Evening All

I'm Hazel and I am still a mere beginner at this keeping fish lark (up until a couple of years ago I was convinced that fish tanks were better suited as gerbil homes)

I have a 125l tank with guppies (lots), tetras (not so many), danios (more than I want), 2 loaches, 2 plecos, a blue Dwarf Gourami and 2 apple snails.

Some of my fish:








I want to do a couple of things and I'm here for advice - I want to change the substrate in my tank from gravel to sand if it's not too big a thing and I want info on how to make a more interesting environment for the fish. I'll be spending a lot of time trawling through old posts and hopefully won't have too many stupid questions to ask...

howdy
and welcome
first of there is never stupid questions we are all here to learn
so ask what ever you want
all the best
karlo

welcome on board hazel, you've a nice selection of fishes, why do you prefer sand to gravel? what live plants are in your tank?
Andrew

welcome Hazel,
doing a substrate change will be a messy job but i personally prefer sand to gravel, to ease your pressure buy a few big buckets empty about 80% of the tank water into these(try not to suck up the crap by the gravel , this you can empty out with the gravel), run your filter in the bucket (to keep media alive) along with your heater (but keep an eye on the temp) quickly strip out your gravel, have your sand pre rinsed and empty it into the tank refill with water you've stored in the buckets, add heater (might sound stupid to say this but plug them out when taking in and out of water and allow heater to cool down before adding it back to the tank) turn all back on using water from tank will speed up heating stage as it should take too long to strip out gravel, top up with fresh treated water.... preferably heated to tank temp(another good reason to have a spare heater), decorate and when at temp add filter which is tankfully still alive as it has been running in the bucket with your fish in it , then add fish

hope this helps, and remember the only stupid question is the one you didnt ask but you may get some stupid answers
enjoy the forum
Seamus

Welcome to the forum Hazel

Welcome to the forum Hazel
You will get very good advice on the forum and any question is a good question.
All the best Eoin.

Hi Hazel and welcome to the forum

It probably is easier to change from gravel to sand substrate than the other way around. Though sand looks good, I'd be afraid of scratching the glas while cleaning it and have had the Dorset pea gravel in all my tanks for this reason.

Sheag35's process above looks like the simplest and best way of doing it.

Anyway, best of luck with your project. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to post.

Welcome again.
Valerie

Welcome to the forum Hazel.
Here is another method of changing the substrate in your tank that wouldn't involve emptying your tank.
You will need 2-3 buckets.
Switch off the heater. Fill 2 of the buckets with tank water and place the plants and fish in them. Cover these with a towel to prevent them from jumping out and it will stop them getting stressed.
Remove any decor left in the tank. Now use a large net to scoop out the gravel. The tank will get a bit cloudy/dirty. Don't worry about this the filter will take care of it.
Before you pour the pre washed sand in switch off the filter. This is to stop any sand getting sucked in. Once the sand has settled on the bottom you can switch the filter back on.
I would check on the fish at this stage.
After about an hour most of the particles floating around the tank will have been removed by the filter. You can then put the fish back in and top up the tank with fresh water.
The next day i would change the prefilter in the filter but dont clean the media. A lot of the bacteria needed to remove the Ammonia and Nitrite live in the substrate meaning the bacteria in the filter will have to catch up so i would feed the fish lightly for a week and do some small water changes daily or every second day for a week.

If you were changing from sand to gravel it would be easier. Just syphon out the sand when doing water changes. Once all the sand is gone you just add the gravel using a net or some tuba-were. No need to remove the fish or decor.

Welcome to the site