Adding Sand to Established Tank.

[jessa10]

Hello again,
I posted yesterday about adding 6-8 (maybe more) Panda cories to my 29g peaceful community tank. I am going to purchse some Cories on Tuesday evening and I want to setup a nice little sand pit for them. Now, someone I know has a large pale of aquarium sand that she no longer needs and she has offered it to me for free, but I have no idea how to make a sand pit! The tank has only one small centre piece decoration and some fake plants, so there is alot of floor space. How large should it be? Can I make multiple pits? How do I even get the sand into the water without getting it all over the place? ANYTHING you can tell me will be helpful on this one. Thanks guys...I just love this forum :P
-Jess

[soobie]

Rinse the sand really well, then maybe pour it through a large tube (Python tube?) to direct it to the area you want. You'll probably still get some clouding, but maybe it won't be too bad. I'd turn off the filter until the sand settles.

[IceH2O]

As said above rinse it very well.

I'd just move the gravel away from the areas you want to use and buy some tupperware the size of the pits you want. You could go round and square on opposite sides of the aquarium. This way the sand won't just blend into the gravel. I'd fill the tupperware with wet sand and put the lid on it. When you get it where you want remove the lid. Should be minimal spillage. Maybe keep the sand an inch or so below the lip of the tupperware. Put some plants around it to kind of hide it.

[judgemax]

Don't forget that sand can have pockets of gas that build up, and they can be toxic to your fish, be sure to stir it up( wave your finger through it, lightly)

[feemia]

I made a sandbox for my cories using a saucer. I piled the sand on top of it and lowered it slowing into the tank. Some of it floated, but it settled very quickly. I used the saucer so that I could remove it more easily if I didn't like it, but I liked the sand so much that I removed the saucer and added several more patches of sand directly on top of the gravel.