Cleaning sand... :-\

[Civicman86]

Ok well this is my first sand tank. I searched this topic already and you all just graze the top with a vac? I have black sand and everything shows up! I hate how it does that.

What kind of vac do you all recomend? I had a cheap one that i bought with my small tank, it broke

 

[happychem]

You're talking about a deep cleaning? Is this a planted tank? If it's not planted, then go light on the substrate, you'll still get all the aesthetic benefits of the nice, dark sand but without seeing the crap that's made it into the deeper layers, or without much in the way of deeper layers.

If it's planted, then don't worry about the deeper stuff, it's just ferts.

The nice thing about sand is that usually stuff doesn't sink into the sub-substrate, but stays near the top since the sand is so fine that it packs together and keeps bigger stuff near the top for the vacuum and filter.

Now if you do need to get into the deeper layers, holding your gravel vac at about a 45 degree angle will help keep the sand from being sucked out. Also the use of a narrower gravel vac (less sucking power) will also cut down on this, but at the cost of increased cleaning time and decreased lifting power. Finally, you can try placing a new nylon pantyhose over the intake, this should help keep the sand out, but it would (I imagine) keep the gunk out too.

How fine is this sand? I use #2 pool filter sand in my 18g tank, I don't have much trouble with getting good and deep if I want to without sucking a tankload of substrata out as well.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Actually, a narrower gravel vac tube will cause greater suction on the substrate, as there is less of a step-up in diameter from the hose to the vac tube. (Don't take my word for it, take the vac tube off of your 1/2" hose and you'll suck 1/4" gravel right out of the tank w/ the hose.)

When you want to clean a sand bed that is free of plants, you can use a slender piece of PVC pipe or acrylic to stir up the sand as you skim over it w/ the vac. The lighter wastes tend to float more and get sucked up.

 

[Civicman86]

OK cool thanks for the tips. I need to buy another vac. I wonder if this could be the cause of my green water?

 

[Snake Eyez]

I clean my tank that has sand in it with my python. I just dial down the amount of suction to decrease the amount of sand that gets sucked up. I think it works great at cleaning the bottom of the tank since everything is right on the surface.

 

[happychem]

Could be that we've got two different designs in gravel vacs Rask. My bigger gravel vac also has much wider tubing running from it. The smaller one has a really narrow tube and doesn't suck as much. Um, I mean that literally.

I'll have to measure the actual diameters to see if the tube:vac ratio holds up. I know what you mean and it makes complete sense. Wider tube=stronger syphon, but wider vac spreads it out over a greater area. Although it may not be as simple as tube diameters, it probably has more to do with flow rate divided by surface area. In any case, I know what you're saying and agree with the theory, since my empirical data contradicts it, the diameter ratios must be more favourable in the bigger vac that I have.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Ah, there's the rub. My smaller gravel vac has the same size tubing running out of it as my larger, wider vac head. I didn't realize that you had one with thinner tubing( ), in which case you are correct about the reduced flow rates.