# Blog: switching to sand



## liquid134 (Feb 22, 2010)

ok well here im going to keep alittle journal of switching from black gravel to white sand (quikrete medium sand) in my 30 gallon. i currently have a full size red blood parrot fish, a bumblebee cichlid, an albino african, a firemouth, a blue/black stripped african and a pleco. i didnt know where to put this, so mods please move if needed.

well 2 days ago, i removed the gravel with all fish still in tank.

today, i did a test of about half a bucket full of this sand, and ran it under water from my sink. water was alittle cloudy, but i wouldnt say dirty. so i decided to just put fresh sand in.

i ended up picking a 70qt (about 17gallon) long cooler for the fishes temporary home. i transfered water from my tank to the cooler, then put the fish in. i drained a good amount of water, and started the sand process.

if you do it slow and with a cup like suggested in the articles *** read.... it doesnt seem to cloud up as much. but who really wants to take a couple hours to do this? so i put a good layer of sand via a cup. and then i just started SLOWLY to pour from a bucket....

fish are back in the tank, and it is cloudy and its not filled all the way. ill be monitoring and posting updates. pictures will probably be later today or tomorrow.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

opcorn:


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## moto_master (Jun 23, 2006)

I'm planning on switching from gravel to sand here soon also, so I'm interested in all the gritty little details... and pictures

opcorn:


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## liquid134 (Feb 22, 2010)

ok well its 8:45pm now... so alittle over 3 hours... and its starting to clear up... i have a feeling by tomorrow it should be clear.


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

Sand should be rinsed thoroughly first to help cut down on the cloudiness.


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## liquid134 (Feb 22, 2010)

well even though i have lights off, i have a bright enough "nightlight" to see that it has cleared up a bit more... still cloudy, as expected. tomorrow i will see how it looks, and possibly do a water change and fill it up completly, but so far so good.


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## Morpheus (Nov 12, 2008)

Throw a water polishing pad in your filter for a couple of hours. It will clear it right up. But agreed, it's best to get it as clean as possible prior to putting it in the tank.


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## liquid134 (Feb 22, 2010)

a water polishing pad? never heard of it


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

If anyone here plan on switching to sand learn from this. Even though the sand look clear just rinse it a few times (it only take like 2 minutes) and save yourself the headache of water cloudiness. All the particle in the OP's sand is now in the filter or settle on the bottom that's why it's less cloudy.

When I put my silica sand in, I rinse it twice and put it in with the fish still in the tank. I didn't have any cloudiness at all.


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## Morpheus (Nov 12, 2008)

A water polishing pad, or filter, catches very minute particulate. Others have had the same problem of cloudy water when adding sand and the polishing pad works great. You can get them at any of the large box pet stores.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

I made that mistake before with the play sand, it says it is rinsed right on the bag but man is that play sand dirty. I tend to rinse it about 5 times for it to be okay, only in the tank the water gets cloudy but clears up within 24 hours very nicely. I don't care how clean it looks, I still rinse it...it wasn't very fun cleaning a 110 gallon with dirty sand.


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## liquid134 (Feb 22, 2010)

yea, next time id rinse it. but its really not that big of a deal... i think either way your gonna get cloudy water alittle bit with sand in the beginning. i still havent turned my filters on because i dont want the impeller gettin chewed up. i just topped off the tank, and pulled 2 buckets of water back out (goin over the sand to get poo and food up) probably gonna pull one more bucket, then fill her back up and see. i also found out, when filling (since i havent made a python yet, i use buckets) its best to pour slowwwwwww with sand.... it sucks but it doesnt kick up sand that way.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

PFS is much heavier than that, and no it never clouded the water. :thumb:


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## liquid134 (Feb 22, 2010)

well sorry for the lack of updates, i was out of town for a few days.. and i lost my **** camera cable. but all is well, cloudyness is completly gone and looks great!

i just picked up a zoo med power sweeper (powerhead) and well... i had to modify it. it seemed very weak (i got the 160gph one). so i modified it alittle bit and it seems to be better. ill post a diy for that as well.


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## liquid134 (Feb 22, 2010)

ok! well i found my camera cable! so here are some pics.

Here is what my tank looked before i took the gravel out.









heres after i put majority of the sand in (notice how low i brought the water down)









Here fish are back in... i waited a couple hours before i filled the rest of the tank.









here is when i filled it up fully (prior to doing a water change)



























and here is how the tank is currently setup (after 1 water change and about 2 days it cleared up amazingly)


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## moto_master (Jun 23, 2006)

Hey thanks for the journal, and the pictures! I was wondering what kind of filter you use and what kind of filter media? And, have you been watching the water parameters; have you had any spikes in Ammonia or Nitrites? I was wondering if a change of substrate would cause the tank to cycle again...


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## liquid134 (Feb 22, 2010)

i use an aquaclear 70 (which has been acting up on me actually lately... not getting alot of water flow threw it) and i use all 3 stages of media (the foam, carbon and the biomax pack) and i havent checked much other then Ph... and that seemed to be fine. As far as ammonia, i got a sensor mounted in the tank about 2 days ago.. and still saying all is safe.


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