Tank Maintance question.

[jordan3548]

I knows this is sad because I've been in the hobby for years but ive never cleaned my sand although its not very dirty I would like to clean it. I see people on here that vaccum there sand so my question is how exactly do you vaccum it? Every time I try the sand comes all the way up with the water is there a trick or something that im missing?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Are you having algae issues?

 

[90greefman]

I never clean mine if that makes a difference. Diamond goby and sand sifting star keep the top layer clean. All the good bacteria grows beneath that.

 

[jordan3548]

No not really I just have been reading through some peoples routine maintnance and noticed alot of people clean there sand. I was going through Sonny's rimless reef thread and was amazed how white and pristine his sand looks and he said he vaccums it so I figured why not give it a shot. My fear is stirring up stuff that doesnt really need to be in the water column

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Good reason to do it after looking at Sonny's tank!

 

[mikejrice]

After not doing it for a long period, be sure to do a little patch at a time at first. I use a siphon hose that gets really wide at the end. No matter what you use, you can crimp the hose off to decrease flow and keep the sand in the tank.

Michael Rice
Marine Engineers
Sent from Tapatalk, so excuse my bad spelling and grammer.

 

[jordan3548]

Never thought about crimping the hose for slower suction. Makes complete sense lol

 

[SmokeyCFH]

I usually pinch the hose with my fingers, some still gets through but the majority stays in the tank.

 

[five O]

They sell vacuums with in-line ball valves installed pretty cheap. Makes it easy to control the flow.

 

[slugwall]

I clean the sand every 2 months... I have pristine white sand... I have cleaned other peoples/public tanks and watched how the dark brown cloud of dirt just fills the bucket... I don't mind loosing a little sand you just add some new sand in and then mix the bottom up...