# Substrate Swap



## megamax42 (Jun 28, 2011)

Well I've finally had it with the playsand substrate. 

After a large tank re-scape due to finally getting rid of BGA a sudden bloom of Diatoms came. 
Coating the plants and glass, and the initial diatoms were tough! They really took some work to scrub off.

After about a solid week of the diatoms increasing they finally started to diminish. It has been about 3-4 days since that turning point and it's gradually retreating.

I'm putting almost full responsibility on the substrate. I know playsand is either silicate based or carbonate based and since my pH is normal it must be Silicate based. Despite washing the sand 1.5 gallons at a time, and 10 rinses for each 1.5 gallons, the substrate was still dirty. Only under the surface however. I'm assuming this is because the sand leeching on top can disperse silicates throughout the water column, whereas leeching in the sand bed just stays under there. 

Anyways, every time I uprooted a plant there would be some cloudy water pulled up with it (stark white cloudy, not creamy/brown cloudy say from mulm/decaying matter) and this same cloudiness would appear if I stuck a turkey baster deep in the sand and sucked up water. I'm assuming this cloudiness is the silicates.

My problem is I would like to switch out my substrate with Fluorite Black Sand, however I would like to keep the silicates at a minimal level in the water column. 

I only have one idea so far as I have never done this before:
-Start a slow siphon and siphon out the sand.

Also do you think I should leave a little sand in there for the bacteria? And if so then should I reconsider my siphoning plan? And is there anything else I should keep in mind during a substrate swap?

Thanks for reading.


----------



## rlswaney73 (Jul 21, 2011)

I've recently swapped out my substrate, give yourself plenty of time. make sure you filter media is circulating in some tank water so your bio filter doesnt die. I went from epoxy coated gravel to SMS/Turface type product so cant much help with what do about the sand.


----------



## megamax42 (Jun 28, 2011)

rlswaney73 said:


> I've recently swapped out my substrate, give yourself plenty of time. make sure you filter media is circulating in some tank water so your bio filter doesnt die. I went from epoxy coated gravel to SMS/Turface type product so cant much help with what do about the sand.


Cool, thanks! I appreciate the help. Did you temporarily move your fish?


----------



## Silvering (Jun 10, 2011)

I've swapped sand substrates before, and I don't recommend siphoning sand - it can really pack in the hoses if you're not careful and be a huge pain to unpack so that the siphon can flow again. I had good success with fishnets, actually - the sand was a course enough grain that most of it would stay in the net and I could just scoop it out, and let the water drain back into the tank (to be siphoned out separately). It will probably be easiest to get all the sand out if you move everything out of the tank first. I have a big cooler that my fish and some tankwater go into during full breakdowns, I usually run an HOB for water movement on it. I haven't had trouble with the bio in my canisters, usually I'll just pop the lid off if it'll be a couple hours before I can hook it up again. For longer downtime, I would definitely do something more to keep the bio aerated, though!

I'm sorry to hear you've had such trouble with sand! What brand was it?


----------



## megamax42 (Jun 28, 2011)

Silvering said:


> I've swapped sand substrates before, and I don't recommend siphoning sand - it can really pack in the hoses if you're not careful and be a huge pain to unpack so that the siphon can flow again. I had good success with fishnets, actually - the sand was a course enough grain that most of it would stay in the net and I could just scoop it out, and let the water drain back into the tank (to be siphoned out separately). It will probably be easiest to get all the sand out if you move everything out of the tank first. I have a big cooler that my fish and some tankwater go into during full breakdowns, I usually run an HOB for water movement on it. I haven't had trouble with the bio in my canisters, usually I'll just pop the lid off if it'll be a couple hours before I can hook it up again. For longer downtime, I would definitely do something more to keep the bio aerated, though!
> 
> I'm sorry to hear you've had such trouble with sand! What brand was it?


It was playsand from a local hardware store, I can't tell you the name off the top of my head but I'll keep an eye out for the bag. It worked pretty well for a long time, plants were tolerant of it, looked good and was really cheap. Almost everyday in this hobby I'm finding that most of my mistakes are attributed to trying to set up the tank as inexpensively as possible.

I'll definitely keep the net idea in mind, however as far as the clogging goes, I have a 1.75 inch I.D. siphon hose that means business but if I do use the hose I'll try to stop myself from wanting to suck up all the sand at once.


----------



## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

I use sandbox sand in my tanks as a top layer to my substrate layers without any prolonged issues. The key to keeping your tank clean is to have good filtration and adequate circulation to help keep the particles suspended for the filters to pull out. Over filter your tank. For example if you have a 20g tank, instead of using 1 AquaClear 20, use AquaClear 50. That way you will continue to have adequate filtration when the filter becomes dirty. A good filtration trick for fine particles is to stuff polyfill in your filters. You can get it at Walmart in the fabric section or out of any stuff animal.


----------

