Adding sand to an established tank...

[Darla]

Right now, I just have pea gravel and aquatic soil as the substrate in my 55 gallon tank. I had an idea about moving most of the pea gravel to one side of the tank to form a mound/hill, and then putting a layer of play sand on the empty side. I'm concerned about the sand clouding the water. Is there anyway to put sand in when the tank is half full without it clouding the water? (I know it has to be rinsed first) I thought about taking a cup of sand and lowering it to the bottom with my hand over it and pouring it out at the bottom. Would that work?

Also, does anybody have any pictures of this type of set up or something similar?

[Wasserpest]

That should work fine. Or you could use some kind of tube (like a piece of plastic pipe) that's a little longer than your tank is tall, and stuff in the washed sand on the top, while it comes out on the end, close to your substrate, keeping the clouding minimal.

IMO sand isn't a great substrate to grow plants, but it does display poop very nicely. I'd rather stick to pea gravel! :mrgreen:

My 43 gal tank has some sand and pea gravel areas, click on the link below to have a look.

[Desolas]

One method that works pretty well is if your going to rinse your sand, after it's rinsed, bag it in a 1-2 gal zip lock bag. Place the bag of sand on the bottom of the tank, cut it open with a razor and slowly remove the bag from the sand. If the sand is well rinsed it should not cloud much, I use this technique with wet unrinsed sand and it does cloud but not very much.

I would not add sand to a tank with larger substrate unless your trying to get a multi layer effect, the larger pea gravel will stay above the finer sand once it has had time to all settle together.

[derekkim]

Well, it will obviously be a little cloudy at first, but your tank should clear that up in no time