sand maintainance...what do you guys do?

[arowfan]

Hey guys, thinking about switching to sand in my pond but I am hesitant-how do you guys keep it clean-is there any maintainance involved like syphoning with gravel?
I have rays in the pond now on a tile floor...
Thanks in advance!
John

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

You do have to siphon as the fish poop shows up really well on sand and can look bad after a while. It is tricky but I find using just a tube works well as the waste is lighter than the sand so if I position it right I suck up waste with out getting sand. If you do get sand just siphon into a bucket, pour the water out clean the sand that got in the bucket of waste and dump it back into the pond/tank. I think sand looks nicer but is more maintenance than gravel in my opinion.