Aquarium sand

[DKlar42]

i have a 75 gallon aquarium and I love it when my tank is spotless and I hate to see when there's fish waste building up in places. I recently moved the filter head where the water gets pushed out (it's late and i can't think of the name) to create flow to intake. I've also changed the feeding to every other day to cut back on fish waste. I know fish need to poop and its normal but is there any other thing I can do to keep fish waste on my sand to a minimal? Do I need more flow or?

Fish:
4 tiger barbs
2 Cory catfish
2 pictus catfish
1 common pleco
2 Bolivian Rams

 

[tlindsey]

i have a 75 gallon aquarium and I love it when my tank is spotless and I hate to see when there's fish waste building up in places. I recently moved the filter head where the water gets pushed out (it's late and i can't think of the name) to create flow to intake. I've also changed the feeding to every other day to cut back on fish waste. I know fish need to poop and its normal but is there any other thing I can do to keep fish waste on my sand to a minimal? Do I need more flow or?

Fish:
4 tiger barbs
2 Cory catfish
2 pictus catfish
1 common pleco
2 Bolivian Rams

Add more current near the bottom to help lift waste .

 

[skjl47]

is there any other thing I can do to keep fish waste on my sand to a minimal? D

Add more current near the bottom to help lift waste

hello; This.

Hello; More flow can help and is worth a try. There can still be dead areas where the detritus/mulm will tend to settle.
It is possible to create a tiered landscape so that the flow pushes the detritus toward the intake of a filter. I did so with a small tank some years ago using class panels and winding up with four different levels. This will require breaking the tank down, drying it out, cutting some glass and a tube of silicone.

In the end a siphon used fairly often provides short term cleaning.

Good luck

 

[duanes]

To me, having a small area in plain view where detritus builds up is a good thing, because it can then be siphoned up daily, and that water changed in the process makes the aquarium water quality better.
Having the detritus sucked up into filters may be aesthetically pleasing, but does nothing for water quality, unless you clean out the filter frequently.
Pulling gunk into a filter, is not really removing it from the tank, its more like sweeping it under a rug, where it slowly releases nitrate, and other metabolism by-protects bank into the water. These by-products may be invisible, but are much more damaging concentrated in a filter, than a few turds laying around, but quickly removed by siphoning.

 

[tlindsey]

To me, having a small area in plain view where detritus builds up is a good thing, because it can then be siphoned up daily, and that water changed in the process makes the aquarium water quality better.
Having the detritus sucked up into filters may be aesthetically pleasing, but does nothing for water quality, unless you clean out the filter frequently.
Pulling gunk into a filter, is not really removing it from the tank, its more like sweeping it under a rug, where it slowly releases nitrate, and other metabolism by-protects bank into the water. These by-products may be invisible, but are much more damaging concentrated in a filter, than a few turds laying around, but quickly removed by siphoning.

Great point Duane.

 

[DKlar42]

Thank you all. Im most likely going to just do a water change and get all the waste out.

 

[duanes]

I found that if I placed my inflow to the tank from the sump a certain way (1000 mph flow rate), a plenum effect would take place below the outfall, and most detritus would pile up in the corner, nearest to the front glass. That plenum effect also seemed to create a depression in the sand, in the same spot. So it was easily siphon out all the gunk in less than 5 minutes, removing about 5 gallons of water every other day, or every day in summer. A drop in the bucket yes, but I'd also remove about 30% of old water from the tank by pumping it to the garden, every other day too.
It was a 150 gallon tank filled with vegetarian cichlids, so you can imagine, the fibrous waste was significant in the depression.

 

[mattybecks]

I have a lot of Malaysian trumpet snails which tend to eat any left over food particles as well as the fish waste. I have a tank full of haps and they can be messy. But with these snails I have not seen any fish waste since they snails established themselves.

They are also constantly burrowing into the sand and keeping it turned nicely

 

[DKlar42]

I have a lot of Malaysian trumpet snails which tend to eat any left over food particles as well as the fish waste. I have a tank full of haps and they can be messy. But with these snails I have not seen any fish waste since they snails established themselves.

They are also constantly burrowing into the sand and keeping it turned nicely

Seems like the thing I was looking for! Thank you!