nathan01
Fish Crazy
hi im thinking about changing my fairly new tank gravel which is blue to sand.I .Would i empty the whole thing, keeping the water the putting the sand in adding the water then fish?Is sand easy to clean and would it look better? 
How To Change Gravel To Sand
- Thread starter nathan01
- Start date
pinkdolphin_113
Sinclair Aquatic Systems
i too would like some info on how to do this. i am wanting to do the same 
ok. I really wish this would get pinned somewhere by someone cause it comes up a lot. anyways
first choose your sand. Play sand is good and so is all purpose sand. They make aquarium sand too that comes in lots of colors but it's a bit more expensive. Check the bag to make sure there are no warnings about using it in ana aquarium...I have seen this on some bags. You can also blend sands together to get a certain effect. I blended play sand and allpurpose sand with some pea gravel and it gave a very natural look. Once you have chosen your sand then you can begin the worst part of changeing from gravel to sand...rinsing the sand.
Buy or find a clean 5-10 gallon container...fishtanks work GREAT but buckets work well too. Now put a 1 inch layer of sand on the bottom of this container. Fill the container with a water hose stirring the sand as much as possible with the current from the hose. Now once the bucket gets full it should be so cloudy you can't see 1 inch into it. Dump out all the water leaving the heavy sand particles in the bucket...you'll lose a little sand in this process but it's fast and effective and most sand is very cheap. repeat this rinsing process until the water clears completely in 10 seconds...if it clears fast good if it clears slower then it won't hhurt your fish but it will make your tank cloudy for a fewdays.
Now once you have rinsed all your sand you can begin removing gravel. Before removing gravel I recommend thouroughly gravel vaccing your entire tank... Take a large container for storing the gravel into your fish room along with your container of sand and a very very very clean(soap is bad too) cup. YOu may want to remove all decorations before you begin removing gravel. Now use the cup or a fish net to remove the gravel being very careful not to catch snails or bottome dwellers that you want to keep in the process. Now that you have removed all the gravel you can suck up any extra sludge that is left on the glass. Now we can begin adding sand
WARNING
If you have a magnetc driven impeller in your filter then you may want to turn it off will adding sand...I did not and had no problems but sand can harm your impeller.
Now that we have removed all the gravel from your tank we can begin adding your new sand. (If you want live plants you can choose to add a layer of soil or laterite at this point) scoop up a cupfull of sand and lower it right side up into your tank. Lower it to the bottom and dump it into a corner of the tank. Once you have a nice big pile smooth it out over the entire bottom. Repeat this process until you have a 1/2" to 1" layer if you do not want live plants and a bit more if you do. Next go to your pet store and ask them for some MTS snails... they are the cone shaped pointy ones. They will stir your sand and prevent the formation of nasty smelling and possibly deadly anaearobic bacteria pockets. You now have sand in your tank.
If you have mixed in gravel it is very easy to change the amount of gravel that is visible. If you want more gravel visible then run your fish net through the sand and shake it back and forth until all the sand sifts out,,,now dump out the gravel on top. If you want less gravel showing then simply push the exposed gravel under the surface with a finger.
ignore the plants please...These were taken minutes after the switch notice the small amount of cloudiness...I rinsed very very very very well to achieve this.
IF I MISSED ANYTHING PLEASE POINT IT OUT
first choose your sand. Play sand is good and so is all purpose sand. They make aquarium sand too that comes in lots of colors but it's a bit more expensive. Check the bag to make sure there are no warnings about using it in ana aquarium...I have seen this on some bags. You can also blend sands together to get a certain effect. I blended play sand and allpurpose sand with some pea gravel and it gave a very natural look. Once you have chosen your sand then you can begin the worst part of changeing from gravel to sand...rinsing the sand.
Buy or find a clean 5-10 gallon container...fishtanks work GREAT but buckets work well too. Now put a 1 inch layer of sand on the bottom of this container. Fill the container with a water hose stirring the sand as much as possible with the current from the hose. Now once the bucket gets full it should be so cloudy you can't see 1 inch into it. Dump out all the water leaving the heavy sand particles in the bucket...you'll lose a little sand in this process but it's fast and effective and most sand is very cheap. repeat this rinsing process until the water clears completely in 10 seconds...if it clears fast good if it clears slower then it won't hhurt your fish but it will make your tank cloudy for a fewdays.
Now once you have rinsed all your sand you can begin removing gravel. Before removing gravel I recommend thouroughly gravel vaccing your entire tank... Take a large container for storing the gravel into your fish room along with your container of sand and a very very very clean(soap is bad too) cup. YOu may want to remove all decorations before you begin removing gravel. Now use the cup or a fish net to remove the gravel being very careful not to catch snails or bottome dwellers that you want to keep in the process. Now that you have removed all the gravel you can suck up any extra sludge that is left on the glass. Now we can begin adding sand
WARNING
If you have a magnetc driven impeller in your filter then you may want to turn it off will adding sand...I did not and had no problems but sand can harm your impeller.
Now that we have removed all the gravel from your tank we can begin adding your new sand. (If you want live plants you can choose to add a layer of soil or laterite at this point) scoop up a cupfull of sand and lower it right side up into your tank. Lower it to the bottom and dump it into a corner of the tank. Once you have a nice big pile smooth it out over the entire bottom. Repeat this process until you have a 1/2" to 1" layer if you do not want live plants and a bit more if you do. Next go to your pet store and ask them for some MTS snails... they are the cone shaped pointy ones. They will stir your sand and prevent the formation of nasty smelling and possibly deadly anaearobic bacteria pockets. You now have sand in your tank.
If you have mixed in gravel it is very easy to change the amount of gravel that is visible. If you want more gravel visible then run your fish net through the sand and shake it back and forth until all the sand sifts out,,,now dump out the gravel on top. If you want less gravel showing then simply push the exposed gravel under the surface with a finger.
ignore the plants please...These were taken minutes after the switch notice the small amount of cloudiness...I rinsed very very very very well to achieve this.
IF I MISSED ANYTHING PLEASE POINT IT OUT
Spinal
Fish Crazy
Torrean, great advice, that really should be sticky! That said, I have always microwaved (or steamed) my sand before putting it into the tank, I have found this (voodoo rite?) makes me feel alot safer in that I am 100% sure I am not introducing anything strange into my tank
Michele
Michele
pinkdolphin_113
Sinclair Aquatic Systems
thanks for that detailed peice of information. i now know everything to do.
however, i know that sand would be good for corys but what about my weather loaches? or my goldfish?
what about my hillstream loaches? those are what I'm most worried about. or will they love it? hiding under the sand n all?
everything else is tropical and i know alot of people keep plecos and angelfish with sand.
however, i know that sand would be good for corys but what about my weather loaches? or my goldfish?
what about my hillstream loaches? those are what I'm most worried about. or will they love it? hiding under the sand n all?
everything else is tropical and i know alot of people keep plecos and angelfish with sand.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=141592
they've already made a pinned topic about it. I haven't read through it so I don't know if it gives the same instructions I have but it is there. oops.
Most fish love sand...I don't know of any that don't do well in it.
I added what I wrote to the existing pin...I hope no one minds. The existing pin didn't seem to say much about how to actually change from gravel to sand.
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=141592they've already made a pinned topic about it. I haven't read through it so I don't know if it gives the same instructions I have but it is there. oops.
Most fish love sand...I don't know of any that don't do well in it.
I added what I wrote to the existing pin...I hope no one minds. The existing pin didn't seem to say much about how to actually change from gravel to sand.
I'd like to try this in a few areas of my tank, however doesn't it harm the fish atall? I have a lot of live plants aswell so it could be awkward 
just don't like the idea of having to move all my fish out, although i would be able to rescape the whole tank
just don't like the idea of having to move all my fish out, although i would be able to rescape the whole tank
I didn't remove any fish. Aslong as you rinse well and add the sand carefully as instructed you do not need to remove your fish to do this. Even if you don't rinse that well I believe that the cloudiness is not harmfull to fish. Bagging them all up and setting them in unheated unfiltered environments is probably much more stressfull than changing the substrate with them in the tank is.
madmom
Fishaholic
Yeah that was my biggie also. Most topics I found said to break down the tank or started with an empty tank. My tank sits 5 feet up just about eye level which meant I'd have to climb up and down a step ladder and my balance is not that great doing that (Can you say fall). Boxermom and TrueNoob said I did not have to empty out the tank (Thanks guys) Just remove plants, decorations and go from there. Remove gravel and vac (did it during a water change) . I cleaned the sand real well and carefully added the laterite and sand, sculpted it and put plants and decorations back in. There was a little clouding but it cleared up within a few hours. Now I'm working on adding new plants a little at a time.
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