Poo Visible On Sand

[Fintastic!]

My word, I'm amazed at the amount of poo my fish produce. It wasn't obvious with gravel but now I've switched to sand. No wonder my gravel was so dirty! Every evening I 'hoover' it up with a turkey baster. Does anyone else do this or am I mad?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think This Old Spouse does that. You can increase the circulation at the bottom of the tank and it will either get sucked up by the filter or collect in ONE location to make it easier to pull out.


Personally, I just leave it and suck it out when I do my water changes. My tank is fairly deep and I couldn't be bothered with it constantly. To be honest, my tank doesn't have that much, and I have a little fluorite mixed around so it is partly camouflaged.

 

[Fintastic!]

I think it's just because I'm not used to it yet as I'm new to sand so the novelty might wear off!

 

[fishprotector]

my tank has loads of pleco poop all over the sand. even whilst i am hoovering it up more is being produced lol. it doesnt look great but hey ho thats plecos for you!

 

[bally]

i switched to sand a few months ago and hate it, the poo make s the tank very unattractive, however i introduced an external filter as an experiment and the amount in the tank was dramatically reduced, just my tank is too small for the powerfull filter i bought. New tank coming soon, have to decide on sand or gravel

 

[Fish are friends]

I have sand in my tanks. And when I do a water change i gently move all the waste to the end of the tank and just so one hoover. I am not sure how true it is but I have heard that you need to move the sand about to release gasses that build up in it.

 

[moochy13]

The sand/gas thing is a myth, dont waste your time. I uave a lot of catfish in my tank, including a few plecs, and i get visible poo. Its annoying, but a powerful current from my new filter has helped a lot, sucking up the smaller bits and 'sawdust poo', leaving the larger bits at one end of the tank.

 

[onidrase]

My sand is always crystal clear, but it's probably due to the heavy circulation from having a 75 gallon filter stuck in the middle of it, when the tank is only 37 gallons

 

[ZoddyZod]

as alluded to above, higher filtration turnover might ease the problem. What size tank is it and what filter are you using?

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I think This Old Spouse does that. You can increase the circulation at the bottom of the tank and it will either get sucked up by the filter or collect in ONE location to make it easier to pull out.


Personally, I just leave it and suck it out when I do my water changes. My tank is fairly deep and I couldn't be bothered with it constantly. To be honest, my tank doesn't have that much, and I have a little fluorite mixed around so it is partly camouflaged.

+1 on that. So suck up the poo off my sand every night would mean im shoulder deep in the tank all that time.....My plec does a pretty good job of keeping it to a minimal. I am overdue by 2 days on my water change (i know, BAD GIRL!) and the bottom of my tank doesnt look bad at all.

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks for your replies guys. Zoddyzod, It's a Juwel Rio 180 with the internal filter that comes with it.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Thanks for your replies guys. Zoddyzod, It's a Juwel Rio 180 with the internal filter that comes with it.

I have that tank, minus the internal filter, I have sand substrate.

I have an additional circulation pump in the right hand back corner aimed slightly at the back wall, the flow running across the back. This gives amazing circulation & concentrates the poo in a localised area.

Tom

 

[Fintastic!]

Nice one Tom. That's my next project so.