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if u use sand as your substrate how would u clean the tank. with gravel u just siphon the gravel to get the stuff out of the gravel. what do u use to clean a tank with sand?

i gravel vac

the trick is to only skim the surface so you lift any gunk off the bottom, without a bucket full of sand.

depending how deep it is, my gravel vac wouldn;t go anymore than a 1 cm into the gravel.

i recently changed one of my fish tanks over to sand and asked for a little advice on that one too..

here's the containing link:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/General%20Freshwater/64106.html?200509121353

hope that helps ya,

Chelle

*Chelle*
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I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

To clean a sand substrated tank, you'd do as above, just kinda skim the surface. I find a gravel siphon .5 - 1 inch above the sand swirled around in a tornado motion gets most of the gunk out. Also, as mentioned, you'd want to rake the sand once a week or so to keep fresh water in the bed, so as not to produce harmful gasses from anaerobic bacteria A lot of fish like the sand and will happily frolick about

Just keep the siphon 1 inch from the sand & the fish dirt will be sucked up & the sand left in place. It's quite easy & simple.

With sand, just remember to stir the sand from time to time, so that no air will be trapped in it.


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Malaysian Trumpet snails are a livebearing snail that will tunnel through the sand helping to turn it and keep fresh water moving through it, though even once in a while you will still need to rake it. When I had sand my fish would stir up the gunk on the bottom when running from the gravel vac

But instead of scaring your fish swirling the gravel vac around really does keep most if not all of the sand out of your bucket

Last edited by Tetra Fan at 22-Sep-2005 07:10

gud luck with the sand

thanx everyone for the help. but if i already have gravel in one of the tanks i cant just take the gravel out and put the sand in right. so what would i do about changing it from gravel to sand?

To switch substrates you'll need to preserve the biofilter by saving as much of the gravel as possible and leaving it in the tank for 3-4 weeks while the new substrate is colonized. Easiest way to do this is to place some in a shallow dish (clean plastic chinese take out containers work wonderfully if you get the kind that are really shallow ) or a pair of clean nylon stockings that are hung by the filter.

Once all the old substrate is removed you can put the sand in. It's generally a good idea to have the filters off for as long as possible while doing this as even with plenty of rinsing there will almost always be dust from the sand ....which can and will get into your filter. If you can take the filters (and fish) out while doing this you'll save yourself a headache. Run the filter on the bucket or rubbermaid tote that the fish are in and you wont have to rush to keep bacteria alive or worry about the fish being stressed by gravel and sand falling on them.

Leave the filters off as long as possible to allow the sand to settle, but not much longer than an hour unless they're running on a seperate container. Also, if you're running a HOB it's generally a good idea to cover the intake to prevent sand from getting up into the impeller, I've managed to ruin a filter a year before I switched to a canister .

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When angels cry blood, on flowers of evil in bloom
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cool thanks babel, but i dont really know bout sand it seems a little difficult, so if i just change the color gravel i could do the same, just put the new gravel in a container or on one side of the tank? do i still need to shut the filters off for as long as porrsible if just switching gravel?

Last edited by Babelfish at 22-Sep-2005 18:34

As nice as sand is, (it really does look stunning it can be a pain ] !.

For switching from one gravel to another the filter doesn't have to be turned off as gravel is much easier to rinse the dust from. However for the sake of the fish it's generally reccomended that while changing a substrate to remove them to a seperate container as the removal and adding can sometimes cause stress. That being said if you're very careful and work slowly especially when adding the new gravel (you dont want to bash them on the heads after all ) you won't need to turn off the filter. And yes, just leave the old gravel somewhere in a high flow area for a few weeks till the new is seeded. Additionally, using a starter such as Cycle or Biospria will help as well.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Love's the Funeral Of Hearts, and an ode for cruelty,
When angels cry blood, on flowers of evil in bloom
and a plea for mercy,
where Love is a gun separating me from you" ~[/font]

thanx a lot. im gonna give it a shot.

i just suck up the areas with poop and sand into a CLEAN bucket, pour out the water, rinse the sand int here with some tank water, and pour it out again.