so far ive made many mistakes seting up my tank lol i have a about a 3/4 of an inch thick natural gravel substrate in my tank and would like to use sand is it worth i to change the substrate can i just put a layer of sand over the gravel any help would be great

i think its to much of a big job to empty the tank just to change the substrate but if you feel strongly about it then do it. just save as much water from the tank as you can and keep the filters running. personally i would just leave it.

as for just adding it to the rest of whats in there i have no i dea if you could do this!

if you add sand to gravel it will settle in between the gravel and you wont see it. if you are serious about changing from gravel to sand you will have to remove the gravel from your tank (a slotted spoon works well for this). then you can add the sand into the tank. this part gets a little tricky. fisrtly you need to clean your sand very well. to do this i used a five gallon pail and a garden hose. i filled the pail about a third full then run water into the pail while swirling the sand around until the water runs clear. do this until all the sand is clean. after that you can add the sand into the aquarium by using a lenght a abs pipe. stand the pipe in the tank and slowly(and i mean slowly) add the sand. this will help in reduceing the cloudyness from the sand. then your done. this method takes a bit of time but this way you dont have to remove the fish from the tank.

btw the silt that may cloud your water is not harmfull to the fish

ok thankyou i think il just live with the gravel lol

Hey Joedodge, I can tell you the advantages of sand over aquarium gravel are woth the effort. This "operation" might look as hard work, and it is, but it's definitely worth it.

I always use natural river sand I collect myself which -to the best of my knowledge- is quite pollutant free (solid and chemical). What I do is that I place it in a large bucket with tap water, on top of that, I add some chlorine solution (e.g. Ajax, Clorox) and leave it overnight. Next day, I take some sand and place it in a smaller bucket, and literally drown it in running water.

Rinsing sand like this, until the water gets "almost clear" requires some "no-rush" attitude -expect something like 14-18 attempts-, just give yourself some "take 5" brakes. I don't like pool or play sand (not the same as river sand), but that's just my personal opinion.

The looks of sand is both pleasant and Oscars seem to enjoy it. Easier to clean than gravel (don't get me wrong, I have gravel as substrate in other species tanks, e.g. Rainbowfish, Community).

It takes me less than 5 minutes to perform deep vacuum in one half of my 6 footer (Oscars' pooh is easier to find); believe me, I need something like 15 minutes to thoroughly clean half of a 4 footer with gravel substrate. I'm working my way to install undergravel jets for tanks with gravel.

Just sharing my thoughts
Pepe
Santo Domingo

THANKYOU VERY MUCH WHAT SHOULD I USE OTHER THAN RIVER SAND IN THERE I DONT REALY LIVE NEAR ANY CLEAN PURE FRESH WATER RIVERS JUST BRACKISH

any clean building sand is fine as substrate. you can also use pool filter sand(silica sand). just make sure to wash it before you put it in your tank.


and can you please not type in caps its considered bad net etiquette(sp?)

thankyou sory bout that i didnt no