changing gravel to sand

[diavids]

hi, i'm not a newbie to keeping fish but I doing something different for me. Since reading a lot lately of how cory cats should be kept in sand not gravel I've going to give that a go. for those who use sand can anyone suggest what type would be best for the cost. The only sand that the LFS carry is for saltwater tanks so that's out and its so expensive, so I'm going to see about getting some playsand. Would that be suitable? What would be the best way to change the gravel, can I do this without moving the fish? The two tanks I'm switching is a 20 gal with various cory cats (pepper and dwarf) flounder pleco, male edlers and male guppies. the other is my 45 with cories, 1 clown and 1 BN pleco, upside down cats and 1 lace cat, various tetras, females guppies, danios and two dwarf cichlids.
thanks for listening

 

[BoredAgain]

Play sand purchased at Home Depot or Lowes for $2 to $3 for a 50 pound bag. You can make the change without moving the fish, just be sure to clean the sand very thoroughly...it is very dirty.

 

[diavids]

thanks so much, i'm going to check and see if Home Depot has the sand on tuesday. I'm looking forward to giving the tanks a new look.

dianne

 

[BoredAgain]

Be sure to get at least two bags.

 

[SilentMajority]

I went to a pool supply store and asked for "pool filter sand". It is much cleaner than play sand is only about $8 for 50lbs of it. It comes highly recommended by a lot of people, including myself. Looks great!

 

[BoredAgain]

I would use pool filter sand, but the cost is higher, especially when doing multiple tanks. I'd rather save the money and clean the sand.

 

[Wat2Go]

We stuck 5 bags of the home depot play sand in the 110 and I wish I would have stuck another in.
Wash it very very very well. It took me hours to rinse it and I still didn't rinse it enough...I bought a huge plastic container, put half a bag in and rinsed it all at least 15 times and - again - still not enough!
But the cories absolutely love it. The dive in and play with it all day!
I also enjoy not having to vacuum the gravel!

 

[PuppyFluffer]

I'm new to the entire hobby and thinking of sand instead of gravel.
You say you don't have to vacuum it like gravel but how exactly do you clean it?

 

[Notophthalmus]

You can use a net to swirl the water over the sand- all the feces and other debris lying on top of the sand will be lifted into the water column, where you can net it out.

 

[oscaremmy]

I went to a pool supply store and asked for "pool filter sand". It is much cleaner than play sand is only about $8 for 50lbs of it. It comes highly recommended by a lot of people, including myself. Looks great!

I paid even more...but it goes a long way, is clean (no washing of mine) and dense, so stays on the bottom, not in your filter impellers! Very pale color, which I like, but that's a matter of taste. I just put 4 albino dwarf corys in my sand tank and now I can't see them LOL!!