I just got a substrate vacuum for my tank and was wondering what's the best way to get up all of the waste without having to remove all my sand can I just vac the surface untill I get up everything or do I need to remove it all clean it then put it back in?
sand vac
- Thread starter shadyfish
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Fishguy2727
Aquarium Advice Addict
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The sand I use keeps all the debris on top so I can just hold the vacuum over it and remove it. My tanks have enough flow that I don't need to vacuum.
glassbird
Aquarium Advice Freak
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What kind of substrate vacuum did you get? And do you have real sand, or is it more like gravel? With your typical gravel vac, you do not need to remove the gravel at all. That's the whole point to a gravel vac...it cleans the gravel in the tank while doing a partial water change. There is some technique involved in using a gravel vac, but if we know what kind you have we can be of more help...
reefdiver
Aquarium Advice Addict
remember that you have to stir up your sand once in a while. you dont have to remove your sand.
glassbird
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So it's the kind that siphons water into a bucket, right? Not a python-type, that empties into a sink? And do you have actual sand, or is it larger pieces, like small gravel? I can't help too much with issues specific to sand (never had it), but I have had various types of gravel in tanks for 30+ years so I can help a bit there. I have also had UGF filters for most of that, so gravel is more than just decoration to me.
ejaramillo01
Aquarium Advice Addict
None fish will ever replace the proper take care of the tank, this means the proper weekly removal of the excess debris, pop, etc from the sand.
My recommendation is to keep doing your weekly water changes and cleaning your sand, if you don't have a heavy population in your tank, you can vacuum your sand every other week.
Again you don't need to remove the sand, use your siphon and remove the derby from the top gently passing the siphon on top of the sand.
Hope this helps
My recommendation is to keep doing your weekly water changes and cleaning your sand, if you don't have a heavy population in your tank, you can vacuum your sand every other week.
Again you don't need to remove the sand, use your siphon and remove the derby from the top gently passing the siphon on top of the sand.
Hope this helps
dbeckwit
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
exactly. i just put some sand in 1/3 of my tank and have found a great way to vacuum it without removing any sand:
about 2 inches above the sand with the vacuum flowing, swirl the intake in little circles. This will create a sort of tornado effect and pick all the debris up off the top of the sand.
austinsdad
Aquarium Advice Addict
Even if you do vacuum some of the sand and don't wan't to lose it, i'd situate a net at the end going into the bucket. From there, I'd likely rinse whats in the net and return it to the tank. Worked that way for me in SW applications with fine arogonite sand - which is a lot easier to suck up when cleaning.
Watch this video. It's a good way to clean sand.
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