SAND! *sigh* I know, but a different question!

[pnyklr3]

I am finally going to take the plunge and replace my not-so-natural looking gravel with sand (probably play sand or pool filter sand; not sure just yet) and I had a few questions about bacteria.

1. I won't risk a mini cycle if I replace my substrate, but then put the old stuff into a stocking in the tank, correct?

2. Should heavy/large decorations be placed on the sand, or should I put the decos in first, then the sand? My thought was, if I put the heavy stuff on the sand, then later pick it up for some reason or another, will there be a pocket that I have to worry about?

3. Should I look into eggcrate?

I plan on keeping the malaysian trumpet snails that I have in the tank. Will they burrow underneath decorations? Thanks!


......Hopefully this doesn't get too lost here in Chit-Chat!

 

[Teelie]

I recently did some redesigns on two of my tanks with sand. Neither had any air bubbles (but my sand is only 1.5" deep) and one of the tanks had two large decorations, one being hollow. There was no detritus disturbed and I have trumpet snails which I'm pretty sure do dig under the decorations.

Edit: The piece on the right is what was recently added and the one to the left is what was already in there before being moved.
Click here. Large image.

 

[pnyklr3]

Thanks! That's a good start. I think that my depth will be between 1" and 1.25" deep. I have a few live plants, but most are artificial.


What kind of sand is in that tank?


EDIT: Is there a way to calculate how much sand I would need for a certain depth in my tank? I guess I need to know how much does a cubed foot (or cubed inch) of sand weigh?

 

[Teelie]

I used pool filter sand in that tank (it's a 30 gallon). I have black moon sand as well in a 10g but that tank is still in the set up stages. I think sand weighs approximately the same as gravel does in volume or less. I don't know how much I put in there though I do know it was a good portion of a 50 pound bag. Best guess is I used roughly 15-20 pounds of sand. I have sand in another 30 gallon tank (only partially and less than an inch deep) and a 10 gallon which used up the last of the bag.

 

[pnyklr3]

I'm looking to convert my 55 gallon and I also have a 10 gallon puffer tank that could use any extra sand taht may come about. To tell you the truth, I forget the "rule of thumb" for gravel in a tank. Was is 1 pound per gallon, or 1 pound per 2 gallons....or am I completely off!?!

 

[Teelie]

I think it's one pound per gallon. A single bag of 50 pounds should adequately cover a 55g and have some left over for a 10g if you stretch it. One word of warning though: 50 pounds of sand is heavy if you're not used to lifting a lot of weight.

 

[pnyklr3]

Hey! I may be a girl, but I'm strong I can handle large bags of dog food, bags of salt, and fourth graders, so I think I'll be alright in that respect. I have a small bag of aquarium sand that I can add to the 10 gallon if the 50 lb bag doesn't go far enough. Thanks for all of your info!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

You still need to stir up your sand on a weekly basis to prevent it from becoming compacted as it will do, trumpet snails will help out a bit but won't stir up the sand enough just by themselves.

 

[Teelie]

Hey! I may be a girl, but I'm strong I can handle large bags of dog food, bags of salt, and fourth graders, so I think I'll be alright in that respect. I have a small bag of aquarium sand that I can add to the 10 gallon if the 50 lb bag doesn't go far enough. Thanks for all of your info!

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If you can lift up bags of dog food and fourth graders, you should be okay. I am used to "hard labor" work and it took me by surprise at first too.

 

[pnyklr3]

Thanks, all for the quick responses! I know see why there is such a high turnover of threads in Chit-Chat. And to think, I was afraid my thread would be lost in here and wouldn't get answers........

 

[pnyklr3]

Decided to kinda BUMP this instead of starting a new thread. I've read the pin on going from gravel to sand, and I have just ONE question: How much gravel should I put into a stocking to seed my new sand? I can't really put it all in there (it was about 2 inches in a 55 gallon tank).

 

[Teelie]

I never did it with any of my tanks and there were no minicycles. Then again I had over-filtration on my 30g and the 10 wasn't established for very long when I did the gravel to sand switch on it.

 

[pnyklr3]

I guess I would say that I'm good filtration (recommended for tanks 50-70 gallons). I used about (or at least, not sure ) ) half the old tank water and rinsed out the sponge in the old stuff. Would all of my decorations and plants (mostly plastic) and the filter media have enough bacteria to effectively seed my sand without causing any problems? I have been very fortunate to never lose a fish to cycling problems. (My first attempt at my 55 gallon was before I found this site, and fishless cycling, and I think the only reason they all survived was that it was SEVERELY understocked. And I never had a lot of money to buy fish all at once. Second attempt was a 10 gallon. The filter was run on my 55 gallon, and I seeded the tank with some gravel....no problems!)

On a side note, after replacing about half the water, I still have high nitrates! I wonder if my test strips are bad.....