Wood And Sand

[DarrenEPB]

I have had my 130ltr set up for near on two years now so am still learning so just really need to ask for some advice.

I have always had in my tank, gravel, live plants and a large shipwreck that Pleco has made his home, how ever the last few months I have really wanted to make some changes, I started by adding some wood that I got from the local tropical fish store, but, since doing so, I have noticed a slight dis colouration of the water, a yellowish colour will start to appear after a few days of water changes, which I do weekly. Is this a natural thing to happen when having wood in the tank?

I have also put in a few stones roughly the size of tennis balls, my loaches love these.


Also I am really wishing I had sand rather than gravel, the more I see other tanks with sand the more I want my tank to be set up with sand, so I need to know, 1. is there an easy and safe way to change from gravel to sand in a functional tank? 2. If it can be done without stress to my fish, would my current stock of fish be okay with sand, I have a community set up and do also now have 2 corys and a sucking loaches.

Any help would be great, thanks.



My area of knowledge

 

[Skins]

Hello Darren,
What you are seeing from your bogwood is tannin which will not harm the fish and over time will stop leaching into your aquariums water, one thing the tannin will do is slightly lower your pH because of its slight acid content.
Regarding your possible switch over to sand this should not present you with any probs, your corys will love it. Just remember to clean it well before adding to the aquarium, i would have your fish in a heated bucket of tank water with an airline whilst undergoing your change over.

Keith.

P.s Keep as much of the tank water as you possibly can so that when you refill you don't get to much change in the tank waters chemistry.

 

[This Old Spouse]

There are detailed, step-by-step instructions for switching from gravel to sand elsewhere in the forum. I just took the easy way out and completely switched tanks! Good luck!

 

[DarrenEPB]

Thanks so much!

So no harm in the colouring then, that is good.

I will look for those details regarding the switch over then, I am excited now haha! I do not mean to ask a silly question, but with sand, will it make any difference to the way my filter runs, require more cleaning or anything like that?? Does it moves around in the current and that sort of thing? I have a fluval 4 filter.

Hope thats not a syupid question

 

[Skins]

Thanks so much!

So no harm in the colouring then, that is good.

I will look for those details regarding the switch over then, I am excited now haha! I do not mean to ask a silly question, but with sand, will it make any difference to the way my filter runs, require more cleaning or anything like that?? Does it moves around in the current and that sort of thing? I have a fluval 4 filter.

Hope thats not a syupid question

Once your sand settles this won't be of any problems to the filter.

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1 And sand is actually a "cleaner" substrate because the waste just sits on top of it and doesn't settle to the bottom like gravel. You can just clean it by using a siphon and swirling it in a circular motion just above the surface so as not to suck up the sand. I like sand a LOT. Just be sure to rinse it, and rinse it, and rinse it some more before using it.

 

[DarrenEPB]

Brilliant, I will definitely do that. I have found that with gravel, although I do weekly water changes, and use a syphon, the waste just sinks right to the bottom and I end to get the syphon right down inside the gravel. I am looking forward to doing the sand change over. I think sand looks great too...

 

[StandbySetting]

Sand should pose no problem to filters as long as it isn't being disturbed, and if your filter is set up in a way that water travels through the filter medium first then it wont present a problem as the filter medium will stop the sand from reaching the impeller, if your filter is configured in a way that water travels through the impeller first then the sand may damage it, so it is best to leave the filter turned off whilst adding the sand.

When I made the switch from gravel to sand, I drained the tank to around 20%, saving another 30% of the water to add back to the tank after completion, I then removed the fish, placed them in a bucket and removed the gravel, the remaining water will be very murky as any detritus in the gravel will have been disturbed, let this settle and then add the sand, I find it best to use a plastic pipe to direct the sand, this also reduces the amount of time you will need to allow for any silt to settle, you may wish to then add filter floss to your filter to remove any silt and detritus, then top up the tank being careful not to disturb the sand.

You'll want to remove the fish whilst making the change as the silt may irritate the gills of the fish.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Take a look at this post to get some great information:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/354911-changing-substrate/page__hl__switch__fromsearch__1

 

[DarrenEPB]

@Standbysetting Thanks for that information, with my filter the water passes through the media before reaching the impeller so I should be okay there then.

Filter floss, I will get some of that then and do that too.

Thanks

Thanks Old spouse will check that out!

 

[Hoppo]

I just changed over my tank to sand today(about 2 hrs ago) I rinsed my sand several times in hot and cold water. I set up a temp tank by Gravel Vacuuming most of my tank water into a 5 gal bucket that I use for my water changes. I set up my heater and Filter in there and ran it while I was taking my gravel out and cleaning it. I added the sand and some conditioned water and re-decorated the tank. Moved the heater and filter back to the tank started to run. I had very little cloudiness with the sand so after an hour I moved the fish back. Everything looks good and the fish look fine.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I just changed over my tank to sand today(about 2 hrs ago) I rinsed my sand several times in hot and cold water. I set up a temp tank by Gravel Vacuuming most of my tank water into a 5 gal bucket that I use for my water changes. I set up my heater and Filter in there and ran it while I was taking my gravel out and cleaning it. I added the sand and some conditioned water and re-decorated the tank. Moved the heater and filter back to the tank started to run. I had very little cloudiness with the sand so after an hour I moved the fish back. Everything looks good and the fish look fine.

Excellent! Photos, please!

 

[DarrenEPB]

Thanks Hoppo

I am going to be going out tomorrow to get my sand and will more than likely do the change over on Wednesday so I will post some pictures later in the week. I cannot wait to do the change!

 

[Aqua Tom]

I have sand in my tank & as long as you dont mind the fact that all the waste sits on top you will love it.

 

[DarrenEPB]

Hi Aqua tom

I think that would be a better option anyway as I do weekly water changes and could always syphon out waste on every few days if it gets to much, I have a 130ltr tank. The gravel would always let the waste go through to the bottom and it would really irritate me.