sand substrate upkeep q's

[justrelax]

the sand in my 55 is kind of irritating to vac. no matter how thorough i think i am, i finish and there's still poop on it. and a bunch of sand in my bathtub.
how does everyone keep their sand clean?

 

[neoginn]

I am very interested in finding that out myself. I have a 35 sandy bottom tank.

 

[shawmutt]

I'm also frustrated. No matter how much crap I get by hovering the vaccuum over the sand, there's more left when I'm done. A day or two later it's right back to being cruddy. I'm lucky, the sand is only in my 10 gallon. I'm thinking of changing my routine to include a complete sand change every couple months--suck all the sand out and just put new sand in.

On a different note, you'll probably want to stop dumping the old water and sand in your tub. If that clogs the drain you'll be in trouble.

 

[Zagz]

What I do is I turn off my filters, do one side of the tank, then the other. The poo settles when doing the other side of the tank. Needless to say this does work better the larger the tank. I have never been 100% successful in getting all the poo but I get 90% of it. I don't worry too much as you know the fish will just poo again soon anyway.

 

[justrelax]

do you guys think getting a smaller diameter vac could make a difference? i'm sure it wouldn't syphon as fast, but maybe being able to "spot vac" would help??

shawmutt, i appreciate the heads up. i do dump the bucket at the top of the tub so all the sand just ends up in this pile. then i take that out by hand. if any actually makes it down the drain, it's minimal. my wife really likes this arrangement cause the tub gets scrubbed once a week... i'm sure the guys who make scrubbing bubbles are thrilled too $$, lol.

 

[rkilling1]

it should syphon just as fast, but now you have increased the velocity in the tube. i think all that will do is increase the amount of sand in your bathtub.


what kind of sand are you using?

i have PFS and just vacuumed today. i didn't have a problem with getting sand in the vac or not getting all the poo. i am using a python with its discharge hanging out a window.

 

[Guest]

this is kind of a pain in the butt, but this is how i do it...

I bring a cup with me when i clean the tanks. i suck the poop into the tube and while it is still circling around in it, before it can settle back down, i empty the poop into the cup and dump into the drain bucket.


it takes a while, but it works.

 

[justrelax]

i use baby sand. got it at a local brick and rock place. i don't know that there's any difference between that and pfs.

i like that idea, fishypeanut. i'll give that a shot next time and see what happens.

like zagz said, they just poo again anyways. i wonder why they have to do it on the sand in the middle of the front of the tank?!? too bad we couldn't train our fish to go in one spot. fishy litter - keeps your tank clean and smelling fresh.. lol... i wish!