Hack: Switching Aquarium Gravel to Sand

You can switch your aquarium gravel to say, and I manually removing all of the gravel with a cup or container. If you plan to remove the gravel while the fish are still in the aquarium, you’re gonna have to try to move very slowly and gently. When you remove the gravel, it is going to stir up the fish aquarium a lot of debris that has been housed in the gravel you can also switch out the aquarium gravel by removing all of the fish and draining all of the water and then removing the gravel.

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A fun little hack that I like to do while switching your aquarium gravel to sand is to just put the sand on top of the ground. This way you don’t have to actually remove the gravel at all but instead just put the sand right on top. You can start by moving the aquarium gravel to where the front layer is very thin near the front glass pane. This makes it so it will be hard to see the gravel when you put the sand on top of it in front of the aquarium.

It is possible to change your aquarium gravel to sand, it’s going to take some work. The real trick is to be patient and move very slowly so that you don’t disturb the water severely. You have to remember the gravel in your fish tank is holding a lot of bacteria and debris. There’s also a lot of good bacteria in that gravel as well. That’s benefiting your fish aquarium.

[geoffbrugger]

Bro what an amazing room to walk into, felt like I could breath the oxygen. Absolutely awesome, well done!

[dexagalapagos]

Not removing colored gravel will make it pop up later when planting things, and will make it way more difficult to deal with as you'll have to pick out individual pieces out of the sand. Just get a flat scoop, takes like 5 min to remove all gravel once all the decor is out. BTW, blasting sand contains crystalline silica, which can cause serious respiratory disease, even fatal, probably best not to breath in that stuff when you pour.

[Jay-oupd]

Had to do a double take. No way you're not Macklemore. Thanks for the video either way lol

[jillbastow]

Thank you for this video, just found your page with another of your videos. Looking to switch an established 6gal cube, lost my Betta about a month ago and the tank has corydoras, one amall pleco and snails. I dont want to lose any of the snails. Was thinking of pulling most of the water, hardscape, plants and fish into a bucket, replacing gravel with dirt and sandcap. Now I'll just top off the gravel plant heavy(have a big order coming today!)and replace the rest. Fingers crossed. Lol

[mellowmark]

I did this with two of my tanks recently. I used white sand because it just looks more natural to me. The only issue I had was I had to go back and add more sand a few days later because I had about four inches of gravel below it and a lot of the sand settled down into the gravel.

[EmilyGodbold]

I switched my aquarium to sand simply because my betta like to wedge her face in the gravel and sleep on gravel. She has a ton of plant located everywhere in the tank but she would still find the smallest place with gravel to lay on. It was ripping her fins. So now she has sand in the tank.

[leviathan]

Some people say you cant use sand and grow plants. Some say to omly use sand to grow plants. Apparently plants grow in both.

[herbeenc]

A lot of people make the mistake of completely removing the old substrate and replace it with new substrate which causes the cycle of the aquarium to crush because the substrate holds a lot of the beneficial bacteria. This is the way to do it, never remove the old substrate completely or you'll run into problems. Great video.

[vada]

Won’t the gravel eventually come up and create a top layer over the sand? That’s what I’ve always heard and seen happen in my tanks, especially with plecos, high water flow, and during refills if the stream is strong it may blast the sand away and reveal gravel.

[jmoon]

Answered my question but Left me with a few more 😂 I can’t take my fish out for one. How long did it take the sand to settle?

[lolavanenburg]

Can I put the established cycled gravel underneath the new sand in my new quarantined two foot tank ? the tank has no fish in it.. I just want to set it up ready for a hospital or quarantine tank. Do hope you can advise..Many thanks.

[SiratKhalifa]

Thanks bro. I’ve been searching the Internet to see how I can do it and everywhere I looked the post said that the sand would sink under the gravel or ammonia buildup or pockets. I’m getting some shell dwellers and have pea gravel in my tank and wanted Get some sand so I can watch their digging behavior. Question: Do you have an opinion on which sand would with best for the Shell dwellers in this type of scenario? Thanks in advance.

[lolavanenburg]

Thanks for this great video, much appreciated👍🏼🇬🇧

[toneloke]

How often do you need to change your substrate if it's soil for plants or should you never need to change it, thanks for your help take care.

[malloryconnors]

Great tip! Is blasting sand safe for most freshwater animals? I have plecos African dwarf frogs tetras and gouramis and wanna add shrimps. Do you get blasting sand at Home Depot or what? Also any tips on where to source animals? My local fish store has totally diseased African dwarf frogs that are tiny and keep dying on me I am sure it’s not a tank issue but a quality issue

[lucyturnbull]

Will the sand not just settle under the gravel? I'm reading different things..harder to keep sand clean n then some say the dirt sits on top so it's easier?

[captainobvious]

Just in time, I’m about to add sand on top of the white and blue gravel my dad had in his tank lol with changing color lights 😅

[sarno]

Do you know if the black diamond blasting sand is safe for bottom dwelling fish, such as geophagus?

[simulcast.stream]

what if I want to add the sand while the fish are still in the tank? Should I rinse the sand then?

[jgaudio]

Ok now everytime you clean the bed isn't the gravel going to come back to the top.?