Natural Sand Cleaners

[Jay-93]

I have Gold Apple Snails and Malaysian Trumpets in my tank but they aren't making much difference to the cleanliness on my sand.

What other things could I put in to help;

Shrimp?
6 Kuhli Loaches?

Would they work?

Thanks.

 

[Tizer]

nothing "cleans" sand, thats your job.

 

[Louiseness]

What do you mean by 'cleanliness of the sand'?

If you mean you can see waste sitting on top then no fish or invert will eat poop for you You need to siphon that off yourself.

 

[Blue Ramirezi]

truth is fish clean gravel, thats for sure, just not significantly best you clean gravel urself and let the fish do the top layer. you can use a gravel siphon ( just google how to make one) then start a suction and suck up the gravel

 

[holidayinn]

with sand use a hosepipe and syphon an inch above the sand bed or so, just so u dont syphon off sand+waste

 

[Blue Ramirezi]

+1 (sorry bout saying suck up the gravel dont just the gunk on top )

 

[Branwyn]

i find sand easy to keep clean as all waste tends to just settle on the surface unlike gravel. with my sand i do a weekly vacuum, any waste is easy to suck up with a siphon if you hold it just above the surface a couple of cms and i have 15 corydoras who enjoy turning over the surface of the sand. that alone keeps it spotless.

 

[Blue Ramirezi]

+1

 

[soybean]

A more powerful filter flow and/or redirecting the outlet should move the waste about, at least to make it gather in one area (preferably near the inlet). Fish are rarely a solution to a tank problem.

 

[Jay-93]

I do syphon it regularly, I just mean to turn it over, like Branwyn says.

 

[friendlyfishy777]

I found it tricky cleaning the sand so now what i do is scoop out as much as I can with a small net and swish it around in a bucket of tank water and then pop it back. I do that once a week.