What To Do With Fish When Doing Change?

[Meggie :)]

So I went to my LFS today to buy the sand (because I'm changing out the gravel in my tank for sand) and they told me that I should take the fish out and fill the sand up, etc...but then they said that I should let the tank run without the fish in it for 6-8 hours and to leave the fish in the bucket for that long? Should I do this, or just put the fish right back in after I switch the gravel for sand?

 

[Mikaila31]

I wouldn't wait that long before adding the fish back. I suggest wrapping the intake of the filter with filter floss to help it out since there is going to be a lot of suspended particulate. Do not worry about adding the fish back to a cloudy tank. When I added 100lb of eco-complete to my 55gallon I didn't even bother taking the fish out. They all survived that just fine.

 

[Meggie :)]

wow...my lfs stinks lol!

Thanks so much!

 

[coldcazzie]

AAlso make sure you thoroughly wash the sand before adding it

 

[minnnt]

Hi Megan...

This is how i did it when i swapped from gravel to sand:

Turn off heater and filter
Remove most of the water (makes it easier to catch the fish)
Remove fish into several buckets
Remove rest of the water
Remove old gravel
Clean the tank inside and out
Add sand (already washed before i started to save time)
Gently hardscape with any rocks and wood
Fill with water 50%
Add plants
Fill rest of tank
Switch heater and filter back on
Ensure tank was same temperature as before
Aclimatise fish back into the tank in order of aggression. (Less aggressive first, the boss last)

Then a week later thoroughly clean both my externals to remove any sand particles to reduce the risk of damage. All this took 4 hours which the fish were fine for in the buckets and the filter media was fine too as the canisters were kept full. If you have internals you could add them to one of the buckets with the fish in.

 

[fluttermoth]

If you really, really wash the sand, and are ruthless about throwing away any particles that don't sink immediately, it won't cloud your tank.

It's better to spend the extra time washing it in the bucket, than trying to get it out of the tank.

 

[Craig89]

Get an old pillow case and put the sand in that and wash with a hose pipe works for me

 

[Proxo]

I left fish in both my tanks when switching to sand.
Yesturday however i moved 1 of the tanks, fish and sand out and i put them straight back in again - uber cloudy water though lol.

 

[Meggie :)]

Thanks guys! and yea i rinsed the sand first took me about an hour

I had to remove my fish before siphoning out any of the water because I have some newborn fry in there and I didn't want to suck any up

It didn't cloud by the way it settled down within 2 minutes I love the look of it so far took me about 3 and a half hours