posted 02-18-2004 09:07 PM         

First of all, I rinsed the sand really well the day before the change. It takes a while to rinse it, so it's important to do it before tearing apart the tank.

When I was ready to do the change, I took a few large buckets, filled them with tank water, and put the fish in them (it would be a good idea to put an air stone in the buckets, but if you don't have one, just stir up the surface of the wate every 15 minutes or so). Then I removed all the decorations, drained the rest of the water, and removed the old gravel.

The 55 gallon had a very thick layer of gravel so 1)there was all kinds of gunk that wasn't removed even with regular vacuumings so it smelled really bad and 2)I just used my large shop vac to quickly remove all the gravel.

Then I dumped in the sand that I had rinsed, added the decorations and refilled the tank (leaving enough room for the water in the fishs' buckets). If you rinse the sand really well, it shouldn't be that cloudy. I just immediately turned on my filter, waited a few minutes and put the fish back in the tank. It was still a little cloudy when I put the fish in, but it didn't seem to bother them and it was almost completely clear within a few hours.

I think it took me about an hour to do the 55 gallon.