Wanting to switch to black substrate, should I go with gravel or sand?

I’m wanting to switch to black substrate, should I go with gravel or sand?
I kinda want to do sand I just don’t want any problems with it getting into my filter/motor and causing problems

 

Black diamond blasting sand- medium grit works well . It’s pretty cheap and doesn’t seem to float too much and cleared up in about an hour for me. I did rinse beforehand though.

 

Black diamond blasting sand- medium grit works well . It’s pretty cheap and doesn’t seem to float too much and cleared up in about an hour for me. I did rinse beforehand though.

this?


Do you have it in a tank? I’m curious what it looks like

 

this?
View attachment 723873
Do you have it in a tank? I’m curious what it looks like

Yup! Here’s a pic The white sand was from a previous sand and I forgot to take all of it out before I put in the new sand so that’s why there’s some white.

 

What is the best way to change my gravel in my 55g to sand? I know I need to rinse the sand but I’m just curious if I can leave my shrimp and fish in the tank?

 

What is the best way to change my gravel in my 55g to sand? I know I need to rinse the sand but I’m just curious if I can leave my shrimp and fish in the tank?

I mean.. you could. But I would remove them. I actually lost a betta because I wasn’t careful and he ended up choking on a unusually large piece. The shrimp should be fine, so should the larger fish.

 

What is the best way to change my gravel in my 55g to sand? I know I need to rinse the sand but I’m just curious if I can leave my shrimp and fish in the tank?

I would take them all out personally. It's really annoying to get any substrate out of bigger tanks, so having fish/shrimp in there will just make it more aggravating. As far as getting the gravel out, I used a large cup and just scooped it out by hand. There was a few inches of pea gravel in my 45g tank when I got it.
I also use BDBS and what I did was put it in a bucket and then put it in my bathtub and turned on the faucet to hot water- then stirred the sand every now and then. There's a oily film that comes off of it, but its essentially harmless. You could do this while you are getting the previous substrate out.
I'm really impressed with the BDBS though, all my fish love it and I have a few sifters that love it as well. It also grows plants really well with ferts added!

 

I will probably just wait until I move in a few months or so and then change out the substrate since I will be having to take my fish and shrimp out of the tank then anyway for the move.

 

I will probably just wait until I move in a few months or so and then change out the substrate since I will be having to take my fish and shrimp out of the tank then anyway for the move.

Good idea. It's really not worth it to do it twice. Lol