Keeping Sand Clean

[gatorsean]

i have a planted tank with sand substrate and it seems very difficult to keep it clean. i see a lot of people in this forum that have tanks with beautiful white sand while mine just looks plain unsightly . are there any secrets to keeping it clean?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yup. Vaccing carefully when you do a water change.


Just kidding. The biggest thing you can do to help yourself is to increase the flow at the bottom of the tank, so that your filter can pick up the gunk, rather than having it just lay there. Or at least blow it all to a specific corner of the tank, and then you know right where you need to vac to clean it all up. You could add a powerhead to move the water on the bottom a little more.

 

[gatorsean]

yeah thats what i was thinking about doing. i also have a dark colored algae growing on the bottom (it traps bubbles sometimes.) do you think increased flow would help that too? because the algae is the main problem in the ugliness department not the poo lol.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It depends what type of algae it is. How long are your lights on? The primary culprit with algae is light. 6 - 8 hours is generally sufficient for live plants. If you don't have live plants, then you don't need to turn the lights on at all. The fish don't need it. Obviously you will want to have the light for yourself to be able to enjoy them, but only have it on for 2-4 hours a day when you are around to see them.

If you have live plants have a look through this link and determine what type you have. It also describes ways to combat it. Many times increasing circulation will help with cutting out dead zones in the tank where ammonia can actually build up leading to algae. Many planted tank folks (especially those with high light) like to have their entire volume of tank water CIRCULATED (not necessarily through a filter) up to 10x an hour.

 

[gatorsean]

yeah the tank is pretty heavily planted and I only leave the light on for 6 hours but dead spots seem like a likely culprit because im only using a hob filter. and thanks ill check out that link

 

[Man of fish]

I'd get a powerhead.