cory and loach gravel, i'm so confused

[joitoy]

I've been toying around with the idea of breaking down my tank, removing my loaches, fish, and replacing the gravel with sand.

The three dojos try SO hard to burrow, and sometimes they succeed then I fret and pace worrying they will hurt themselves.

Today I noticed my male's barbels seem a bit red, like a red vein in the center of each, and I fear it may be the beginning of erosion. I can't let that happen, so there goes the last bit of my 'me' money to buy some kind of inexpensive sand or gravel that won't be caught in the filter. This leads to three problems

1. What kind, I can't recall what the suggested brand and name was that another board member told me.

2. Do I remove EVERYONE to do it? Tank inhabitants are: 4 giant danios, 4 glowlight tetra, 2 guppies, 2 platies, 1 CAE, 3 corycats, 3 dojo loaches

3. I bought a bag of eco complete for the back of my tank where my tall growing plants are, with hopes that i could put that there, and about 50 pounds of sand in the front area of my tank for the cories and other fish to play in. It was my idea that when given the choice between the gravel (which will be in the back rooting down my plants) and the soft sand in the front, EVERYBODY would choose to play in the sand instead and let my plants be. A suggestion was to not put fish in for a week because eco complete may cause a nitrite/ammonia spike since it helps tanks cycle faster.

I've been removing gravel with every WC, so I'm downf rom the original 50 pounds of gravel to about 30 now, with most of it in the back, i thought another 20 pounds of eco complete in theb ack would be enough, then even it out with soft sand in the front. This would also keep the sand away from the filter intake (which is VERY strong). Is this stupid? The last thing I want to do is mess with things and hurt all of my fish.

I am really working on limited funds here, so I can't afford any more expensive materials and am working on a piece by piece build here.

[janma]

I use sandblasting sand, size 0,6-1,2mm. Washed it well first cause its quite dusty. Very cheap.

[loachmom]

When I changed my gravel, I didn't have a place to go with the fish. I took out one-fourth of the gravel and replaced it with new. Then I pushed the old gravel way over to the side of the tank to keep the two from getting mixed. Then in about two weeks (maybe a little less since I was impatient), I removed one-fourth more and replaced with new. I kept this up till I had all the new gravel in. Other than the tank looking a wreck for a while, it went well, and I had no ammonia spikes. I'm not sure how this would work changing gravel to sand, or with having burrowing loaches to stir everything up.

[joitoy]

I originally had about 50 pounds of gravle I've been taking out a few cups of it every water change. it stirs up such a mess too that I can tell a lot of things were trapped beneath it.

I may be at about 30 pounds of gravel now.
Going to call and get a quote on sand blasting sand today.

[joitoy]

I'm having a hard time finding pool filter sand or sand blasting sand it's enough to give someone a headache. geez.

The local Home Depot only had play sand which I was told is too heavy and causes trouble sometimes.

Searching around on ebay for brand name ideas I came across this

http://cgi.ebay.com/25-LBS-BLACK-MAGNUM ... dZViewItem

Does anyone know what size is any good?

[grizzlyone]

I use coal slag. It's used in sandblasting and can be found at most building supply stores.



You are looking for coal slag. I use it in all my tanks and I have 5 dojos of varying sizes. They love digging in the substrate. They have different sizes, I use the 12/40 grain. You must wash it well.


The manufacturer is US Minerals. The brand name is "Black Magnum".
Their phone is 800-803-2803. They have a plant in Galveston and they can probably tell you where you can buy it locally.


Cheers,

Kevin

[joitoy]

thank you! It doesn't change your water chemistry either? Mine is already jacked to begin with when it comes from the tap. I've had to stay away from aquarium sands that add or raise pH.

[joitoy]

success!!








Still have about 35 pounds of sand left but I'm washing it 10 pounds at a time in case I want to take a break. This way the fish can get used to it and play in it between my breaks to play with the kids, cook, clean, and generally rest between all of this washing. My water isn't brown, but it does have a palish white tint to it similar to a bacterial bloom. It seems to me that its dissipating gradually so I'm giving it time.

[grizzlyone]

Its PH neutral...didn't mention that..


Kevin

[LoachOrgy]

so joi, what type of sand did you use?

[joitoy]

[loachmom]

Looks really nice, joitoy.

I'm looking for sand now, too.

[Fear_The_Loach]

I've been thinking of putting some lighter substrate in my tank so my raphael and dojos may be more inclined to dig.

[joitoy]

its so cool to watch them dig. the dojos remind me of watching my dog dig up holes in the yard.


I can never keep it even and flush though. someone always comes and digs this big gap into it and makes a hill. The funny thing is that the golds would try their best to burrow fully into the gravel but once I placed sand, they stopped.

[loachmom]

The funny thing is that the golds would try their best to burrow fully into the gravel but once I placed sand, they stopped.

Now that's really interesting. I wonder why they stopped.


I came back to look at your tank. I wanted to look at your plants again.