Cleaning Sandbed Question

[JesseMessykinn]

Ok so when I do my water Changes I use a solid tube about 6inches taller then my tank. Most of the time I can Get MOST of the poop up, but it seems I cant get all of it. So my Question is...

What sould I do about the Left over poop? It kinda makes the sand look "dirty". Is this going to be Harmful to my Fish/Inverts?

29G 2-3Inch sand bed. Lightly Planted ATM.

 

[aa108]

the waste left over from the fishes decompose and produce ammonia which eventually become nitrates if you have a cycled tank. if the nitrate levels build up too high, it can hurt the fish and especially the inverts. Plants use nitrates so if you have a ton of plants, they can take care of the negative effects of the waste.

 

[jlk]

Just an idea, but maybe you need a smaller grav vac to get everything sucked up. A tube 6in taller than the top of your tank sounds a bit big to thoroughly do the job in a tank this size. Something that can go below the water line would probably work better.

 

[jcolon]

Ok so when I do my water Changes I use a solid tube about 6inches taller then my tank. Most of the time I can Get MOST of the poop up, but it seems I cant get all of it. So my Question is...

What sould I do about the Left over poop? It kinda makes the sand look "dirty". Is this going to be Harmful to my Fish/Inverts?

29G 2-3Inch sand bed. Lightly Planted ATM.

If the poop is in the area where the plants are, I leave them. It'll decomp into ammo which your plants can use as nutrients ... aside from nitrates.