changing gravel to sand

Hello
My dad wants to change my freshwater gravel to sand. How do I do this?

My plan
Take all water into a 100g bucket with the rocks.
Take all fish and put into a 10g tank or 20g long bucket.
Put back rocks then add sand.
Refill tank with the original water add livestock back.
Does this plan work?
Will it cause a cycle?
My dad wants a diamond goby badly haha.

 

bloodkip

that will work IME - its exactly what I did earlier this year when I had to change my badly scratched tank for a new one

I removed all the water into 4 large tubs and 2 toy boxes
I removed corals and rocks as the water level dropped
I removed fish when the water level was low and all the rock where out

I threw away the last inch or 2 of water and the existing sand bed
re set the tank up
topped up with newly made salt water (made the day before) to compensate for the water lost by not wanting to get to close to the sand bed with the syphon

and then 1 week later added a new dry sand bed ( not live sand)

never had an issue, with any of the live stock

Steve

 

Can I do this process in 3 hours?
Thanks

 

I think it took me closer to 5 to be honest
but then I did have a 2 year old repeatedly standing in front if me, peering into the holding tubs to see what was going on

mine was a 5ft tank with at least 70 gallons of water, and probably 100 lb at least of rock and my routine was syphon into 5 gallon buckets I can then lift, and put water in the larger tubs which where far enough away from tank so as to give me space to move tank once it was empty

so you probably will be a lot quicker than I was as you can keep the holding tanks closer to where your working

Steve

 

I think I found a better process.
Take live rock out. Can live rock survive for a hour or so without water? Get a fish net and scrap the rock out. Then put rocks back in than sand. Can I keep the fish in the tank while this is happening?

 

how long has the gravel been in there Bloodkip?

as long as the rock stays damp its fine, so ambient temp will govern how long it can be out of water
I kept mine in water , with pumps running so I experienced minimal bacteria die off

its disturbing the sand bed or in your case gravel , that concerned me, hence I wanted the tank completely emptied and then rinsed, before putting everything back

its often disturbing a sand bed that causes the mini cycles you have read about

Steve

 

The gravel has been there since March so 7 months.

 

well that would make me less concerned, mine had been in 2 years plus hence I treated it with extreme caution

Never tried to remove gravel/ sand from tank with fish still in place

I would rather have them out of the way when I did this type of thing
but thats just me

Steve

 

Is a sand bed 2" any good for a diamond goby or snails, etc or provide benefits of a DSB? My tank is 3ft long and 15.5" wide. Buying 60lbs of sand soon.