Sand Vac Ideas?

[Fishman0]

As the title explains... I need some ideas to vacuum sand.

I know you can use a siphon tube and hover over the sand bed to pick up the debris, but some sand is picked up sometimes. I was wondering if anyone had an idea more along the lines of a Python type DIY that will "act" as a gravel vac but work for sand.

I know it probably wont work as well for fine sand but for larger sand like PFS it should "tumble" in the tube right?

well lets see if anyone has any ideas that can help a few of us...

 

[CODzilla]

I use a clear tube that is about 12" long and a diameter of a couple of inches attached to the end of a hose that I run to the drain, I hover it over the sand and get the bulk of the mess up first and then dig it in to the sand as I used to when cleaning my gravel which gets rid of any other waste and air pockets and the only time I have trouble with it sucking out sand is when I leave it in the sand for too long. I am using Aquarium Silica sand (not sure how this compares with size of grain).

 

[roarbot]

The longer and wider the pickup tube is, the better.

 

[Pharaoh]

There are a few members that have made a pump driven vacuum system. I am currently working on one, but I don't have any pics.

 

[spiff]

The simplest thing I found was to keep a kink of the hose in my hand and use it as a throttle control. Then you simply squeeze to throttle the flow back when I see the sand getting too high. Then you can use a regular gravel cleaner.

 

[The1and only]

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235716
So I copied this one and named it the poo sucker 5000. 5 found out that the 1 micron carbon filter that came with the water filter was to dense to flow water. I switched to a 20 micron filter and it work pretty good. I plan on adding a UV filter between the filter and the pump for some extra polishing. I still need to wire the the plugs to the switch. I turn mine on and do filter maintenance then vacuum the sand and use the out put to stir up the sand to prevent anaerobic pockets.

 

[Fishman0]

nice work... i used my old Diatom Vortex D1 when i had the gravel but never witht he sand

 

[TwistedPenguin]

The simplest thing I found was to keep a kink of the hose in my hand and use it as a throttle control. Then you simply squeeze to throttle the flow back when I see the sand getting too high. Then you can use a regular gravel cleaner.

This is exactly how I do it. Simple, easy, fast and no added tools needed

 

[MeAko]

The longer and wider the pickup tube is, the better.

I don't agree. I used a big coke plastic bottle and DIY'd it into a gravel vac, it didn't work very well, because the coke bottle was too wide, lessening the water pressure going into the hose.

I changed it into a hand size mineral water bottle, too small, gravel kept going into it, so now, I'm changing into a 1 liter mineral water bottle, this should work.

 

[Err]

The simplest thing I found was to keep a kink of the hose in my hand and use it as a throttle control. Then you simply squeeze to throttle the flow back when I see the sand getting too high. Then you can use a regular gravel cleaner.

Same here, except I put some felt on the ends of a pair of pliars and used that as a choke/throttle control for the vac. Its easier to use than kinking the hose and if you have a hose with a loose end you run a lower risk of pulling the end out of the bucket/tub or w/e you drain into.