Sand For Yellow Labs And Other Africans

[skiltrip]

I will soon be converting my tank from a semi-agressive community tank to an all african tank.

i have that little stone gravel. a little bigger than your average gravel. definitely not something that can be dug thru, unless you're a really big fish.

my question is, will the africans "suffer" as a result of NOT having sand to dig around in, or are they fine with this kind of substrate. i've thought about doing sand, but it is quite the project, and i'd hate to disturb my tank like that, seeing as it's all nice and settled.

if it's not a big deal, i won't worry about it, but if the africans are gonna be freaking out like a cat that's not able to use it's scratching post then i'll see what i can do to make it happen.

thanks.

 

[Ferris]

They will not directly suffer without sand but i suspect you will not see the best of them, especially if it is large gravel. Mbuna love to dig and it is part of their natural behaviour, IMO its worth taking the time to re-do the substrate in either sand or crushed coral.

 

[skiltrip]

They will not directly suffer without sand but i suspect you will not see the best of them, especially if it is large gravel. Mbuna love to dig and it is part of their narural behaviour, IMO its worth taking the time to re-do the substrate in either sand or crushed coral.

i definitely can't afford the crushed coral, but i had thought about doing sand. i was told i can use regular PlaySand that they sell in hardware stores (but just to wash it wash it wash it and wash it again to get all the dust out of it).

am i going to kill off all the bacteria in my gravel and upset the tanks balance, or as long as the power filters are well seeded will i be ok?

do you know of any links that map out a gravel to sand substrate changeover? don't want to do anything to wreck what i have going on. thanks again!

 

[Ferris]

Play sand is fine but you should also find that sand is pretty cheap in your LFS.

You will lose some of the beneficial bacteria by removing the gravel but it shouldn't be enough to cause a problem as the vast majority will be in the filter media. Think of it as a spring clean.

I changed my 65 gal from gravel to sand without removing the fish. I removed all the decoration and then cleared the gravel from 1 half of the tank 1st and all the fish went to the other end. When that was done, I cleared the other half and the fish moved to the bare-bottomed end. Same process applied to adding the sand, my Mbuna didn't seem bothered at all although the catfish were a little skittish.

If i remember rightly, the whole process took about an hour.

 

[skiltrip]

Play sand is fine but you should also find that sand is pretty cheap in your LFS.

You will lose some of the beneficial bacteria by removing the gravel but it shouldn't be enough to cause a problem as the vast majority will be in the filter media. Think of it as a spring clean.

I changed my 65 gal from gravel to sand without removing the fish. I removed all the decoration and then cleared the gravel from 1 half of the tank 1st and all the fish went to the other end. When that was done, I cleared the other half and the fish moved to the bare-bottomed end. Same process applied to adding the sand, my Mbuna didn't seem bothered at all although the catfish were a little skittish.

If i remember rightly, the whole process took about an hour.

doesnt' sound tooo bad. how deep should i make the sand? like, what's the proper amount. i know too much and you can end up with pockets of toxicity in there right?

 

[Ferris]

Anything between 1-2 inches should be fine. I have nearer 2 inches in my tanks because they regularly dig and i want to avoid patches of bare-bottomed tank.

You can avoid any potential gas build up by giving the sand a good stir once a week.

 

[skiltrip]

what brand/type sand did you use? looking on drsfostersmith.com they have different types, they run approx $1 a pound. 20 pound bags for about $20 or $22 depending on the type. i know play sand is like $3 for a 10 pound bag i think.

how many pounds do you think i'd need to cover 30"x12"?

 

[Ferris]

I used unbranded sand from my LFS, its the pale coloured sand often found in marine tanks.

I'm afraid i just estimated by sight on the quantity for my tanks and didn't even use weights. I'd over-estimate slightly if you can, you don't want to be making another trip to the LFS in the middle of the change-over.

 

[skiltrip]

I used unbranded sand from my LFS, its the pale coloured sand often found in marine tanks.

I'm afraid i just estimated by sight on the quantity for my tanks and didn't even use weights. I'd over-estimate slightly if you can, you don't want to be making another trip to the LFS in the middle of the change-over.

I found a handy link...

http/www.garf.org/calculators/SandBedCalculator.asp

i can get up to 1.4" with a 20lb. bag. not bad!

 

[Ferris]

Sounds good.

 

[Fish_Dude619]

I used Sandblasting sand. It's pretty good, only thing is that it's a really light color and it shows alot of the dirt.

 

[ridewake210]

i have a 75g african tank. 19 fish total including 3 minnows and a pleco.


i just c\switched to black sand today with a few blue gravel chunks here and there. i higly recomend it. as it looks simply amazing. haven't added fish, wait'n for water to clear up a bit to replace all the rock work.


good luck on your decision though!

 

[skiltrip]

i have a 75g african tank. 19 fish total including 3 minnows and a pleco.


i just c\switched to black sand today with a few blue gravel chunks here and there. i higly recomend it. as it looks simply amazing. haven't added fish, wait'n for water to clear up a bit to replace all the rock work.


good luck on your decision though!

thanks, i'm still turning it over in my head... i got a bag of playsand today ... 50 lbs for under $4!

i washed the hell out of it, and it looks pretty good, i'm starting a new 10g so i'm trying it in that first, looks good so far.

only thing i'm stressed about with my bigger tank is doing it while the fish are in the tank. i don't want them totally freaking out, getting stressed, and dying on me

 

[Ferris]

Just do it slowly and half the tank at a time, they'll cope.

 

[ridewake210]

nice

i used 80lbs of black all naturalsand that i baught from the lfs.

removed everythng from the tank, kept a few patchs of blue gravel so that will rise through the sand and look kinda neat on the top along with all the black sand.

i'll get a pic of the tank and let u post ur opinions


good luck