How to Properly clean Sand.

Yes, you should vacuum sand. You can use a vac with a smaller diameter so it won't suck up the sand.

What i do on my tanks is this.
I use a gravel vac meant for a 20g to deeply penetrate the substrate (on a 1/2 BB 1/2 sand 180g and a 20g 1/2 BB and 1/2 gravel). Meanwhile another tube is siphoning water out of the tank at the same time. I then use the bucket water to clean my filter media.

how often do you clean your filter media?

Maj0rFiSh said:

how often do you clean your filter media?

Click to expand...

Every week, i'll skip a week if i'm lazy

I use play sand from HD, and you basically cant vaccume it, the closest I can do is to get the syphon started and then swish it near the sand so the debris float up and then suck it up. Or just before changing you water, stir up the debris so you can just drain most with the water change and then your filter should help get the rest.

I bought the longest siphon vac I could get and it does a pretty good job of not removing much sand. I pull it away from the surface and let the sand fall out every few seconds. I also siphon into a large bucket that overflows into a drain, whatever sand I do suck up is in the bottom and just needs rinsing..

Cleaning sand

I have live sand and I like to keep it clean but will A vac do with a 46g tank without sucking up the sand?Email me at zanymaster@yahoo.com for a personal reply.Thank you.