Vacuuming sand

[White Hair]

Well just did a water change and vacuumed the sand, ran into what i think is a problem, the sand seems to fine and to much is going up into to tube, am i doing something wrong, is it the sand, any tips, thanks

 

[BeejReef]

Trick is to either pinch or fold the siphon tube in one hand while vacuuming with the other.
When the sand starts reaching the top of the cylinder, pinch/fold the tube to allow the sand to fall back to the aquarium floor and do your best to suck up the surrounding discoloration. It's not a perfect system

If you're doing that and can't prevent siphoning a lot of sand, it could be your sand. Another option is to put a filter sock on top of your bucket so you can catch and replace the sand. Pouring it back into the bottom through some nylon tubing or pvc helps to keep the water from clouding too much.

 

[lapin]

You can also use a big fat long python siphon tube. Sand seems to only travel so far up the tube because of gravity.

 

[Flippers4pups]

You could also get some pvc fittings and a ball valve to restrict the flow.

 

[Salty Lemon]

I use a python, let the sand get about halfway up, lift the suction end up a bit off of the bottom and slightly tilt it. The sand rolls right out, and the detritus goes up into the tube. Once all the sand is out, I stick it back in and do the same thing all over again.

 

[bacc2bacc]

I connected a chopstick to the inlet of the siphon, I use the chopstick to stir the sand up and with the siphon sitting right under it, it usually just pulls up the dirty cloudy stuff for me and leave my sand alone for the most part.

 

[Jason boles]

I’m not very good at that game either. What I do is start my python siphon in my water column.

Then I hook up a broken squirter thing with the long skinny tube to a plastic hose that goes to my small pump. I then aerate the sand and kick up clouds of dust. I do the sand twice then do the rocks. My aquarium turns into a snow globe.

I out the python to my sock in my sump and just let it roll.Hour or so later I use the hose again to knock any debis of rocks / corals as I see it. After the water settles nicely I remove the python and change the filter sock.

I also like to tooth brush scrub my algaeafter I put in the python and before I stir the sand. It get so much out.

 

[AdamB]

I just use one of my long feeding tubes and stir sand bed up as I am siphoning with python.

 

[White Hair]

I connected a chopstick to the inlet of the siphon, I use the chopstick to stir the sand up and with the siphon sitting right under it, it usually just pulls up the dirty cloudy stuff for me and leave my sand alone for the most part.

I like that,thanks