Sand Assistance?

[attibones]

So earlier today I drove an hour to pick up my new (used) 55 gallon tank with its stand (which is a converted old stereo. Very cool looking). I removed all the gravel in it (almost) as it was nasty. I don't think the previous owner ever touched her gravel vacuum. Anyway, this is going to be a lovely community aquarium with cories, cherry barbs, angels, and maybe a ram or a jewel cichlid (maybe). I know the cories will prefer sand, but I've never used it before and I need some advice about cleaning it.
 
My cories will probably be a mix of pandas and albinos so I'm going to get black sand. I have a gravel vac, can I put a pair of, I dunno, my sister's panty hose over the siphoning end to clean? Or should I swish around the sand to kick up any gross stuff for my vac and filters to clean? I'm hoping the shrimp and cories will do a good enough job with cleaning, but you never know. So does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Marnee]

I have sand but I have to say I have never vacuumed the sand.  I don't have any sediment sitting on top of my sand.  I guess my filters just do an excellent job of cleaning, as well as the cory's.  I would think that you would just hold the vaccum slightly above the sand and do your best to pick up any waste without pulling up too much of your sand.  If you swish it you will have sand floating and you don't want to suck that up the hose any more than you have to.  
One thing I will suggest and wish I had done when washing the sand.  Wear a mask of some sort over your nose and mouth.  I didn't and the following day my throat was definitely hurting from all the fine dust I was breathing in while washing all that sand.  Never will I do that again without a mask on. 

 

[attibones]

Oooh I will definitely use a mask. How did you clean your sand? I read something about a bucket, but it was really confusing. I've only ever used gravel.

 

[Marnee]

I put a small amount in a bucket at a time.  Then filled the bucket up with water and swished the sand a bit.  Dumped the water and kept refilling and swishing and dumping until the I was able to see the sand in the bottom of the bucket without any cloudyness to the water.  Probably took about ten or so fill / empty's to wash each bucket of sand.  Then I took the washed sand and dumped it in the tank.  Once I had as much sand as I wanted I filled the whole tank with water and waited until the following day to start the filters, giving the sand time to settle.  I had no cloudyness by morning.
I should have added a bit more sand though as now I don't have it as deep as I would have liked.  So I have the unpleasant job now of adding sand to an already
established tank.  I was impatient and wanted to get the tank set up asap, so I made myself be satisfied with the smaller amount of sand.  Learn from my mistake and be sure to add as much sand as you think you will need so you don't have to go back and redo this at a later date.

 

[CezzaXV]

What Marnee says is right.

I washed my sand in the same way, but it takes a long time for the water to run completely clear so I must admit to not doing it properly. It still clears after some amount of time, so if you don't get it 100% clean it's not a big deal, just means you might have cloudy water for a few days.

 

[frapadoodle]

Aye washing/rinsing the sand is a chore.
As for vacuming the sand. Many ways to do so. I just swirl my siphon hose around just above the sand to lift up any detrius. Also I just have playsand, so any sand sucked up is easily replaced. Some folks attach a stick to tbe end of the siphon hose to stir the sand.
One more word about rinsing sand, when you think you're finished, do it one more time.

 

[This Old Spouse]

All good advice. Rinse, rinse, then rinse again. 
 
And you should clean the surface now and again using your syphon. Just make little whirlpools above the surface and you'll see the detritus lifting off the surface and going up the tube. The cory and shrimp do NOT clean up the poo, just the food that's found its way to the bottom. Nothing eats poo. You and your filter are responsible for cleaning that.

 

[frapadoodle]

All good advice. Rinse, rinse, then rinse again. 
 
And you should clean the surface now and again using your syphon. Just make little whirlpools above the surface and you'll see the detritus lifting off the surface and going up the tube. The cory and shrimp do NOT clean up the poo, just the food that's found its way to the bottom. Nothing eats poo. You and your filter are responsible for cleaning that.

Not true, bacteria eat poo, just takes a long time.
And every so often my dog tries to eat poo.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Oh, cut that out. 
 
If you'd like to wait around for the bacteria to eat up all the poo left by your fish, don't post photos of your tank. 

 

[Marnee]

Aye washing/rinsing the sand is a chore.
As for vacuming the sand. Many ways to do so. I just swirl my siphon hose around just above the sand to lift up any detrius. Also I just have playsand, so any sand sucked up is easily replaced. Some folks attach a stick to tbe end of the siphon hose to stir the sand.
One more word about rinsing sand, when you think you're finished, do it one more time.

 
so true!