Changing substrate from gravel to sand - need some help

LMOUTHBASS

LMOUTHBASS

My hypocrisy goes only so far
Jun 17, 2003
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Mark
I really want to put sand in my tank, and get rid of most of the gravel, but I have some questions. What type of sand would I use in my FW tank that contains mostly South American Cichlids with a neutral 7.0 pH, moderately soft to slightly hard water.

I want to also plant my tank down the line when I can, so I need to understand what type of sand will hold the roots in place? I'm picturing beach sand and can't imagine how that would be nutrient rich enough or firm enough for plants?

All this being said, I'm sure buying sand from my LFS would cost a boat load, so if anyone can share some sand info and tell me what type it is or whatever, and if its something I can pick up at Lowe's or whatever, it would be a huge help. The more specific the better because I'm not very familiar with sand and its properties and impact on water conditions/plants.

Also, if "sand" per se, is not the right substrate to use, what would you suggest? I want to switch over for a more natural look (I'll prob keep some pebbles scattered throughout the tank to look realistic) and for the health of my bottom feeders such as Corys. Want to prevent their barbels from wearing out.

Also, for anyone that has made a change like this before, is it a real pain and how long did it take once you got started, 3-4 hours?

Thanks for all your help!
 
All my tanks use sand and are planted, I've used generic stuff from the LFS that was like $0.50 a pound, caribsea, and pool filter sand, bought play sand but never used it cause it was to dirty. Out of all of them I like the generic stuff best from the LFS just the right sized grainules and most natural looking.

No sand doesnt have much nutrients for root feeding plants but you can usually overcome that with root tabs, When adding new plants if they don't have enough off a root clump to keep them in the ground weights work well and you can remove once the plant establishes itself, though for some plants like hair grass or dwarf baby tears that can't be weighted if you have cory's good luck they'll never stay in place long enough to get well rooted.

I've never changed up substrates in a tank that was currently in use, I would move the fish out for the change, turn off filters and pumps, scoop out gravel, suck out as much gunk as possible that was mixed in your gravel the lower the water level at the end the better, add new sand, top off water, wait for it to all settle fire up the filters.
 
You have a lot of options. I buy plain old 16 grit silica sand from Lowes.... runs about $6 for a 100 lbs. It looks like beach sand, rather than the powdery stuff. I can actually still use a python on it as the grains are heavy enough to fall back down the tube. There's no nutrient value to it so if you go with this, use root tabs for your root feeding plants.

What I do to change substrates without breaking a tank down is collect a good amount of the current gravel into pouches (using knee-high pantyhose or media bags). Keep those in a bucket of tank water while you remove all the rest. Be sure you rinse the new substrate thoroughly so you don't kick up too much dust. Then after it's all in, set the old gravel pouches on top for a couple of weeks. This helps preserve the beneficial bacteria from your previous substrate.

Time-wise, I'd allot half a day to do it. The rinsing takes a long time no matter which way you go about it. It's also not something you want to be in a hurry to finish.

I have cories and dojos, btw, and this sand is fine for their barbels.
 
I have used play sand from Home Depot which is really cheap. You can also use pool filter sand which I have yet to use but many people seem to like that option better. My plants are doing fine in the play sand (root-wise). Be sure to rinse the sand before adding it to the tank or your water will be cloudy for several days. I don't know about beach looking sand but you can see the sand in the bags and look for the consistency you like.

When I changed my 55 gallon from pebbles to sand it took several hours. I moved the fish, decorations, and plants into buckets. Then I drained the water and moved the pebbles using a cup. It took a couple hours to complete the process. I did not clean the sand though which I wish I had but things turned out alright just took some time to filter out the cloudiness.

I will never go back to gravel for tanks. Sand is much easier to keep clean.
 
When you guys say to rinse the sand, how do you do this? May sound like a stupid question but I'm trying to figure the best way to do it? I'd imagine it would just go down the drain or wherever. Did you put it in a huge strainer or something and just wash it with water in your sink?
 
Basically you fill up a huge plastic tub with teh sand, fill it up with a hose partway, stir it around and then let it settle, and then you pour it out without pouring out the sand, you do this a bunch of times.


And I have been thinking about this same thing and would liek to do a sandbed for my new tank when I get it.

What are the benefits? Does the fish waste really not penetrate through the sand? Do you just gravel vac a little bit over the top, just enough not to suck any sand?

The sand beds create home for beneficial bacteria?

And I have seen people using different layers of substrate for their sand beds. What are the different layers and whats the benefits of this?
 
Ok, many rivers/natural ponds have 'silt' (effectively 'earth' of sorts) in them. You put your hands into a river and you don't bring up pure sand usually... how is best to replicate this in a tank?
 
Rinsing sand is a ***** if your doing it inside i your sinks. Be careful how much fine sediment you send down the pipes.... you may end up with plumbing problems! I've washed arragonite which took about a half hour..... came pretty clean. Playsand on the other hand was filthy..... and took more than an hour compared to the arragoite.
For washing sand, use a bucket, fill with a pile of sand, fill with water, muck it around using your hand.....pour out the crap in the water....leave the sand, repeat until water is relatively clear. Like I said...... much better to use a hose outside than in your sink.
Sand carries no nutrients for plants, so plant tabs are necessary.
Arragonite will buffer your ph up to 8.0 or so...... So beware.
Pool filter sand is probably the best as it is inert, generally clean and easy to rinse..... and looks cool. the particles in pool filter sand are rounded and easier on the catfish barbels as well as your filters if particles happen to get sucked up.
 
Also ... people say sand is eaiser to keep clean than gravel. I really cn't believe this. Sand is, essentially, white, or at least light, when compared to fish poo and plant detritous. So every little tiny bit of dirt will show up, and get buried. How is cleaning that out of sand easier than gravel which hides everything? I've always had gravel, and have 'never' noticed any 'dirt' in it. Even with goldfish scale poo in some tanks. I've never needed to astheitcially clean gravel ... but sand, it would just irritate me if I wanted it to be clean ... or am I totally wrong?
 
My sand stays nice looking, I do weekly w/c's and if I see anything on the sand simply holding the hose slightly above the sand sucks up any filth, snails seem to do a good job eating any other stuff that makes its way into the sand.

Pool sand and aquarium specific sand are the easiest for cleaning not alot of rinsing is required, play sand from lowes or home depot is quite filthy though and you'll spend alot of time rinsing and repeating. In new setups I've dumped aquarium sand in with out rinsing it and had very little debris floating and cloudiness dissipated with in an hour.
 
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