Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tanks and Equipment => Topic started by: kdt1 on May 05, 2018, 09:08:13 PM
-
thinking of changing from gravel to sand and replanting but don't fancy doing it myself, was thinking of getting someone one in to do it for me, seen a local company that do that sort of thing but no idea if its a good idea and no idea of price, any one else used one if yes what did you think and what did it cost.
-
I've not used one.
Perhaps you could also try asking at your LFS to see if the company charges a fair price - sometimes they know the different companies in the area.
-
Omg. It never even occurred to me that I could have got someone else to change my substrate for me. :yikes: :yikes:
-
I've seen adverts for pet/house sitters - I wonder if you were to choose one with fishkeeping experience, might that be an alternative option for you? They may not have specific experience in decor changes, though, but maybe you have the scope to ask that. Having said that, I think the best option is the local company with professional expertise in that area, and LF's suggestion is a good plan.
-
There's a magnificent young fella at my local P@H store that would do such a job for not a right lot of dosh... Probably of no use to anybody else, unless they live in or near Derby...
-
yea but I am on the east coast.
-
yea but I am on the east coast.
It may be that there is someone equally enthusiastic in one of your LFSs/aquatic/pet stores, though...
-
yea I will have a word, found a local company but being bank holiday can't get hold of anyone.
-
found someone, change gravel supply new substrate and plant's £275, bit dear but hope it's worth it in the end.
-
I reckon it took me the best part of 30 hours (if not more) of my time. And I didn't buy anything new, just reused everything. (Except for a coconut. Which I bought from the supermarket and hasn't gone into the tank yet)
I did add more plants after sorting my substrate, but that's because I couldn't stop tinkering. They didn't replace any thing.
-
yes going to use Natural White Silica Sand.
-
Please don't use white sand. White does not occur anywhere in nature and it stresses the fish because they have evolved over dark 'substrate'. Their bodies are coloured so that when you look down on them they are dark so they don't stand out against the substrate. If you look from underneath, they are light coloured so they don't stand out against the sky. A fish that stands out is much more likely to be seen and eaten. A fish that blends in is more likely to live longer.
Sand coloured substrate is better for fish, and brown/black is even better.
The same applies to gravel.
-
I agree with Sue on the white substrates... I have some white sand myself and now consider that to have been a bad choice... If I were doing your project but with my hindsight, I would pick natural coloured sand...
-
checked again it's not pure white but a natural colour.
-
Much better...
Many of the specific colours of sand have been dyed, if I've understood things correctly...
-
I used children's play sand and although it is natural sand coloured , it actually looks quite white underneath my aquarium lights. Unless it's dirty.
-
Same here Helen... it also work out A LOT cheaper than buying an aquarium branded product.
-
so went down my LFS and got him to come out to do it, removed the multi coloured gravel dump all the plants and started again, so now on sand most of new plants in others out of stock being done in 2 weeks, he cleaned all the tank internal filter including pump, all the external filter pipes heaters tank cover lights, looks nice and strange looks bigger.
-
I reckon my tank looked bigger too after refurb. Which seems strange because apart from substrate there's now more in there. ;)
@Matt playsand was definitely cheaper for me as I just repurposed some that I'd bought for my kids!
-
yea its a 5 foot so quite big, but now because he has minimized it lot of open spaces. more eye catching as well.
-
We need a photo...
-
not finish yet but here it is
-
Looking nice & neat there... Trying to visualise it from before the changes now...
-
worse than this
-
What's the low level plants? It looks like it's on a mesh mat.
-
it was but the fish kept pulling the moss out.