Changing Out Sand

[jackalexander]

I want to change my sand to a smaller grain because I think it looks nicer, is there a safe way of going about this or is too risky?

 

[James M]

The best way to do it is to siphon
the sand out while doing a water change and do it in sections .

 

[Uncle99]

Take out old and put back new, little at a time over a month to lessen the impact of removing some of your beneficial bacteria and allowing biosphere to rebalance.

 

[jackalexander]

The best way to do it is to siphon
the sand out while doing a water change and do it in sections .

great thank you!

 

[jackalexander]

Take out old and put back new, little at a time over a month to lessen the impact of removing some of your beneficial bacteria and allowing biosphere to rebalance.

So maybe about a cup of old sand every couple of days and add new sand at the same time?

 

[brandon429]

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

I am fairly worried about moving my freshwater setup as it is fairly overstocked (reduces aggression as no one fish gets singled out). I did fail to think about the toxicity of nitrite on top of ammonia toxicity... Here is my plan for the cichlid tank. I have gradually reduced my pH from 8.2 to...

www.reef2reef.com

we collect sandbed changes there.

 

[Uncle99]

So maybe about a cup of old sand every couple of days and add new sand at the same time?

I removed 25% every week and replaced on a 65g.

I try not to overcomplicate things

I washed the new sand a lot to remove cloudiness.

I seed my new sand by leaving it in a bucket with salt water, some flow, and heat for a week, with some bottled bacteria, I used fritz 9, then, 25% out, new seeded gravel in.

Water chemistry did not change, took me five weeks.

maybe a bit long but longer is at least safer.

 

[jackalexander]

I removed 25% every week and replaced on a 65g.

I try not to overcomplicate things

I washed the new sand a lot to remove cloudiness.

I seed my new sand by leaving it in a bucket with salt water, some flow, and heat for a week, with some bottled bacteria, I used fritz 9, then, 25% out, new seeded gravel in.

Water chemistry did not change, took me five weeks.

maybe a bit long but longer is at least safer.

okay cool! thank you!

 

[zalick]

I removed 25% every week and replaced on a 65g.

I try not to overcomplicate things

I washed the new sand a lot to remove cloudiness.

I seed my new sand by leaving it in a bucket with salt water, some flow, and heat for a week, with some bottled bacteria, I used fritz 9, then, 25% out, new seeded gravel in.

Water chemistry did not change, took me five weeks.

maybe a bit long but longer is at least safer.

Hijacking and adding to this thread since it came up in my search and presumably the OP won't mind since it's done for him now.

In preparation for adding my new fish that you commented on in my other thread I'm planning to swap out my sand bed in my 300g. I usually used special grade sand but when I set this tank up 7 years ago I went with aragamax thinking my sand sifters would be happier. Well, they might be, but I'm tired of sand storms with the slightest adjusting of flow!

I had 1.5" across the whole tank originally. Over the years through vacuuming, I've probably removed half the sand. Now there is about 1.5" and only covering half the tank due to flow keeping it one one side. It tapers off where it transitions to bare bottom.

I vacuum in sections a couple times a year so the sand is not completely filled with waste, but it's not detritus free either....

I'm switching back to special grade.

How would you recommend going about this? Think it's ok to immediately add new rinsed special grade to the barebottom half? And then swap out a quarter of the old sand every couple weeks? I can use a 1/2-3/4" PVC tube to siphon out and there is enough flow that virtually 100% of the sand and detritus gets sucked up and no nastiness gets released in the tank. My stand is 40" tall.

I've read the whole sand rinse thread and I can't remove everything and follow that process. Far too much work with my aquascape and size of tank. My wife would kill me if I asked for a dedicated weekend just to do this

Back in the late 90s early 2000s I moved about 4 or 5 times with my systems. Water and sand in buckets. Never knew that was dangerous and never had an issue..... Thanks internet for ruining everything!