JEEEEEZE. it's 11:50 eastern time and i just got finished with a tank disaster. so i wanted to be cool, even though i'm a noob and switch out my gravel for pool sand... i poked a series of hole in the bottom of a plastic cup, and the arduous scooping of gravel began. time passed on, and i came up on the last of that nasty red gravel, and i was overwhelmed with joy... in a few moments my 46 gallon bowfront would be nice and purty with pool filter sand as my substrate. i was DEAD wrong. being the loser that i am, i just went ahead and dumped 50 lbs of this sand into my already filled tank and within 30 seconds my filter had ceased. dead. i unmounted the aquaclear 70 and disassembled it to reveal the fan. i wiggled that out and try as i may, was unable to free the clumps of grainy sand from it's chamber. (either that, or the sand totally ate up the walls). now i have 25 minutes to make it across town to report to Ed, my LPS owner and get laughed at as i purchas a new filter and 50 lbs of tan stone substrate. upon returning home, i was faced with yet another grueling task. syphoning all 46 gallons of water out my front door and into the pouring rain. after that is finally finshed, i go ahead and dump what sand i could all over my lawn, then rinse the tank clean with my python.... in the pouring rain. hoping the sand doesn't stay all clumped up on my grass, i walk inside, wipe the excess residue from the inside of my tank and prop it back up on its stand. the new substrate i purchased is RINSED and evenly spread along the bottom of my bowfront. i put a dinner plate in the center, and begin the long process of refilling this glass nightmare. upon topping off the tank, i assemble my new filter, fill her with water, and plug her in... ahhh the surreal sound of water trickling fills my angered soul with satisfaction... i diagnose the water with dechlorinater, and cycle... respective amounts of course... installed my heater and dropped my sinking thermometer in the back corner... i'm finally done, but after all this, i'm right back where i was last night. on a lighter note, i'm much happier with the tan rocks rathe than those vibrant reds. i'm sure a bunch of people are going to tell me how to do sand the right way, but at this point, i don't give a s**t. i had to learn this the hard way, and i'm sorry this is so long, but it was a nice venting excersise so hopefully i can be re-enthused to proceed tomrrow. until then, i wish you all a good night.