any other tanks

 

[Truck]

a big bucket or vat would do

dependent on the size of the syno

 

[matchstickman47]

a big bucket or vat would do

dependent on the size of the syno

how big ar we tallking the synos are

4inch
2 inch
1 1/2 inch
4 inch

wats a vat

i thought it was value added tax!

 

[Truck]

a vat is a big container, alternatively you coukd use a storage box

 

[matchstickman47]

lol it seems to much effort lol thanks anyway but i think im ok with gravel......im just guna add sand from the start

 

[3ndl3r]

I'd recommend the purchase of a plastic storage box.

 

[Schmill]

I did mine on a small tank with the fish in. Just gently moved the gravel to one end of the tank, and the fish grouped at the other.
Then scooped out the gravel, (it won't cloud very much if your substrate is clean anyway)

To put the sand in I have a funnel, (like you might use in the kitched, in fact it used to be - lol), filled it with well washed sand, with my finger over the end. Lower it into the tank, put the spout where you want it, control the flow with your finger and you get the sand where you want it, minimal clouding

 

[markandhisfish]

i changed my 100g from gravel to sand and i didnt even take the fish out. this is how i did it

remove all decor give the gravel a good thourough vaccing pushing gravel vac right in to deep clean

put the 2 mangrove roots at 1 end of tank for fish to hide in reduced water level by around 50%

take dustpan/brush set drill holes in dustpan to make a great gravel scoop and scoop out all gravel from 1 end. move roots to other end and repeat.

i used argos play sand didnt take much washing. i used a length of 4 inch plastic pipe poured the sand into the tank down the pipe ( end of pipe on bottom of tank) this resulted in hardly any clouding. when 1 end was done moved roots over and repeated topped tank up re-did the scape and hey presto 1 tank with sand. no ill effects to the fish took me about 3 hours

 

[Truck]

the tube trick works a treat