Cleaning Sand

[RadioHitandRun]

thinking about doing the switch to a black sand as my substrate, but i aheva few questions....

i know that a dark substrate brings out a fish's colors more,a nd they perfer the sand more.

but how is sand for cleaning and for live plants which i have in my tank?

 

[black angel]

I just cant manage to clean the junk off the sand with a gravel vac.It rises up the tube but then falls back down. I have to take the end piece off and use the hose to syphon up the mess but i usually take up sand with it.
I persevere because the fish like it better than gravel but i have to syphon the dirt off more often than i would with gravel as its unsightly.
Hopefully others have a good way of doing it as i would like to know as well.

 

[xoedusk]

Swirling motions to create a mini whirlpool seems to help many members.

 

[n3ont3tra]

I've heard people hold the GV just above the sand, but I've never had sand so have no idea whether this works.

 

[Iron Man]

You have to get the hang of it but that's the last thing that should keep you from getting sand....its easier to clean than gravel.

 

[Griz]

With practice it's no more difficult than cleaning gravel. The trick is to get the siphon hose close enough to the sand that you pick up the crud without getting too much sand with it. Use the end of the siphon hose to create little whirlpools to get the crud up off the sand and suck it up. You will find areas in your tank where it collects like corners and around the base of plants and rocks; concentrate on those areas. It's a skill that takes practice and is a bit hard to describe. Try different sizes of tubing until you find what works for you. I think mine is around 3/8" ID. The thing to remember is that with gravel, it may look clean but that's only because the majority of the waste is buried. With sand, it's all on the top. I like to siphon off the bottom every time I do a water change.

 

[x-fish]

making a mini whirl pool really helps trust

 

[black angel]

Funny thing is it used to work for me really well. i could get the muck off the sand by doing figure 8 movements and it would dissapear up the pipe. Lately though it just sinks back down again so i dont know why, so i take the vac thing off the end and use the hose.