Sand/gravel Vacum Recommendations? Please!

[guppiegirlie]

After recently changing from gravel to sand I'm waiting a half decent gravel cleaner/vacum to clear all the detrius from my sand.

I have a small gravel cleaner/syphon which does pick up a bit of muck but also picks up a lot of sand too!

I've just done a water change and clean up this morning and there is still a lot of crap sitting on my sand it's driving me mad.

Is there anything anyone would recommend, or am I just going to have to deal with the fact that sand shows a lot of what gravel generally hides!!!

 

[fluttermoth]

You can either get used to it (and, as long as the crap is just fish poop, dead leaves and things like that, and not left over food, it won't cause any problems) or you can take out some sand, along with the crap, and put the sand back in later, after cleaning it in your bucket

 

[Alasse]

I swirl the gravel cleaner above the sand, stirs up the crud but leaves most of the sand behind...........or i change the sand over to PFS, which you can clean like gravel

 

[guppiegirlie]

It's just poop lol and too he honest it's not too bad at the front it's by my BNs cave, he's a mucky pup!

I just feel like I'm fighting a losing battle with him!

The swirling over the sand is a good tip... I'll give that a go next week, I've been looking on eBay at the battery powered vacum they have, would anyone recommend or am I just throwing my money away?

Thanks guys

 

[fluttermoth]

 I've been looking on eBay at the battery powered vacum they have, would anyone recommend or am I just throwing my money away?
 

 
I've had loads of different gravel cleaners, over the years, and nothing works as well as a simple siphon, IMO.

 

[guppiegirlie]

I thought as much! I'll give swirling a go next time see how I get on, thanks again guys

 

[Essjay]

I think I'm the only person who takes the wide rigid part off the siphon tune and use just the flexible tubing to clean sand. I just couldn't get on with the wide bit. I start the siphon by filling the tube with tap water and putting my thumb over the tank end till it's all set up, then take the thumb away and start siphoning.
 
And I also swirl the end of the tube to lift the mess from the bottom, and wash the sucked up sand in the bucket and put it back.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Edited for spelling.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Have to agree that the simple gravel cleaners do better than the battery operated ones, at least thats what I have heard, they are not all that not worth the money.
 
I have fine sand in one of my tanks, i find that using the smallest syphon works best as the suction from that is more controllable and doing gentle circular movements maybe a centimeter over the sand creates a sunction that brings nearby crud and poop quicker and easier to the syphon.
 
Takes a little practice to get the syphon to work the way you like and then becomes second nature when comes to doing gravel vacs on fine sand.

 

[guppiegirlie]

I have two gravel siphons, a bigger one which
was fab at cleaning out the gravel and also have a smaller one which is the one I use over the sand as the bigger one is just too much!

I think once I get the nack of it I'll be OK, it's just when your used to having a good root around in gravel, sand is a bit of a shock to the system lol.

Thanks again for all the advice guys!

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

My experience with sand has been different from what you all are describing and I knew this going in. With good enough circulation, the stuff doesn't settle much and the sand itself does not need vacuuming.
 
I'm about seven months in and so far, every time I stick the gravel cleaner into the sand, there is nothing but a bit of sand dust that comes out. I have awesome circulation with an oversized canister filter w/ spray bar and a single, strategically placed, power head in a 33 gallon tank with lots of large rocks. I rushed the fill on my last water change because I drained way more water than I wanted too and had to refill with a small bucket. I was stirring up the sand and getting nothing but a little sand dust. I'm sure I've got a couple of dead spots but I'm not that worried about it. I've got a total rescaping and restocking in the near future.

 

[RCA]

Swirling over sections then syphoning works for me. In the cory fry tank I use a large syringe with airline attached. I tried a turkey blaster but this was not very successful.

 

[betta fish]

I agree for the larger tanks a manual syphon is best, as others have said just swirl the syphon above the poop to get it in suspension and then start it up and that should work. I do have a battery powered pump for a small 13L cube tank upstairs that I find better than a manual pump as it is such a small tank you can't really get a manual going as not enough space to get a vacuum going but that is the only time I would recommend one!

 

[guppiegirlie]

OK guys, water change day, and I got a new siphon a smaller one and tried the swirling. Took a bit of getting used to! But I think I managed, it looks a lot better than last time!

I suppose practice makes perfect Ey...