Hells yea... Just got my white sand in my tank... silica sand.. SOOO easy todo... didn't even take the fish out...
I thought I would post how I did it just as a lil reference for ppl trying todo it
Preparing the sand included putting it in a big rubbermaid tub and just filling it with water then using my hands churn it up till its pretty clean.. I got the silica sand from a pool supply store.. 50 pound bag for 9 bucks!!! SWEET
1) Took EVERYTHING out besides fish and rocks
2)Drained about 40% of the water out
3) I had a big square net that worked perfect for not scooping water out when taking gravel out... just Scoop up the gravel with it and hold it above the water for a bit to let water drip out then put the gravel in the bucket
4) TURNED OFF THE FILTER!!!!!!!!!!.. SAND WILL EFF THAT #### UP
5) just scooped the sand outa the tub and droped it in the tank and spread it around... be a lil gentle not to drop a pile on the fish... but they will move outa the way pretty fast..
6)spread the sand out how ever u want and turn your filter on since im assuming your gravel befor wasnt crystal clean and your water is probably brown as hell by now lol.. that will clear up fast.. if it doesn't ... GET A NEW FILTER...
7) once clear... put the water back up to the top and add some conditioner and put all your plants.. rocks and what ever else you have back in...
Fish were eating 2 hrs later and happy as hell... sand is awsome.. and sooo much easier to plant plants in.. I definatly reccomend it.. HAPPY FISHING
This is one way of doing it without removing the fish but some things not quite right from my experiences in converting 5 tanks from gravel to sand.
4) TURNED OFF THE FILTER!!!!!!!!!!.. SAND WILL EFF THAT #### UP
- Not true sand is unlikely to do this much damage to a filter !!!! as you mention below the sand will be suspended in the water till it all "clears up" I.e settles down to the tank floor, it can take 24 - 48 hrs for sand to settle to the floor and the water to clear again, based on this comment you shouldn't have your filter running while sand is suspended in the water and not settled as "SAND WILL EFF THAT #### ", that could be 2 days !!!!!! I would never turn my filter off for 2 days !!!, your filter you can keep running, you will only need to give it a little clean out when the water is clear again and the sand has settled, you will find some sand particles in the filter media as well as in the filter casing (dependant on you filter) wash your media out a little in OLD TANK WATER this will get the sand out of the media and any in the casing of the filter can just be flushed out, if you wish get a bucked of water and put some dechlorination liquid in it and rinse the filter casing.
6) spread the sand out how ever u want and turn your filter on since I'm assuming your gravel before wasn't crystal clean and your water is probably brown as hell by now lol.. that will clear up fast.. if it doesn't ... GET A NEW FILTER...
- IT can take 24 - 48 hrs for the sand to settle and the tank to become clear again, don't automatically think that your filter that was working perfectly fine before you put sand in is now scrap !!, what you could have tried doing was not taking the water out of the tank 1st, but remove the gravel and agitate the water to get all the mess and crud up in the water floating around then get you gravel pump in there and syphon out a good chunk of the water which will also suck up the nasty mess thats floating around, then the filter has less to suck through too. also to help the filter speed up the clearing process with all the suspended sand in the water you could add a little more white filter wool to capture some of the particles, this would need to be removed or cleaned out in a few days when your water is crystal clear again.
7) once clear... put the water back up to the top and add some conditioner and put all your plants.. rocks and what ever else you have back in...
- You don't need to wait till the tank is clear (could take 24 - 48 hrs) to top the water back up, that can be done straight away. it is though good to wait till the sand has all settled and water is clear till you put plants back and decor back in in as if you put them in straight away the sand will settle on the plants & Decor and this does not look nice.
Myself for each of my tanks i have done a huge full strip down when converting to sand, the fist thing i have done as goosej13 said is CLEAN that sand up by churning it around in some water !!! you may need to do this a few times till the yellowish foam scum that comes to the surface has gone.
Then i syphon some water into a 80l black bin (the ones us Brits put our rubbish into) then transfer all my fish heater into the bin ( i have external filters on all my tanks so dont dismantle those to connect to the bin) but i do have a spare fluval 2 that i keep the media in the external for in case of emergencies.
I take all the fish out the tank as the stress i think it causes them is too much with me and a net getting all the gravel out after Ive taken the plants and rocks away and given them no hiding places.
when the gravel is out the remainder of the water is filthy (no mater how much you use that gravel vac theres still gonna be hidden poop) i then give the sides of the tank a scrub down with a algae scraper to make them all nice and fresh again then syphon the rest of the water left in the tank with all the nasty nasty fish poop.
now the tank is empty i put the sand in and even it out (approx 1 inch in depth), now my sand is in its time to fill it all back up again, i place a casserole dish in the tank on the sand then a pan inside that, i pour V GENTLY the new dechlorinated water into the pan that then trickles into the dish, up over the sides and onto the sand. This needs to be done gently otherwise the sand will start to to go everywhere.
when the water has reached the level of the pan I'm using i pour the water in a little faster, this is why i have used a casserole dish too as, if you pured the water in fast to the pan some will filter hard over the side into the sand and give you a "sand" storm in a teacup, with the dish here the water filters over the side hits the dish and, because it has a small wall to it instead of the water gushing out side and onto the sand, like a plate would it pushes the water back to the top and stops a large portion of sand getting churned up turning your tank into a box of cloudy water.#
I don't fill the tank right up with fresh water as still have 80L of water that the fish are swimming around in, when I'm at this stage i now start to take some of the water in the bin and put this into the tank (i turn the heater off too.) when I'm down to the last 15inches of water left in the bin, i turn the filter in the tank back on take the heater from the bin and put it back in the tank put all the plants and decor back in the tank (re aranged) and then put the fish back in.
This method Ive found works best for me as i don't have a very cloudy tank for long or have a cloudy tank at all depending on how careful and patient Ive been. And the fish have got a fully cleaned tank that you can see into, no algae, and completed a large water change.
(must make sure that the water your putting into the tank is the same Temp as what the fish are swimming around in as to not give them temperature shock.)
hope this helps a little as another suggestion on how to convert to sand, which by the way IMO is much better than gravel
Scott
... mine moves my tank worth of water every hr... and I don't even have a major water current in my water
