Whats the most efficient way to clean light sand substrates?

[CiderLovesFish]

Have light white sand substrate in my 40 gal tank and feel like it is pretty hard to maintain.

• I used a Fluval small Gravel Vacuum Cleaner but it's very easy to get sand out of the tank when trying to suck the fish poops.
• I have a marineland water filter and I am not sure if I should switch to any other water filter for better flow over the sand.
• The fish poops seem to accumulate so fast after my cleanup. 

Any advice? Shall I change my vacuum, water filter, or tank setup to make it easier for the cleanup? Just feel like it is really hard to keep up with the poop build-up in the sand ; (

Thanks!

 

[Galabar]

The key is pinching the tube to control the flow (watch the thumb at the beginning of the video):

 

Edited January 2 by Galabar

[Miranda Marie]

I don't think the poop is very noticeable in these photos. The aquasoil mixing with the sand is more of the issue, but that's harder to fix.

[jwcarlson]

You have to learn to feather the flow.  I do that by pinching the hose, but depending on physical limitations that might be tough.  You can also use a shutoff valve (like most Python systems come with).  

Edited January 2 by jwcarlson

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/1/2024 at 5:03 PM, Miranda Marie said:

The aquasoil mixing with the sand is more of the issue, but that's harder to fix.

magnet sticks! Really cool trick.

Alright, so I want to start by showing you a comparison, and then let's break down what's going on.

Fine sand:

Moonlight
Typical Size: 0.25 – 0.75mm

Sunset gold
Typical Size: 0.25 – 1.0mm

medium-course sand:

Crystal River
Typical Size: 0.5 – 1.0mm

Torpedo Beach
Typical Size: 0.5 – 2.0mm

In terms of something like grain size is where you're going to run into the issues that you're experiencing.  The smaller the grain size, the easier it is for it to be suspended into the water column.  The larger the grain size.... or the larger the smallest grain size is.... then you run into a situation where sand can actually act exactly like gravel.

Because of my experiences with the first 2 shown above, I've ruined pumps and equipment and siphoned many a tank worth of sand because it's that light.  Once I stopped really putting myself in that position, it's been enlightening and something where I won't ever use a fine sand like that. 

Now, let's take a look at an example.  This is my shrimp tank and it has the #3 example above as the substrate.  I think it's actually extremely fine sand visually, but it's just a scenario where I am having an ease cleaning that sand because of the grain size.  I'll attach two photos, both of which show very, very dirty sand and I am working on cleaning it.





After cleaning, ignore the algae up front, but you get the idea.  The yellow tinge is due to the botanicals in the water.  The photo above just has the wrong color balance.  Above you see a bit of a "peppery" look to the sand, below that's been cleaned out.



So I would start with grain size, based on that you're going to have to adapt your tactics on how you clean things.

[anewbie]

The problem is for a given grain size not all substrates are the same; for some reason moonlight is my bane causing major head-aches if it is more than an 1/2 an inch deep; estes stoney river which is somewhere between crystal river and moonlight hasn't had any issues up to 2 inches deep - and i don't fully understand why - as to cleaning stuff will sink into moonlight but on the estes stoney river (black substrate) stuff stays on the surface and can be easily siphon off the top. I havent' had pool filter sand long enough to comment on it - it is also between crystal river and moonlight but i think it is suppose to be denser and have similar properties as the estes stuff. Folks in the dwarf cichild forum recommend play sand but no first hand experience there.

As to your question when i had moon light i would lightly siphon into it (i use sponge filters exclusively so getting into pumps wasn't an issue); but mixed with soil i'm not sure i would do other than scoop the whole mess out and start over.

 

I've used moonlight, crystal river and torpedo beach; the later two seem ok but most of the fishes i keep really prefer a very fine substrate and moonlight is not suitable for planted tanks given that it develops aeneroaboic pockets too easily.

 

 

Edited January 2 by anewbie

[Tanked]

On 1/1/2024 at 7:13 PM, CiderLovesFish said:

Have light white sand substrate in my 40 gal tank and feel like it is pretty hard to maintain.

• I used a Fluval small Gravel Vacuum Cleaner but it's very easy to get sand out of the tank when trying to suck the fish poops.
• I have a marineland water filter and I am not sure if I should switch to any other water filter for better flow over the sand.
• The fish poops seem to accumulate so fast after my cleanup. 

Any advice? Shall I change my vacuum, water filter, or tank setup to make it easier for the cleanup? Just feel like it is really hard to keep up with the poop build-up in the sand ; (

Thanks!

 

Unfortunately white sand just doesn't stay clean very long  My tan pool sand was cleaned 3 days ago and its already collecting debris.

When cleaning the sand, I use only the siphon hose (no tube).  Cutting the tip at about 45 degrees  allows more water to flow in from the side, pulling more debris and less sand with it.  Whatever sand you do pick up can be rinsed clean in a shallow bowl and returned to the aquarium.

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/2/2024 at 7:20 AM, anewbie said:

Folks in the dwarf cichild forum recommend play sand but no first hand experience there.

It's very dirty, a lot of fines, and it's slightly finer, but similar to the sunset gold stuff above.  The sunset gold is like the "deluxe model" version and it's got some of the junk removed from it.  SG is definitely beach sand in texture while play sand is like that stuff you see in sandboxes (of course).  It's hard to explain, but hopefully that makes some sense.

 

[Bill]

I rarely if ever clean the sand layer that caps soil. I usually add a mix of various size pebbles over the parts where the sand is visible, around rocks and other hardscape.  Gives it a natural look. When I do water changes, which I don't do often, I use a 3/4" tube and hover it an inch over the bottom (or over plants) and shake it just enough to stir up anything that's light and loose, like any old plant decay, or breakdown of any driftwood shavings.  The one here has a good amount of light color sand visible. 

[nabokovfan87]

For ref. this is moonlight, I believe.  my 55g was the sunset gold.  I'll see if I can dig up a closeup on the sand of that.

Same stuff in this tank:

 

 

This is the sunset gold.  Algae on the front, but that gets cleaned.  Little bit of debris in the back, but generally clean. 

If you want "clean sand" it's definitely achievable. 

 

Edited January 2 by nabokovfan87

[govsfabshop]

I would suggest maybe try out a wavemaker/powerhead and play with positioning to try to keep the detritus suspended so the filter grabs it. I always dreamed of having a white sand planted tank and tried it out with a small 3.5 gal self contained like cheap top fin tank from petsmart and it has been a nightmare, the flow is so minimal and is great for the beta i have in there who is thriving but i just cant keep the sand clean and probably should just change the substrate. 

I went black sand in my 125 and while it is a bit heavy filtered after a little playing with the ACO powerhead i just have one or two spots where debris will collect behind rocks/driftwood structure that need gravel vac'd,  otherwise everything is clean. I wish the ACO powerhead was adjustable/ tiltable but even going straight across the bottom it kept all the debris moving and for the price you really cant go wrong trying it out. i currently moved it to the top corner to "help push" my fx6 output across the 6' tank and its still doing a decent job but there is a bit more gathering places for the debris than when i had it low

[TOtrees]

You need some cories! A herd of salt and peppers, if you can get them, pandas if not (based on what I see of tank size and stocking). 6-8 at least. Between cories and decent flow, mulm and poop and detritus will constantly be kicked up and make its way into your filter, or at least collect is gentle pockets and corners where you can collect/vac it more easily. 

Also, for sand cleaning, don't clean IN the sand, clean OVER the sand. The swirl and suck method is great. Hover over the sand maybe 1/2" above it, gently swirl the vac in a  small circle, then hold the vac in the center of the little vortex you just made.