Yes it will you just can't press down as hard as you would for gravel because if you push down to hard it will suck up the sand so gently glide along with the vacum cleaner and if sand starts to get to far up the tube lift up so it doesn't go out of the tank. Also a bit of a warning you will need to take your fish out of the tank because once you put it into the tank their will be a "sand storm" and I think it will be bad for the fish.