tricky_tink

Likely a dumb question but

My elephant nose fish I learned would do better with sand. I have only an 1/2inch of gravel down now and was thinking next time I did a water change to put a tube down and siphon the sand down to the bottom. possible? suggestable?

I want to do it cause the elephant nose fish has already hurt his nose trying to find food. They are blind and he aggressively searches for food on the bottom which somtimes gets wedged into the rocks.

I would take out all the decorations and I could fill a few 5 gallon buckets to put the fish in while doing it in case it gets cloudy. I would also wash it really good to cut down the cloudyness.

Any thoughts? or suggestions?

Thank You

Narcicius

That is not a good situation to be in, I don't have nor have I ever used sand so no help here, post updates to let us know how it goes.

susitna-flower

How much sand are you talking about? Unless it was a couple of inches it probably wouldn't make much difference since he would still dig, and come across the rocks. But a couple of inches should help...If you take the fish out, and syphon all water out to the top of gravel, then you could just scoop the washed sand in and replace decorations. Refill water / conditioner, half way and pour fish in with water from bucket to the full, be careful though to not disturb sand and decorations, pour slowly.....

miker

Susitna...Will adding all that extra sand disturb the tank's cycle? Will it kill the good bacteria on gravel top?

I am asking this because I am planning to add Eco-Complete on top of my gravel for better plant growth. Can I try to add little by little?

(I have Bio-Wheel Filter)

tricky_tink

I think I will be ordering from That fish place. They have a 50lb bag of beach sand for $23 dont think I'll need that much but it seems less fine unlike the LFS stuff which is dust! still round and smooth and suggested for freshwater.
Thanks all!

Shaina

I've seen several people on here suggest pool filter sand if you want to go to the sand route: you don't have to rinse it (it's dust-free anyway to keep the pool water clear), very inexpensive, readily available at most hardware-type places, and the grains tend to be more rounded than, say, play sand. Might be something to look into.

I read that blanketing your existing substrate with a new substrate can be bad...something about trapping all that bio material at the bottom of the tank where it just sits. Here the actual quote (from aquarium-journal.com)

"Warning!!! Placing new gravel over the top ("capping") of an estabished gravel bed can be damaging to aquatic life. Gently mix new material into the existing bed with fingers. For added safety this process can be done, in sections, over the course of a few days."

Good luck!

tricky_tink

I was going to mix it up. But by putting an 1" of sand vs the 1/2 of gravel I figured it would give me a natural freshwater bottom look. ty though I'll look for that stuff I thought the plastic coating would be bad...most of the pool filter sand has a coating on it. But I guess most fake plants are plastic so I guess it would be fine!

WOW YOU WERE RIGHT $8 FOR 50LBS AT THE POOL STORE! THATS THE WAY IM GOING II'LL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES

susitna-flower

Miker, you are in luck, eco-complete has bacteria added. You do NOT rince this substrate, and it cycles your tank (almost as well as bio-spira). If you are adding it to an existing tank it should work out fine.

miker

Thanks Susitna!!