How Does Everyone's Sand Stay So Clean?!

[xamy_valox]

Hi there,

Since having my 125 litre (about a year now) I have had sand. When I first put it in I though it was amazing, looked so clean an fresh. Now it's a different story!! I do love sand and don't think I would go back to proper gravel, but I am contemplating changing to a very fine gravel or different substrate which looks cleaner!

I know sand is better because the poop does stay on the top and doesn't just fall between the cracks but mine just looks a mess.

I syphon off the poop from the top of the sand every week when I do a water change, but by the next day there's always a spot in the back corner of the tank which is covered and looks gross. Also, on one side of the tank when you look through, where the sand is resting against the glass, it has gone greenish in parts? If I move the sand about and dig around it disperses but doesn't take line to come back.

What do people do to keep their sand looking so clean? Whenever I are photos or videos of other people's tanks they always look spotless!

I have a Fluval U4 internal filter, but I don't want to put it on full pelt incase it blows my fish around too much =\ I already have it on quite high.

 

[techen]

Because we take photos of it after cleaning LOL. Sand is the worse thing on the plant to clean and you'll have to clean it daily if you wanna keep ontop.

 

[MBOU]

Hence I really dislike sand and will never use it again!! Urgh it is a nightmare to keep clean and tbh the annoying maintenance of making it look good kind of outcompetes the only real benefit that sand has which is that its good for cories!!

Personally I think cories do ok on a wide range of substrates, so long as the stones are smooth and not too large that they can shuffle about... so for me.... I always go with JBL Manado (plant substrate) or really fine riverbed gravel.

My favourite was probably the GeoSystems fine slate that Hagen used to make they stopped making it long enough ago that its just not available any more but it was lovely, it was basically slate coloured micro gravel, not found another quite like it yet... there are similar ones but meh... not the same!

 

[nick1200]

I make sure not to add fish that poo a lot into my tank a example of one not to add are plec And then i have a "clean up crew " to clean the sand.

 

[Chad]

My sand is in a marine tank so I have lower nutrient levels and hermit crabs and shrimp that eat leftovers, detritus, and diatoms. I also have a fighting conch that lives in the sand and sweeps it clean for me. In a freshwater tank...well...I don't know.

 

[xamy_valox]

Yeah that is the main reason I went to sand - for my cories! I do still want something light like my sand, but I am just sick of spending hours cleaning it and thinking it looks great, then coming back the next day and been like WHYYYY!! Haha.

But then again I only rescaped my tank recently and the thought of messing it all about to change the substrate makes me want to just put up with it haha.

Just didn't know if anyone had any other tips!

 

[zain611]

My sand looks alright to me, the water looks crystal clear thanks to the bottle method but it sometimes slightly fogs up after i feed the fish. the different types of sand might make this happen like i use the pets at home sand which i think has silicon

 

[xamy_valox]

My water is fine, the only thing that makes it look murky is the algae on my glass that my hillstream loaches seemingly can't be bothered to clean!!
It's just the poop on top that bothers me.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

I only made the change a couple of weeks ago from gravel to sand, mainly for my corys and shrimp, and think it looks great. Maybe I haven't had it long enough for it become a mess, but I have a little battery vac that I use every couple of days to clear the top, then every week I stir it up a little and have another hoover round with the syphon during the partial water change.

 

[BigFish01]

I have had mine for a couple years now. I switched from my 55gal to my 130 gal and added more sand and rock and I love it. just have to sweep it more often. that means no more poop hiding.. lol

 

[zain611]

What colour sand do you have? me and DrSlackBladder have the pets@home sand which has black, silver and white grains of sand or i think its silicon

 

[Darr3ll]

I had really dirty sand but I decided to change the way my filter was set up...I pointed it so the outlet moved the water around towards the inlet, and with the cories in my tank the dirt gets broken up when they rummage around in the sand...makes for a tank that's a lot cleaner.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Yep, I cleaned mine 1-2 times a day... hated it, then one day tiny bits of algae grew on it too and that was a pain as it wouldn't suck up my vacuum! I changed back to a nicer looking gravel and am happy to clean that twice a week!

 

[xamy_valox]

So basically unless I want to syphon it every other day I'm gonna have to put up with it looking a bit grubby haha.
It's a light coloured, just off white sand. Just like the play sand colour except at the time I wasn't aware playsand would be ok so spent more on 'aquatic' sand haha, rip!
I think my cories do a good job of moving the poop around into places that the filter can pick them up, it's just this ones spot that does my head in but I don't want to add a powerhead as I think it would just be too much.

 

[Colonials66]

I know it sounds simple but have you tried sloping your sand to one corner? Or to the intake of your filter? I slope mine to one of the front corners so the poop ends up rolling/flowing all to the one corner to make it super easy to clean. I end up vacuuming it once most mornings but only take 5 seconds as its all in one place. Not tried sloping to the intake but I don't see why it wouldn't work.