How often do you siphon your substrate and how do you do it?

[alyrchd]

Can i siphon the substrate before a water change but put some of the water back
in?
Exemple: if i’m going to do a 10L water change but to siphon the substrate i have to take 20L out, can i put the 10L back in and top it off with new water?

 

[blaxsun]

How often? Never. But in answer to your question, you can put all the water back if you run the syphon through a filter sock first to catch most of the gunk.

 

[SilvermistInc]

Never. That's what my diamond goby and conch are for.

 

[Jonny Walker]

I just stir/chop mine up lightly before every second water change.
I don’t have a special siphon just a hose so if I’d tried to siphon it, it would just suck it all out lol, I could get one but it works so far.
My tank is only 25g and sand bed about an inch so I’m not to worried about extra nutrients overloading my system when stirred.
Some people with larger tanks and heavier bio loads do portions of the bed every water change or so with a valve on the hose to slow the flow to get the crud and not the sand.

 

[agame2021]

It’s called a diamond goby works 24/7 and never have to touch my sand again