changing out sand in 125 gallon

[bookpage]

I want to change out the pool filter sand I now have in my 125 gallon and put in Black Moon sand.

I was thinking about taking out all the wood, plants and rocks but leave the fish in the tank. Then siphon out the pool filter sand and replace with the black moon sand. Does that sound doable?

If you have changed out the substrate of your aquarium, know someone who did, or have an idea of the best way to do this, I need your suggestions.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

[wasserscheu]

I did syphon out gravel (less than 1/4" corn size), that was a mess, as I tried to filter the muddy water and return to the tank.
The fish could not see anything - ME NEITHER. Now I'd provide many hiding places that they can hide in for a while. The water cleared relative quickly. However the best may be, to bring the fish in one half of the tank and install a divider, to avoid syphoning out any fish. Do the tank in 2 steps, half by half.
However, sand will contain less mud, as it seals the surface much better. When I move sand now (0,2mm size) no dirt comes out (because non goes in) and it makes it easy to return the sand from the bottom into the various conatiners, where the fish digged it out.

[Diana]

Much safer for the fish to move them to several buckets. The change in substrate will make a mess, and the debris is not good for the fish to be breathing.
You will want to be able to do a really thorough job of removing 100.00% of the pool filter sand. TMS is so pure black that even a few grains of white sand will show up all too easily.

[bookpage]

Thank you, everyone, for your comments and suggestions. Will put my fish in buckets and clean out 125. It looks to be a lot of work, but I need to change out that white sand.

Appreciate your help.

[bookpage]

Okay, have really decided to change out the white pool filter sand and replace it with black moon sand. Moon sand is on order.

Also, while the tank is empty, I am going to put in a river manifold because I like the one on my 75 gallon so much.

Pictures will follow on a new thread. That is, I hope others would like to see some pictures.

[bookpage]

I just ordered two AquaClear 70 (802) for the 125 river manifold. Do you think that will be enough for my clowns and other boitas?

[bookpage]

No answers to my questions, but here are some video after changing out the sand.

moon lights video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=075MMOzc ... re=channel

clowns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvBHWYC4 ... re=channel

[mattyd]

Nice video of the clowns. You have a few oddball clown, which I think are interesting. I don't see too many of them in stores around me. (Oddball ones have different blotches or stripes than the standard 3 stripes).

That is a good size school. Do you have any where for them to hide in?

[Diana]

I would go with larger power heads. I have one of the Aquaclear 110 power heads and its force is lost in the length of the tank. It is not set up as a river tank manifold, though.

[bookpage]

Here is a follow up of my changing from white pool sand to Tahitian Moon black sand. Picture follow.

First I got two plastic tubs; one for plants and one for fish. One was 16 gallons for plants and other was 35 gallons for fish.

After all plants, rocks, wood and fish were taken out I started taking out the pool sand with a large net; putting the sand into a five gallon bucket (about half full because I'm not as young and strong as I once was).

After taking out 90% of the sand, I started siphoning out the rest. When the water got low, I started filling the sand with my Pylon water changing hose. Had water coming in the tank and water with sand going out of the tank. There may have been a few hundred grains of sand left when I finished.

Then put in the river manifold and 48 pounds of Activ-Flora that I picked up from Petco for $9.95 each bag of 16 pounds. (that was all they had) Then I added 7 bags of Tahitian Moon black sand. Tank was about half full of water at this time. Added plants, rocks and wood. Filled tank to top. Did not add fish until next day.

Everything turned out great. Did not loose any fish and really like the black sand better than the white pool filter sand. Of course, the black sand cost a lot more.

Any question, let me know.

[chefkeith]

Picture perfect!

[starsplitter7]

That was really amazing. Thank you for sharing.

My only problem with Aquaclears is that I get sand in the impellor, which grinds the impellor. But I am a little reckless with my water changes, and if I remembered to turn the filters off, I wouldn't have this problem.

Your tank is beautiful.

[piggy4]

Yeah very interesting , some really nice fish there too !

[digcolnagos]

I just changed the sand out in my 125g, from play sand (which was too fine and getting in impellers, no matter what) to pool sand. Making matters worse, I had an ich outbreak, my first, and in early stage, just a couple of fish showing. Since I needed to do a 50-percent water change anyway and I thought getting rid of the substrate might reduce the number of bugs, I figured that now was the time to dump the play sand.

Rather than take the fish out, I got a length of hose with a one-inch inner diameter, a big hose that REALLY pumps the volume, so get someone to help. I took out all the decorations except a hollow piece of fake driftwood that my loaches are keen on hiding in (no way of telling for sure that no one was in there), and started pumping sand out with the proverbial five-gallon bucket. I sucked out almost all of the sand in four or five buckets--it didn't take long. By keeping the end of the tube in as much sand as possible, more sand got out faster (obviously) and, equally important, it reduced the fire-hose effect. Mrs. Digcolnagos helped, holding the end of the hose in the bucket and saying "When!" at the point the bucket was full. This allowed me to concentrate on keeping the end in the tank where it needed to be. Without a helper, it would have been impossible. The hose would fill a five-gallon bucket with water in well under 30 seconds, but I got a minute or two of pure sand vacuuming with a helper watching the bucket.

I left a very small amount of sand on one end of the tank--some fish, I've found, seem to freak at seeing their own reflection on the bottom--and left the tank with virtually no substrate for a week while I completed the ich-treatment cycle. I removed all remaining sand with the final water change, then put in the new pool sand. That was a week ago and--cross fingers--so far, so good. I lost one fish, a bosemani rainbow I found dead the morning after taking the sand out, but the other 30, including all ten clown loaches, lived.

The fish were, naturally, a bit spooked when I took out all their rocks, fake plants and driftwood, but I think much less so than if I had put them in buckets. The siphon didn't seem to bother them much--they're used to the python.

I'm not sure if stress from the change-out killed the bosemani or whether it was something else. The ich is a variable I can't account for, but the bosemani was showing no signs before its demise. Still, I'm pleased with the mortality rate.

This might not work for everyone, but I think that it worked for me and was less trouble than netting fish.

[andyroo]

I've been toying with the taking the gravel and snail-shells out of my tank, but quietly put it off as I'm also toying with a re-build to about 150Gal.
From these (brilliant) photos: screw it, i'm just going to start sieving the stones out a little at a time and replacing with the local nice, dark river-sand. My gravel "floats" on the sand, so it shouldn't be too tough.

Nicely done.
A