substrate question

[skmmurphy]

Hello all. I currently have a gravel substrate in my 55g. I have a small group of kuhli loaches and would like to change over to sand. I read that if washed properly I can use pool sand or play sand from lowes. Is this true? I haven't changed my filter in a while because I knew I would be making the switch so hopefully my tank won't cycle. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this since I have baby guppies and also there are hundreds of pond snails in my tank. Suggestions please.

 

[tanker]

1) yes, you can use pool and play sand.
2) There is on simple way to change in a 55gal.
How much gravel is in the 55? Do you have plants? Are you going to have plants?

 

[skmmurphy]

there is 4 bags of gravel and I think they were around 25 lbs each. Currently I have fake plants but I'm wanting to remove those and add real plants a little at a time. I need low light plants since I don't plan on changing the lights or at least not right away. Besides the loaches I have adult and baby guppies, neon tetra, mystery snail and hundreds of pond snails.

 

[Rbishop]

I would vac out one side....maybe a third...on a WC. then pour the sand in by cups after completely submerging in water and invert it, slowly and level it out.

 

[skmmurphy]

I thought about doing half at a time but then I thought it would require me to remove the fish twice. Baby guppies are not easy to catch. Also, I still haven't figured out how I'm going to catch all the pond snails.

 

[jpierce3]

I would rinse the sand real well. Then drain the tank to nearly empty and leave a single bucket with some tank water. Catch all the fish and put them in the bucket. They are really easy to catch when there isn't a lot of water. As for the pond snails, I wouldn't worry about trying to save them all. They will multiply readily.

Scoop out the gravel and put it in a tote or whatever your going to store it in. Put the sand in the tank. Fill up the tank 25-50% with declorinated water matching the temp of the water in the bucket. Pour the bucket-o-fish into the tank. Fill the rest of the tank and you're good to go.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Skm- Like said above, the way I'd do it is setup a storage tote or bucket for a temporary home for your fish. Fill it with similar temperature, dechlorinated water and move your existing filtration to this tote/bucket. Drop the water level to almost fin-level on the 55 and net out the fish and snails you want and place them in the temporary housing.

To me, the absolute easiest way to remove gravel and the last bit of water from the tank is shop-vac it all out. With gravel, it literally takes 5min. Sand takes a bit longer and more water to get it all out. So fast and easy and little/no risk of scratching glass. You might want to dump your shop vac a few times so it doesn't become too heavy and you should run a GFCI plug with it while doing this. I keep a portable one for this purpose.

Add your new, heavily rinsed sand to your tank.. and I'm pretty sure you know the rest.

 

[skmmurphy]

Okay, I have a certification exam Tuesday and surgery on Thursday so maybe next week I'll get it done. I'll try to post pictures.

 

[skmmurphy]

Thank you for all the suggestions and help.

 

[rufioman]

Removing the fish makes a huge difference. Your levels are going to go crazy for a few days after you make the switch, so be sure and monitor your water.