What's The Best Way To Add Sand To A Already Established Tank

[United-101]

What's The Best way to add sand to a already established Tank

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm afraid, for changing substrate, stripping the tank down is your best option.

 

[techen]

Bottle trick :
 
[media]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XB0bwtZh8[/media]

 

[fluttermoth]

You've got to get the old substrate out first though?

 

[techen]

I thought by the sounds of it they had no substrate but I could be wrong

 

[United-101]

Yeah I'm going to take the old substrate out first, I'm new to keeping a tank, would it kill the fish ? I read something that I should put a pot of sand (new substrate) in the tank for a few days is this correct ?

 

[fluttermoth]

No, not correct.
 
Changing substrate shouldn't kill your fish but your substrate, especially if it's gravel, can hold some of the good bacteria.
 
Ideally, you don't feed the fish for two days (so they'll make less waste; this will not hurt or distress them; fish don't eat every day in the wild).
 
Then you syphon off as much 'clean' water from the top of the tank as you can, into as many buckets/storage boxes/containers as you can get together.
 
Then you take out all your plants/rocks/ wood and put in one of your containers.
 
Once the tank is nearly empty, catch the fish and put them in one of your containers/buckets with the filter and heater (running, if you can, but don't worry about it too much) and cover it up, to keep the fish warm and dark and stop them jumping out.
 
Take out your old substrate and the last of the water; it will probably be quite mucky, so chuck it out.
 
Then it's just a case of reversing the process; new (washed!) sand in first, then; rocks/plants/wood, all your saved water, heater/filter and fish. Then you top up with new water, so to your fish it's just like a big water change.
 
It is a very good idea to test for ammonia and nitrite for the first few days, in case you've lost some of those good bacteria and need to do extra water changes while the surviving bacteria recover.

 

[United-101]

Ok thanks for the information, much appreciated

 

[Squeegeatc]

I didn't have fish in my tank when I decided to add a small sandy section for some future kuhli loaches.   I shoved the gravel away from the area that I wanted to sand, and VERY CAREFULLY added 1 cup of sand at a time.   I did just buy the aquarium sand, since I didn't need a huge bag of play sand---not sure if the texture made a difference, but there was virtually no cloudiness. I didn't lower the water, or anything else.   Just went VERY slow.  But, as I said, no fish were present.  Good Luck!