Substrate cleaning frustrations

[Mastiffman]

i had a common pleco that size. i sold him for the same reason. 2 other suggestions get rid of the sand or use a net and scoop the poop

Yeah, they do enough to even worry about keeping them in my opinion. I keep my tanks free of algea by scraping...

I have 2 10" plecos and 2 kpralia 1050s in my 125g, the powerheads made a huge difference. What poop is left I use a hose from the gravel vac without the tube and no turs gets left behind. If I wasn't so impatient I could clean the sand with minimal loss but I'd rather pay $5 for a 50# bag of pfs once or twice a year than waste 5-10 minutes a week saving sand.

Another alternative is a bit heavier substrate. Reef Grade Aragonite by caribsea is what I use and it's awesome! Looks great and is heavy enough that it does get sucked up into the filters or vacs!

 

[erk419]

Like others have said take the plastic tube off the hose and just use the hose. If possible run it out a window instead of the sink and let gravity do its job. If that doesn't work well for you get a hose that's smaller in diameter then what your using. Usually a smaller diameter hose equals greater suction power.

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[MeatHook]

First off, I wouldn't waste any time with using the facet adapter with the python. A. it wastes fresh water (and the energy to make it freash) B. you will get way better flow if you attempt to start a siphon and let it drain into a ground level drain instead of being pumped back up to tank level and into the sink.

Thanks for your reply and suggestions Mastiffman. I always use a gravity fed siphon and only mentioned using the faucet adapter since I wanted to head off the suggestion to use it. I have tried it though to gauge if it would be of help with my issue. It wasn't.

Secondly, remove the most decor you can and stir up the tanks water quite a bit! This bring most of the debris into the water column enabling you to use a fine mesh net to rake the water clean of large pieces of waste.

The problem here again is the weight of the substance I'm trying to remove. It is heavier than the sand and stirring it up only succeeds in burying it. Not a good choice.

Lastly, I would invest in some pwoerheads like a Koralia model to cause a current that will left the waste off of the sand but not lift the sand. I would then use a spraybar on the output of one of your filter(s) so that it creates a roll of the water column from front to back.

The same problem as above. Too heavy of waste and too light of a substrate. I did originally try a powerhead but it either moved the sand or wouldn't move the detritus. There didn't seem to be a sweet spot. And I do have a spray bar attached to the return on one of my filters. It has not had much effect.

Alternate method, get rid of the Plecos. They are messy fish in general because of the waste they create!

Yes, I suppose that is an option but one that is off the table for the time being. Besides, that's the easy way out and what fun would that be?

Thanks again for your help...

 

[MeatHook]

Thanks to you all for the suggestions. I have tried using just the siphon tube and not the gravel vac portion and while it does pick up the bad stuff it also gets the sand pretty easily. I do like the idea of the putty knife and the net "pooper scooper" (Thanks Kaiser) I'll give that a try.