Gravel vacuuming...am I doing something wrong?

[Sara]

So I just did a major redesign of my 10 gallon tank, and am totally disgusted by the amount of fish waste that is now *everywhere* in my tank. I'm confused because the sand (black tahitian moon) never looks dirty, and I'm always sure to make sure everything looks as clean as possible.

However, today was the first time in a long time that I have actually dug into the sand. I moved around quite a bit of it (was trying to plant some java fern), and now the entire tank is covered in a layer of waste. I'll be doing daily water changes to clear everything up, but I'm just wondering if I'm doing something wrong?

I do weekly water changes, generally around 25%, and trying to suck up all the visible waste that I can see with the gravel vac. I generally don't dig into the sand because (a) I end up suctioning up a lot of sand, and (b) I - perhaps wrongfully - assuming that since the sand was in a fairly solid layer, waste would just sit on the surface instead of somehow getting into the sand.

So...have my fish just been particularily messy lately? Am I not vacuuming properly? Is this amount of waste normal? I must be missing something here...

Now to continue washing washing washing...I'm a little grossed out that I just spent the past hour up to my elbows in fish poo...

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

hmmm.. sorry I dont do sand. sounds like a mess though!!

 

[SerLunchbox]

sand is fine ... however you will have to take your fingers or some tool and move the sand around quite a bit. You don't want it to become harmful (basically bacteria and toxins get trapped in the sand and if released at the wrong time can kill fish ... other people who use sand as a substrate can tell you more about it). Anyways ... wave your hand over the sand when cleaning it. This will release any waste that may start making it way down into the sand. I noticed that with my Python that the sand only slightly sucks up sand (then again, i also have a 2 foot long cylinder for the syphon).

 

[xray]

When you do you sand vacuuming you are supposed to mix the sand around a bit. This will keep you from getting pockets of toxic build-up. :? Right now just keep up the pwc until its clean. Each time mix the sand around. You don't have to doo all of it every time. Just catch it all over time.