Cleaning your sand in planted tank

[lee_k]

Hi all,

So sand...plants... and cleaning - how do you do it?

Siphon? - anyone use the battery powered ones? any of them any good?

Just a small net and let the corys do the work?

Thanks
Lee

 

[seangee]

Ha, that's controversial .

I don't clean mine but many others do. Please don't think of Corys as scavengers or clean up crew. They do need to be fed and don't eat waste. The do do a great job of aerating the sand and taking care of any uneaten food. I also have Malaysian trumpet snails in all my tanks.

 

[Essjay]

I siphon any debris off the top of the sand in open areas, but I don't use a tradition siphon tube, just the narrow tubing part.

 

[Byron]

I have play sand in my tanks, not very deep though (depending upon plants, but generally 1 inch at the front, maybe 1.5 at the back), and I rarely touch it.

 

[Back in the fold]

I really want to try sand substrate so this is a question that's been on my mind too. I have always had gravel and have always used the gravel vac. The fine particles of dirt that come up with the gravel vac make me think I'm doing a good thing and helping filtration and reducing bad waste products, so not cleaning the sand seems a bit foreign. I had a bad experience with sand many years ago. Somehow I inadvertently caused an anaerobic gas pocket. Thinking about this I think I may have used a super fine granulation of sand that all you guys aren't using. But you just have to clean it don't you ?

 

[seangee]

But you just have to clean it don't you ?

I used to religiously clean mine several times a week until some people on here advised not to. My tanks was already well established. I thought they were crazy - especially an hour after the bristlenose fed. But its always pristine in the morning due to a combination of the work done by the bacteria and MTS in the sand. Obviously if you have areas where dead vegetation collects you need to deal with it but general mulm will take care of itself. I was only willing to try it for a week, but after that week I realised they were right.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

So you don't siphon your sand @Byron?

 

[Byron]

So you don't siphon your sand @Byron?

No normally or regularly. If a plant leaf turns to mush I will siphon that out, and sometimes I do run over the sand, I was doing this in my 10g with the pygmy cory fry.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

No normally or regularly. If a plant leaf turns to mush I will siphon that out, and sometimes I do run over the sand, I was doing this in my 10g with the pygmy cory fry.

So how to you deal with the fish waste? Do you just leave it?

 

[Byron]

So how to you deal with the fish waste? Do you just leave it?

Yes. I never actually see it anyway...which brings up a point that should be mentioned.

I am dealing with tanks of relatively small fish, and the waste easily gets down into the sand where snails and bacteria rapidly deal with it. If the tank is not over-stocked, and if the fish are not overfed, this should never cause problems.

Aquarists dealing with much larger fish probably have to deal with the waste more actively than simply letting the natural processes handle it.

 

[M!NK]

I just siphon it. Sift through it a little and all is good

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yes. I never actually see it anyway...which brings up a point that should be mentioned.

I am dealing with tanks of relatively small fish, and the waste easily gets down into the sand where snails and bacteria rapidly deal with it. If the tank is not over-stocked, and if the fish are not overfed, this should never cause problems.

Aquarists dealing with much larger fish probably have to deal with the waste more actively than simply letting the natural processes handle it.

Small as in smaller than a betta fish?

 

[Byron]

Small as in smaller than a betta fish?

Mostly, yes. But a Betta is small anyway. By larger fish with waste issues I was thinking more of those with tanks of Central American cichlids, or those with plecos. I would vacuum every water change with such fish.

 

[Kritastrophe]

I rake with my hand or the handle end of my net to release any gas bubbles from decomposing matter that could build up and become hazardous and I also siphon with my python over the top to pick up uneaten food and waste during my water changes. Just don’t plunge if you siphon with a python bc it will pull out the sand.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Cory's and Malaysian Trumpet Snails clean my (pool filter) sand - I never touch it,