Bishop169

I want to remove the gravel and add sand to my tank what is the best and easiest way of doing this?

Should I remove all my fish and place them in a holding tank?

I figured I would remove all the decor and then scrap out the gravel maybe do a half water change and then poor the rinsed sand in....

Is there a safe way to do this with my fish still in the tank?

I have a smaller fry tank but its only a 10gal with 8 little fry growing in it I think they are big enough not to get eaten but I would be worried adding the 9 fish from my 30 gal plus the 8 little guys into a 10 even for a few nights.

wow thinking about it I may jsut keep the gravel

Trpimp147

i would think you need to start over fresh.....

GreenMan13

You don't need to start over. You can even leave the fish in the tank IMO.

First off, to do it safely with the least impact on the fish it will take time. By time, I mean you will want to do it in portions with a week or two in between portions.

I would do it this way...
Get the sand and rinse it completely so it is doest not become that cloudy when mixed around.
Move the decor from the area that you are switching out.
Scoop out the gravel from that area.
Get a cup deep bowl, fill it with wet sand, and lower slowly it into the tank with the open end up. This will let you move the sand to the bottom of the tank with out getting it mixed into the water too much. Once at the bottom slowly pour it out of the cup.
Take the gravel and put it in a stocking and keep it in the tank for a week or so to let the sand have time to form bacteria.
Keep all the decor that was in the tank, in the tank for a while so you do not remove too much of the good bacteria from the tank at once.
Top off the water that was lost in the process. Do a normal water change (not 50%) only if you were going to do one then anyways.

This can be done in as many sections as wanted to make it as easy on the fish as you want, but you can probably do it with 2-3 portions with little stress on the fish, specially if you keep the gravel in the tank for a while after the change. And you can move the fish into another container for the short time that you are placing the sand into the tank and moving things around if wanted.

monkeyfish

i recently switched the substrate in my 10g. first i washed the sand alot and got it crystal clear. then i removed a few scoops (about a third) of the original gravel. i replaced the gravel i removed with the new sand, i just poured it on top of the remaining gravel.

i did all this with the fish still in the tank, i was just careful when adding the sand. i took out the decor but left the plants in place and just piled the sand up around the base of the plants.

the process only took 2-3 hours and was surprisingly easy. the sand made the tank water cloudy for about a day, then it cleared up.

all my fish are now enjoying their new sand, and they all seem much happier since the substrate switch.

l33tak

Just wanted to thank you all for your knowledge and help. I've also been thinking about switching from gravel to sand in my 30g. Heard a lot of good reviews about "pool filter sand" so i'm thinking about using that. Anyways u guys pwn! lattterr

hop2jr

I have a 29gal and switched from gravel to pool filter sand and had little problem had a mini cycle that lasted 2 days because I changed it all at the same time. I put the fish in a holding tank well I did the change. Just make sure your filter is shut off when you out the sand in the tank I made the mistake not to and sand got into the impeller cleaned it out and still worked got lucky I guess. After I put the sand in and the water looked clear I added fish and filled a pantyhoes foot with about 3 or 4 lbs. of the old gravel and put that in for a week. I think thats why my clcye was only 2 days. After the week was up took out the bag of gravel and everthing was great. Fish love the sand. I also rinsed the 50lb.bag of pool filter sand for about 2 or 3 hours the get the the water clean before adding. Good luck with the change. I have some pic befoe and after check them out.

talofa

i just switched out my gravel to sand all at once. shut off filter, removed deco, put fish in holding tank. didnt keep some old gravel in water but maybe should have. old fish are fine as well as a couple of clown loach's added next day. angels added 3 days later aren't doing so well. maybe bio pad in power filter didn't have enough bacteria.

hop2jr

You should have saved the old gravel and put it in a stocking then hung the stocking on the side of the tank for at least a week. You are going to have to keep an eye on your amonia and nitrite levels they will spike and you will need to do 20-50% water changes untill the media in the tank catches up. Should only take a couple of weeks to mini cycle. Good luck.

talofa

now i know! thanks for the tip