Blowing vs sucking sand

[SanFernandoValleyAIOReef]

Is it better to suck sand or would blowing it do the same if it goes into to overflow & into filter floss

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Blowing hurts nothing. Grab a turkey baster and get to work.

 

[Dan_P]

Is it better to suck sand or would blowing it do the same if it goes into to overflow & into filter floss

Sounds like a line from the movie “Space Balls”.

What are you trying to achieve?

 

[SanFernandoValleyAIOReef]

Sounds like a line from the movie “Space Balls”.

What are you trying to achieve?

Lol & clean my sand! I moved.a 30g & 15g into a 80g almost a month ago sand is dirty, haven’t touched because thought it was diatoms at first & BRS ppl say to leave it alone, but sand is still dirty & haven’t had to clean my glass since I set it up! So I’m guess it’s Dino’s because I didn’t add more bacteria after adding half new sand & 1/4 new rock

 

[jda]

Gavel vac might be better. Don't go too deep or else you can disrupt any anaerobic bacterial populations that you have.

 

[KrisReef]

This reminds me of a joke about two guys trying to get a camel to drink water at the oasis. One guy holds the head underwater while the other guy starts sucking at the other end of the digestive tract.

" Pull his head up a little. All I'm getting is sand."

 

[Dan_P]

Lol & clean my sand! I moved.a 30g & 15g into a 80g almost a month ago sand is dirty, haven’t touched because thought it was diatoms at first & BRS ppl say to leave it alone, but sand is still dirty & haven’t had to clean my glass since I set it up! So I’m guess it’s Dino’s because I didn’t add more bacteria after adding half new sand & 1/4 new rock

Hard to imagine a wrong way here. Moving sand from two aquaria into one should have jumbled everything completely is my assumption. What was buried is on top and the surface sand buried, If I am correct about the turn over, I can’t see that it matters much what you do..

 

[dangles]

It seems like the advantage to sucking is that whatever junk you stir up goes right up the gravel vac tube, vs into open circulation. I would think blowing just stirs up all the crap and now it's floating around in your tank waiting for some other export method (filter sock isn't going to catch much of what you get out of your sand I don't think).

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

It seems like the advantage to sucking is that whatever junk you stir up goes right up the gravel vac tube, vs into open circulation. I would think blowing just stirs up all the crap and now it's floating around in your tank waiting for some other export method (filter sock isn't going to catch much of what you get out of your sand I don't think).

You blow with a baster then vacuum. You could also use a flocculant then baste and skim.

 

[SanFernandoValleyAIOReef]

Hard to imagine a wrong way here. Moving sand from two aquaria into one should have jumbled everything completely is my assumption. What was buried is on top and the surface sand buried, If I am correct about the turn over, I can’t see that it matters much what you do..

Meaning I did it wrong & there’s no hope? or I just have to wait it out?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I use a turkey baster to stir up the detritus in a section at a time. I used to use a gravel vac, but I have a ton of micro brittles. I would vac out the bottom, then have to keep the waste water bucket around for a day as the brittle stars would crawl up the sides and I then I would have to put them back in the tank. Besides I feel that stirring up the detritus can be a form of coral food. Also of note, I run a fairly shallow sand bed, so I am not worried about trapped toxic gasses so much.

 

[Dan_P]

Meaning I did it wrong & there’s no hope? or I just have to wait it out?

It is likely the aquarium sand will behave as if you are starting a new aquarium and will likely experience nuisance growth no matter how you want to clean the sand.