Replacing sand? Necessary after a number of years?

[ticojpunk]

My 29 gallon has white play sand in it. It's been in there for at least 15 years. I've lost count.

I'm currently in a transition phase in the tank where all that remains is a single adult australian rainbow fish. The rest of my danios and rainbows died of old age.
I'm taking the opportunity to clean really well and assess what I should do before I restock with whatever I decide.

I've vacuumed the sand pretty well. There's lot of little shells mixed in it from outbreaks of trumpet snails here and there over the years, and the sand looks a little gray to me. Just dingy. It's not gray spots trapped under the sand, it's just in varying degrees it looks "dirty", but really doesn't change with vacuuming or stirring it up. Should sand be replaced at a certain point? Is the dingy look just an aesthetic thing?

I'd actually love to start with some nice bright fresh sand. I'm hesitant to remove all the sand for fear of removing beneficial bacteria. I have a SeaChem Tidal hang on back filter with sponge material that's very well stocked with beneficial bacteria so I think I'm pretty good there. And right now my bio load is one fish, so I'm likely losing some of that beneficial bacteria anyway.

Just looking for guidance on the grayish dingy looking sand and if it would be a good idea to swap that out while I am redoing the tank.

 

[bgarthe]

For years I used the same fine gravel/coarse sand that was a creamy grayish color. The only reason I changed to the black coarse blasting sand in half my tanks was for a change of appearance. Imo, one doesn’t have to change it for tank health, especially since it has been vacuumed. You don’t say how deep your sand is. Deeper sand can be a tad more stained/covered with bio gunk. Now I keep my coarse sand a mere 3/4” to 1” deep and my WC vacuuming seems to keep the sand a bit brighter and not sort of aged looking. Your bb issue is not a problem since you have a big filter running, other tank surfaces, and a super low bioload (one fish).

It would indeed be better to swap out/change sand now as opposed to deciding to swap after having fully restocked your tank.
Checkout…..https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/resources/substrate-changing-an-easy-safe-and-fast-method.291/

Let us know what you decide…..maybe a before and after pic.

65g

75g

 

[A201]

Since you already have seeded filter media, and only one surviving fish, there is no harm in replacing the sand.
After 15 years a change would be good.

 

[ticojpunk]

Thanks for sharing the photos. I definitely like both. I'm pretty sure my wife will want to stick with the white sand, so I MAY just keep rocking with what I've got and not worry about it. Fresh clean white sand would be very nice though. My depth is probably 1.5-2" at this point. Was definitely deeper years ago, but a little vacuumed off here and there and it's gotten shallower.

I'll definitely check back in as I'm going to have restocking questions for sure!

 

[GlennO]

White sand can certainly look great but keep in mind that a lot of fish look better over a dark substrate.

 

[bgarthe]

White sand can certainly look great but keep in mind that a lot of fish look better over a dark substrate.

I tend to agree w GlennO. My 51 Cardinal Tetras really pop on the darker substrate. I am also contemplating changing my 65g w green neons and pork chop rasboras to the darker……just taking my time. The 50+ years of seeing the lighter substrate is tough to just not have any of. ATM, I’ll have both for variety sake. Anyway…..my lower lighting on the lighter substrate quiets the brightness of the lighter substrate some.

Keeping what substrate color your wife likes in mind is indeed wise.

 

[Cherryshrimp420]

I dont see any reasons to change sand, I have a tank with 10 years old sand and doing fine

 

[Fishfur]

If it helps any, I don’t believe that raw sand or gravel ever needs replacing.

This is not true if it’s been coated with acrylic as all of Estes products are, even their sand. The coating wears off eventually, which allows the colour coating to wear and fade and undoubtedly contributes far too much microplastic particle pollution to the tank and wherever else the water ends up.

But people can get bored with the same old-same old, so changing sand for that reason is perfectly understandable.

I suspect white sand that has become a bit dingy looking could be restored to its former brightness, possibly with nothing more than a lot of vigorous stirring & rinsing (outside the tank, not inside).

It might possibly require some bleach to take out some biological stains (tannins & the like) but it could be quite a bit of work to do it.

 

[RayClem]

Sand has been in the making for a few thousand years. Fifteen years in your tank is not going to make much difference. The only reason to change sand is that you want to use a different color for aesthetics.

 

[ticojpunk]

I've decided to leave the current sand in there. I did a few rounds of vacuuming and turning the sand over and it looks a lot better now. And MUCH less work when switching it over.

Water is clear and testing good so I'm ready to start the restock process. Will do a little at a time, will switch forum sections for that part though. Thanks everyone.

 

[Fishfur]

I've decided to leave the current sand in there. I did a few rounds of vacuuming and turning the sand over and it looks a lot better now. And MUCH less work when switching it over.

Water is clear and testing good so I'm ready to start the restock process. Will do a little at a time, will switch forum sections for that part though. Thanks everyone.

Sounds like sense to me! It’s not the worst job in the world to change substrate but it is massively time consuming, no question.

 

[Whitewolf]

It’s not that hard to scoop it out and I’d reccomend finding some fine grade grit from a rock company Sand gets nasty from my experience

 

[RayClem]

There are a number of aquarium products that contain facultative bacteria and enzymes that consume some of the sludge that gets trapped in gravel and sand beds. My aquarium is heavily planted such that there is no way I can vacuum the substrate. These products help do what I cannot.

Some examples are:

API Stress Zyme
Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter Clean
Fritz Zyme
Microbe Life Substrate Cleaner
and others