Changing Sands

[Bennlfer]

Is there any way for me to change my sand without taking my fish out and draining the tank?

If so, what is a good way to get all the old sand out?

[Dave66]

Sorry, no, because all the goop that's in the sand in your tank would make a huge mess if you tried to make the change. You'd have to move the fish to another tank, drain the tank, dry it out, and with hands start scooping out the sand. You'd have to wash the tank out with the garden hose or similar to start getting all the debris and any remaining sand out. Dry the tank out, then add the new substrate.

Don't know why you use sand anyway, since it compacts and turns anaerobic fairly quickly. Fine, lime free gravel would be a better choice.

Dave

[dancethenparty]

did that once...never seen my fish so freaked out they were actually jumping which they don't do ever. plus i thought it would be easy to scoop the sand out while the tank was half full....it took two hours. and theres still sand. i would not advise a)having fish in there while you take the sand out or b) having any water in there whatsoever.

[Northernguy]

Its also so much faster with the fish in a bucket or other tank.

[HorrorShowRot]

yea It causes the fish alot of stress. I have tried cleaning out sand and made a huge cloud the fish freaked out and you could see it on him he lost his coloring for about an hour. I felt so bad...

[i_am_511]

Are you having problems with the sand? I would say just dont change it or take them and and try seeing how much of it you could suck out.

anaerobic happens very quickly. I would say that isnt true. Alot of people here have talked about this. If you dont have more then 2inch deep of sand you dont have to worry about it. Move the sand around every time or ever other time when you do water changes you SHOULD be fine. Its people on here you claim to not have touched there sand very much in a year and were ok.

[gadget228]

Curious to why you want to change it also and what type of sand did you use to begin with.

[Bennlfer]

I am using silica sand now, but i want some black sand cause it makes the fish's color stand out more. My fish look all light colored now.

[Cristoff]

You could syphon the old sand out (it would take quite some time). I did that in my 10 AND my 29 Bowfront.

Getting new sand in is a different issue though. I replaced mine with gravel (because I found out that I HATE sand) so it wasn't too bad. You would never get new sand in there without making a HUGE mess unless the tank is almost empty.

This is just my humble opinion, and as such amounts to little to nothing!

[Bennlfer]

Thanks guys. I think im going to wait for a while because i just got my tank up and running. But one day i will change it haha.