Hoovering Sand

[RMcdowell]

Righteo, changed from gravel to sand and am undergoing a mini cycle involving lots of water tests and water changes sigh.

In a nutshell, Im finding it very hard to hoover up pleco poo!. I know about, and can do the swirly motion action an inch or so above the sand
to cause the fish waste to rise above the sand level so I dont hoover up half my sand, the problem is that the larger pieces of pleco waste
just arnt going up the hoover or even lifting above sand level without real hard swirling causing half my water to slosh out of my tank.
When I do get the pleco waste in the main part of the hoover it just swirls round and round, dosent rise any more and eventually drops out again.

Anyone have some tips on this??? With gravel it was dead easy and its only the larger pieces of pleco waste that are causing problems, everything
else hoovers up well.

 

[RedeyesUK]

Take the end off your syphon and just use the hose for the big stuff. That's what I do, and the smaller size creates a bigger suction - just perfect for pleco poo!

Be careful though, doing it like that can suck up sand like you wouldn't believe if you don't watch out...

 

[RMcdowell]

ahh IC cheers for that, was thinking of buying a small net, but your idea sounds much better.

 

[wendywc]

I agree. The tubing/hose does a better job without the syphon section on it. It'll be powerful. Those syphons should be labeled "for gravel only" because they do a great job for hoovering the gravel without sucking them up into the hose. Not great for sand though, like RedeyesUK said.