Gravel Vac - Recommendations For Cleaning Sand

[Nick Sw]

Hi I`ve got a medium gravel vac from pets at home which works ok at syphoning the water up but won`t pick much else up (dirt , algae, sand ) The hose isn`t that long so it goes intoa bucket on a chair next to the tank I`m not sure if this has anything to do with it?

Can anyone recommend a decent Gravel vac or method or cleaning sand ?

 

[Seidge]

swirl the vac around as you hover it over the sand, this usually just picks up the debris instead of sucking sand up. i find the smaller the vac the better it is, the water moves faster and has more powerful suck

 

[pkillur]

swirl the vac around as you hover it over the sand, this usually just picks up the debris instead of sucking sand up. i find the smaller the vac the better it is, the water moves faster and has more powerful suck

I'm purchasing one of these things in a couple of weeks once I get my sand cycled to replace my gravel (ugh, I put in rocks from the quarries my company owns and it looks crappy because the detritus and crap gets stuck in between no matter how much I vacuum. They have a gravel kit and an extension rod to make it easier. One of the mods on another board I frequent swears by 'em.