Another solution is to not put a huge amount of sand in the tank. Maybe an inch or less and it will get moved around enough between the bottom dwellers and cleaning so there won't be any problems. I have my ray w/sand and he is constantly blowing into the sand searching for food, so that helps alot. It's funny to look at the sand and see all kinds of little pits in the sand where he's been blowing into it!
Also, I use a regular syphon for cleaning just like w/gravel. Maybe a little bit of the really fine sand get sucked up, but nothing really noteable. I've never had a problem w/it getting into the filters either. It settles back down to the bottom fast enough so there are no problems. I've never put sponges over the intakes.
Hey, BTW, are you gonna get me a 75 gallon or not?
Beth