I have a 210 gallon tank and decided to use sand instead of gravel. I'm starting to hate the sand because I seem to have problems cleaning it. Does anybody have any tips? If I use just a hose I end up sucking too much sand up. If I use the gravel vac the pleco waste doesn't get sucked up. I'm using pool sand.
Sand Cleaning?
- Thread starter jantilla
- Start date
I use sand and its the easiest thing in the world to clean. When you start to suck up to much sand kink the hose and it will all fall out. If it drains slow drop the end of your hose out your window or door to the outside world so it has some drop to it. I think the biggest mistake people make with gravel vac's is use the faucet adapter to drain the tank. I modified my intake tube so I can hook up a garden hose to it. Made my own faucet adapter so I can hook the garden hose to it.
Here is a good video on cleaning sand substrate: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/cleaning_sand.php
Thanks for the help. It looks like some sand will get sucked up to matter what. My plan is to use the gravel vac and a tube. The gravel vac does a good job at picking up the light stuff. It just won't pick up the pleco waste. I'm going to use a rubbermaid container as a bucket. The 5 gallon buckets fill up too fast. I have noticed that the top of my gravel vac will pop off so I may try to use just that to pick up the pleco waste. I do have a water changer that hooks up to the kitchen faucet but I only use it to fill the tank. I don't drain the tank with it since you have to have the water on the whole time. I had 50 feet of hose and cut it to what I needed. I used the extra on my gravel vac. I don't use the gravel vac included with the water changer since it's so small.
I can't imagine cleaning my 220 with syphons and buckets. Do you just not like running the water for a long time? As long as you have the faucet on it will add enough force to suck up any pleco waste you could imagine. Believe me I have 2 large panaques and a 14" L001 all with PFS and I love it!
I don't like to waste all that water. The 210 uses enough. I may have to give in though. I didn't have any problems picking up the pleco waste in the smaller tank. I'm using the same long gravel vac.
Run the water just long enough to suck up all the waste then shut it off and let gravity siphon out the rest. As for sucking up sand, try to minimize it as much as possible but PFS is cheap enough to replace the little bit you will lose.
This is exactly what I do. I leave the faucet on for 5-10 minutes or however long it takes to get all my pleco poop up, then just let gravity do the rest.
I picked up a 36 gallon Rubbermaid container that I will use when draining the tank. I have extra pump to drain the container. This might work well.
this.....
best 40 bucks I ever spent. I use it between water changes on both my 300 and my 135. Made by Eheim
best 40 bucks I ever spent. I use it between water changes on both my 300 and my 135. Made by Eheim