More Questions About Getting Sand

[bristlenoseitplecoman]

Will it get cloudy when being put in and choke the fish? How do I get rid of the lighter granules of sand before pouring it in? will it bring more disease to the tank? will it get sucked up the filter and clog it? will I need to move the fish to another tank while putting it in?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The cloudiness thing is all related to how well youclean it before putting it into your tank. The more thoroughly you clean it, the less clouding you will experience. You also want to trun the filter off when you add it to your tank, and it would be best added with minimal water in your tank. If it is well washed before adding it, then you don't need to worry about clouding, choking your fish, nor getting clogged in the filter. The views on doing with or without fish are varied. It's split about 50-50. I added mine before I had fish in the tank at all, but after having done it, I don't think it would bother fish at all. Cleaned sand and poured slowly into place (from as low a height as possible) by a small pitcher make very little cloudiness.


I'm not sure how you believe it would bring any more disease than gravel? Ultimately, gravel allows for much more material to build-up in the substrate and allows bacteria to survive there. In fact it is this sort of thing that can cause infections for cories when the gravel cuts their barbels. Sand allows you to see more detritus and then you can easily remove it from your tank by vacuuming it up rather than it settling into the gravel.

 

[fluttermoth]

I'll agree with everything eaglesaquarium has said

i'll just add this; when you come to clean it, put a smallish amount in a bucket (it's much easier to do smaller amounts; not more than 1/3 of your bucket) and put it under the tap (an outside one is better!). run some water into your bucket, stirring the sand as you do so. You'll see a load of stuff and bits float up; you pour all that away.

Then you do it again and again. Very soon you'll be able to see that the 'proper' sand sinks very quickly; that's the stuff you want. Be ruthless about pouring all the lighter material away; that's the stuff that will cloud your tank if you don't get rid of it. Don't worry about losing some of the sand as well; it's cheap, it doesn't matter

When you think it's done, give it another two or three goes through; it's much, much better to spend the time cleaning it now than once it's in your tank.

Then, when you come to add it to your tank, give it a final rinse in hot, dechlorinated water (sand is very cold; you don't want to risk chilling your tank too much).

Adding sand with fish in is easy; geting all the old gravel out with the fish in is much harder; I'd say take them out, although you might get away with sucking the gravel out with a wide bore pipe, like a hosepipe, as that'll remove all the mulm that's stuck in there at the same time (you'll be shocked at how much gunk is down there; I was horrified!).

As long as you switch your filter off before adding the sand, or if you're doing something that might kick it up, like re-planting, it won't clog your filter.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Nice additions! I forgot to give directions on how to clean the sand. That's some important information!

 

[markandhisfish]

ive switched substrate in tanks several times and always do it the same way .

1 ) remove all decor etc , turn off heaters and filters .
2) drain around 70% of the water and then remove the old substrate
3) wash the new sand usually in small amounts adding it slowly as it is cleaned
4 decdhlorinate , refill etc turning heaters and filters back on and replace decor .

1 thing i have found which doesnt vary is that no matter how well cleaned things are a certain amount if clouding is inevitible , but this soon clears .

ive done this with everything from hardy community fish to discus and rummynose and have never lost a fish . what i have found to be a good tool for removing existing substrate is to get a cheap dustpan and brush , peirce holes in the dustpan and it makes a great sand/gravel shovel