Replacing Gravel With Sand

[PiMpPiStOl]

i ahev the sand in a bucket right now with water. rinsing it off i guess. and i just thought that i dont know how to get the water out... like, without any of the sand leaving too. how do i do that??

and also, how do i take out the gravel, this fish and everything, switch it, and what?? how do i do that part??? i dont knwo how... can anyone help??

thanks

 

[fatheadminnow]

i ahev the sand in a bucket right now with water. rinsing it off i guess. and i just thought that i dont know how to get the water out... like, without any of the sand leaving too. how do i do that??

and also, how do i take out the gravel, this fish and everything, switch it, and what?? how do i do that part??? i dont knwo how... can anyone help??

thanks

What size bucket, and how much sand did you put in?

I read that you can tip the bucket over and dump as much of it out as you can, or if you have a gravel vac, use that to siphon the water out of the bucket.

To switch the substrate you should take out the fish, and put them into another tank for now. Then you will be able to take everything else out.

You do not want to take out the gravel and add the sand while the fish are still in the tank, just because when you add the sand it is going to make the water cloudy/dusty, and it will take a couple hours for that to settle down. Even though you washed your substrate, the water is still going to be dirty for a while, and I would not have fish in there when you do the exchange.

It took my sand all night to settle down enough to put fish in there, and that was with me doing water changes non-stop for hours...lol.

-So I would re-home the fish in the meantime.
-Scoop/suck/whatever you have to do to get the gravel out. You can take the water out or leave it in, which ever you prefer.
-Then you will be able to dump the sand in.
-Let the sand settle enough, or to the point where you are comfortable to add fish.

If I were you, I would take this opportunity to completely empty the tank and wash it out!

Hope this helps a little.

-FHM

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

what if i dont have another tank?? will another bucket work? and what about my filter media or whatever? that has the bacteria and stuff? both buckets are 5 gallons i think. and i think 10 pounds of sand. enough toprolly fill a 10 gallon. i dunno cuz i ahevnt tried.
when you said you did water changes... to get the cloudyness out? do you have to? or will it settle?? is it dirtyness or just it being cloudy cuz its sand?

and also, this tank is kinda new. so, its cleaned out pretty good. the only reason id wanna use the water already in it is cuz i dont have any other dechlorinated water, unles i get that stuff at walmart... i dunno

 

[fatheadminnow]

what if i dont have another tank?? will another bucket work? and what about my filter media or whatever? that has the bacteria and stuff? both buckets are 5 gallons i think. and i think 10 pounds of sand. enough toprolly fill a 10 gallon. i dunno cuz i ahevnt tried.
when you said you did water changes... to get the cloudyness out? do you have to? or will it settle?? is it dirtyness or just it being cloudy cuz its sand?

and also, this tank is kinda new. so, its cleaned out pretty good. the only reason id wanna use the water already in it is cuz i dont have any other dechlorinated water, unles i get that stuff at walmart... i dunno

If you cleaned the sand well enough you should not have to do any water changes...that was just my attempt to "speed" up the process. The sand will settle over time. I would also suggest to get some filter floss, or filter fiber to put in your filter, as that will catch very small particles that have passed through the rest of your filter media. The filter floss/fiber is really cheap, and can be picked up at your LFS as it is pretty popular.

I would assume a bucket would be okay for the fish, granted the water is at the same temp as the water the fish came form in the tank, just swap out your heater and put it into a bucket. I would also try to put the filter on the bucket with the fish, just because it is going to take at least 12 hours for the water to clear enough for fish, that is if you do not do water changes to help speed up the process. The bacteria will dies off at about a rate of 2-10% daily if no ammonia is present. Just do not let the filter media dry out, as this will kill off your bacteria colony. If you do not want to put the filter on the bucket that would be okay, just keep the filter media wet.

Also, put an aerator in the bucket with the fish. You could if you want, put the aerator under the filter media inside the bucket with the fish. That way no bacteria will die off.

The stuff at walmart? either tetrasafe...I think that is what it is called, or API Stress Coat are good water conditioners to add to the water if you want to swap out the water, and those products are pretty cheap. Anything that says it will take out chlorine and heavy metals will work for a water conditioner, and I would suggest you have them too. So that when you do weekly water changes you can just add that to the new water, and it will be safe to put into the tank.

So I would take the fish out and put them in the bucket...just provide some places for them to hide and what not.
And then exchange the substrate.

Hope this answered your questions?
If you have any more question, do not hesitate to ask.
-FHM

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

i dont have a LFS... all i have is walmart. the nearest LFS is around 60 miles away...

and im sure its just as easy as that... im just so... i dunno. i guess im a perfectionist but, not really. i dunno. i just want it to be good, and im scared of messing it up... but ill try that. ill let it set in the bucket over night and see what it does, then tomorrow, do the switch...well, no i cant cuz i dont have that stuff. the filter fiber or floss...is there any house hold item, or walmart items that could work?

 

[fatheadminnow]

i dont have a LFS... all i have is walmart. the nearest LFS is around 60 miles away...

and im sure its just as easy as that... im just so... i dunno. i guess im a perfectionist but, not really. i dunno. i just want it to be good, and im scared of messing it up... but ill try that. ill let it set in the bucket over night and see what it does, then tomorrow, do the switch...well, no i cant cuz i dont have that stuff. the filter fiber or floss...is there any house hold item, or walmart items that could work?

You don't need the filter floss ...it is just a fine polisher, and helps at cleaning the tank up of small particles. If you can get it though sometime in the future, I would do that. However, cotton balls might work, as I know some people use them, it is really up to you. Basically, filter floss is really tightly woven material that makes it harder for particles to pass through.

If you have a pillow case...you can put the sand in there, run water through it and shake it up, and that will clean the sand even more.

I would go to walmart and get a water conditioner, last time I was there they had like three or four of them you can use, with API, IMO, being the best of them all, and also the most expensive.

Also, what kind of filter are you using? An AquaClear?

-FHM