cleaning sand with your suction hose.

[Tiric]

For those who have sand in their tanks. And when you do your weekly water changes and what not. Do you suck up any sand and you clean the bottom with your suction hose. Or is the sand heavy enough to fall back down?

I am not sure what I would like to use. I like the look of sand. But dont want to suck it up.

thanks

[JLake]

I only use sand in all my tanks. You will lose a little sand with the suction method but if u give it time the majority of sand will fall out the bottom of your gravel cleaner. That being said if u ram the cleaner deep into a few inches of sand u will suck a lot up or clog cleaner.

Edited January 31, 2010 by JLake

[Wingin' It]

If you're simply using a hose, the sand gets sucked up, but if you use those vacuum attachments then you won't suck up much if any sand. If you go with sand, you should get yourself some MTS to help stir it up

[strayner]

For those who have sand in their tanks. And when you do your weekly water changes and what not. Do you suck up any sand and you clean the bottom with your suction hose. Or is the sand heavy enough to fall back down?

I am not sure what I would like to use. I like the look of sand. But dont want to suck it up.

thanks

I use a standard gravel cleaner with the plate in the suction tube that catches large debris. I also have both my tanks in sand. What i do i lightly skim the surface of the sand and it will easily pick up the debris. If you're trying to get a little deeper its fine to just pick up some sand with it and do a swirling motion to get the sand out. Usually after a water change I suck out some of the sand, but it's pretty minimal and it's not a hassle at all.

[Bluecan]

If you're simply using a hose, the sand gets sucked up, but if you use those vacuum attachments then you won't suck up much if any sand. If you go with sand, you should get yourself some MTS to help stir it up

please excuse my ignorance its been a long wknd of homework and studying :P---- what do you mean by 'some MTS'?

sand is easy to deal with when using a vac..... takes a little getting used to, but skimming the surface of the sand usually removes the debris and very little sand .

[Wingin' It]

MTS - Malaysian Trumpet Snails

[Sean Cassidy]

You can always zip tie a wooden dowel to the end of the vaccuum and let hang about 4 inches below so youcan agitate the sand but won't suck alot of it up.

[letsgofishn]

Why don't just put a net on the other end to catch any sand you may suck up!

[H22_TURBO]

I put a bucket on the other end of the hose in my sink, suck up as much sand as you want with the hose and it will just settle in the bottom of the bucket and the water just overflows into the sink, when done just dump the sand back into the tank. works good for me. :thumbs: