sand substrate and a general question

[reds_21]

I was reading the "sticky" about changing to a sand substrate and have a couple questions as well as an off topic question

in the sticky it mentions to drain all the water but 8" or so. do you need to keep that much water so the tank doesnt have to recycle? would it be wise to drain all water and remove all gravel and just have the olf filter media to re-cycle the new set up?

if using sand substrate, i have a couple rubbernosed plecos, would the sand hurt them in any way since they are bottom feeders? i also have cory cats, same thing, would they be harmed?

i have had a problem with pond snails in the past. if i were to do sand, they wouldnt have a way to get to the bottom of the sand to hide right? they would all remain on the surface of the soil right?

last but not least. i have a 12" common pleco and a couple rubber lipped plecos. i am finding that my 55 gallon tank, which houses these is constantly contaminated with poop. every 3-4 days this thing needs vacuumed out. it is really nasty. is it the common pleco that is killing the environment or could it be all the plecos? i realize all fish go poop but it seems to be a huge amount. before you start ranting how the common pleco shouldnt be in the 55 gallon tank, im getting rid of him tonight to a LFS. i bought him when i was first starting out and didnt do my homework :scry: anyways, in the 55 gallon tank i have 7 danios, 2 corys, 2 tetras and a rainbow shark. i couldnt imagine that those few fish would kill the clean environment. is it indeed the pleco(s) that kill the environment?

[rich311k]

Sand will not hurt the bottom dwellers. If you are going to remove the fish then yes remove all the water when pulling out the old gravel. Yes, a pleco that size could make quite a mess. Good decision finding him a new home.

[jb300m01]

I was reading the "sticky" about changing to a sand substrate and have a couple questions as well as an off topic question

in the sticky it mentions to drain all the water but 8" or so. do you need to keep that much water so the tank doesnt have to recycle? would it be wise to drain all water and remove all gravel and just have the olf filter media to re-cycle the new set up?

If you remove the fish you can remove all of the water. Just remember to put some of the tank water in a bucket and put the filter media in it so the bacteria doesn't die

if using sand substrate, i have a couple rubbernosed plecos, would the sand hurt them in any way since they are bottom feeders? i also have cory cats, same thing, would they be harmed?

They will be fine. The cory's will love you for the sand, as long as it has no sharp edges. They can bury themselves... They will also sift through the sand for food. Pretty need watching them suck in sand and shoot it out through their gills (another reason the sand should be smooth as possible)

i have had a problem with pond snails in the past. if i were to do sand, they wouldnt have a way to get to the bottom of the sand to hide right? they would all remain on the surface of the soil right?

Don't know about this one.

last but not least. i have a 12" common pleco and a couple rubber lipped plecos. i am finding that my 55 gallon tank, which houses these is constantly contaminated with poop. every 3-4 days this thing needs vacuumed out. it is really nasty. is it the common pleco that is killing the environment or could it be all the plecos? i realize all fish go poop but it seems to be a huge amount. before you start ranting how the common pleco shouldnt be in the 55 gallon tank, im getting rid of him tonight to a LFS. i bought him when i was first starting out and didnt do my homework :scry: anyways, in the 55 gallon tank i have 7 danios, 2 corys, 2 tetras and a rainbow shark. i couldnt imagine that those few fish would kill the clean environment. is it indeed the pleco(s) that kill the environment?

Don't know about the BN's but the common pleco is a poop factory. I too used to have a lot of poop from my pleco. After I gave him to the LFS my tank was nice and hardly any poop

Answers in red!

[Lady Hobbs]

Your pleco's will poop just as much no matter what's in the bottom of the tank. It's what they do best. With sand, the poop will all lay on the top, tho. Easier to get rid of but certainly more noticeable......as has been noted by pleco's keepers.

[reds_21]

thanks for the info guys. lets say i have my fish that are shown in the signature MINUS THE COMMON PLECO, how quick would the tank fill up with poop? could i atleast go a week easily without having to vacuum or is once a week the norm?

[rich311k]

I do water changes and vacuum weekly. Does not matter how dirty the tank is, the fish do much better that way.

[Lady Hobbs]

Without the pleco, you should be able to vac the top off the sand once a week to 10 days. That would be about normal maintenance. Only takes a sec to run the vac over the top.

[reds_21]

thanks, i like the sound of that!!!! right now i do weekly but i go through filter media like crazy. i have an emperor 400 and i couldnt imagine that it would be that nasty just cause of the food and normal living conditions. the poop, i would think, adds to the contamination.

i would just hate for the sand to be nasty and dirty after a few days only cause you can see it better than with gravel

[Lady Hobbs]

Wash your filter pad out in old tank water. It's expensive to keep replacing and that's where your bacteria is. You can use the pad a long time by just rinsing it off like that. I use cheap filter floss in all my filters. Don't buy those filter pads ever.

[reds_21]

*GASP*, for real!!!!!!!! i thought once it was contaminated to nastiness, it was time for new. about every 2 weeks.

i can rinse and wipe off and continue??? that is awesome!!!!!!

[reds_21]

whats wrong with the filter pads besides the cost?

can you send me a link to the stuff you use so i can see it. if im reading correctly, you just stuff your filter "box" with that filter floss, no blue filter at all? wont the current of the water push the floss up and out of the filter and in to the tank?

when i say filter pads i mean those blue square filters that slide into the filter housing.

[Lady Hobbs]

You betcha. I clean all my filter floss out in a bucket of dechlorinatored water or tank water all the time. That nasty thing has the good bacteria, too, and that's where your cycle is.

The filter pads are fine but they can get costly if you have several tanks. When I had filters like you have now, I purchased pillows from Walmart ($2.50 on sale) and used the filter floss inside for all my filters. I bought the filter pads about 5 months before saying heck with that stuff. I also don't use charcoal so wanted to get rid of those pads. You can buy filter floss in bags at the fish store but it's $4 for 8 oz and I can get a heck of a lot of pillow stuffing cheaper.

I just crammed the floss in the filter box and put the lid on. That's it. I have since changed all my filters to Aqua Clears and canisters and still use this floss in my cansiters. Aqua Clears are all sponges you also just wash out in dechorinated water.

If you want the charcoal use the pads.

Floss you buy looks like this or similar.

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[reds_21]

how bout a link to where i can buy it so i know exactly what it is thumbs2:

[Lady Hobbs]

Read previous post. Links at the bottom. Buying a pillow is cheaper.

[sheamurai]

If you're that wary of buying the wrong stuff, you can get bulk filter floss from the lfs, then you'll see what it is you're looking for and for the next batch you can go hit walmarts sewing section for the pillow stuffing, lol...

[domjd05]

thanks for the info guys. lets say i have my fish that are shown in the signature MINUS THE COMMON PLECO, how quick would the tank fill up with poop? could i atleast go a week easily without having to vacuum or is once a week the norm?

The poop will settle on top of the sand, add a power head, or lower the water level to create current in the tank, which will stir up the poop, I do this on all my tanks that have had sand, poop is the least of my problems.

[Mith]

When I changed out my substrate, I first removed the old stuff which was actually not gravel per-say, but pebbles.

When I added my sand blasting sand I added it wqhile the fish were still in the tank. However, I was VERY maticulous about cleaning the sand prior to adding it and fortunately I had almost zero clouding, if any!

Sands great and very easy, if now easier, to clean than gravel. If I aim my spray bar right, all the poo gets sucked up into the filter!