Recycling Water when Vacuuming Sand Bed

[See Gee Sea]

In follow-up to an interesting post about keeping your sand bed clean, has anybody ever reclaimed the water after vacuuming your sand bed? I'm dealing with nitrates below 10PPM and phosphates that are nearly 0 and have been cutting back on the frequency and volume of water changes but that dirty sand is driving me nuts so I was thinking about putting a filter sock around the hose emptying the water from the tank. Any thoughts?

 

[BeMoto]

You could put the syphoned water directly into your filter sock in your sump, skip the bucket completely. Maybe clamp it into place to free up your hands.

This looks good too!

 

[IslandLifeReef]

You could put the syphoned water directly into your filter sock in your sump, skip the bucket completely. Maybe clamp it into place to free up your hands.

This is what I do when I just want to clean the sand and not do a water change.

 

[BeMoto]

Most people like to clean 1/3 of there sand bed a week. I'm not sure if i would do more than that myself. Dont want to make your tank to clean

 

[JoshH]

Filter sock in the sump and siphon to your hearts content. My new tank will have a siphon line plumbed directly into the emergency drain line that empties into a sock in the sump. Just turn the pump up of you can and siphon until you're bored of it. No buckets, wrap the hose up for next time

 

[JoshH]

Sorry, double post.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I use a old marineland magnum 350 with a micron filter to clean my sand bed.

 

[BeMoto]

I use a old marineland magnum 350 with a micron filter to clean my sand bed.

Is the red tube in the second picture the return line? Seen this yesterday and was wounding.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Is the red tube in the second picture the return line? Seen this yesterday and was wounding.

No, it's a piece of fiberglass rod to stiffen the vinyl tubing and keeps my hands out of the water.

The return is like this:

 

[See Gee Sea]

Great ideas! Much better than mine. Thanks all!

 

[I.M.JR]

You could put the syphoned water directly into your filter sock in your sump, skip the bucket completely. Maybe clamp it into place to free up your hands.

This looks good too!

I always thought about this amazing technique and I love it, my question is, even if this is removing all the debris in the sand, wouldn’t the water parameters like ph, ammonia, etc still be present in the water? Thanks

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

I always thought about this amazing technique and I love it, my question is, even if this is removing all the debris in the sand, wouldn’t the water parameters like ph, ammonia, etc still be present in the water? Thanks

correct, but keeping the sandbed clean like this can prevent numbers from climbing..... water changes will help with the parameters in the tank....

 

[excell007]

In follow-up to an interesting post about keeping your sand bed clean, has anybody ever reclaimed the water after vacuuming your sand bed? I'm dealing with nitrates below 10PPM and phosphates that are nearly 0 and have been cutting back on the frequency and volume of water changes but that dirty sand is driving me nuts so I was thinking about putting a filter sock around the hose emptying the water from the tank. Any thoughts?

yes I do, I vacuum it into a 10 micron sock temporarily located in the sump.

 

[Jimbo662]

I vacuum into a felt sock in the sump.

 

[BeMoto]

This is strictly to clean particles out. If you want to adjust water parameters you would do a water change. Or you could use this vacume method without returning the water to the tank "water change"

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

The Clear Tube is from “Powertec,” and is available on Amazon.

 

[BeMoto]

No Spill Clean & Fill Extended Gravel Tubes

Extended Gravel tubes for the Python No Spill Clean and Fill water changing system. If you need to replace your worn out, or simply just want to upgrade your water change system, we carry a variety of extended sizes. The standard Python systems come with a 10" gravel Tube. Great addition for...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Cole.mormon]

try the triton method

 

[wonroc]

Dont recycle water. Your filters socks/mesh will not catch the liquified crud in the water. Toss it

 

[Cole.mormon]

Yes