cleaning sand

[baldomero]

just curious how do you clean sand my sand is as fine as beach sand and cant be syphoned without picking up alot of sand.

[papagimp]

depending on depth of the sandbed, you may not want to be cleaning it. I have around 4-6" of sandbed in two of my reef tanks, don't ever touch the sandbeds at all....EVER. I have clean up crews, sand sifters (nassarius & cerith snails), and plenty of current to handle that.

small nano tank though gets cleaned. I don't have fine sand in it, just larger crushed coral so it's fairly easy to vac when needed.

[TheOtherReefer]

To clean sand you have to siphon it. Run the siphon gently over the top layer of the sand bed. A small amount should enter the initial siphon chamber but the detritus should pass through. There is usually going to be a small amount of sand recirculating in the siphon chamber. It might take a few tries to get the hang of it. There are also other variables to consider also when "cleaning" your sand. How deep the sand bed is, how long your tank has been running (there could be a collection of unstable gases in the sandbed, you might not want to stir it up) etc... You can also look up some threads that cover sandbeds for more detail. Hope this helps. Cheers!!

[Capt_Cully]

I agree. I use a siphon tip like this.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewIt...333~tab~2.html

Works well, minimal sand loss.

[Blown 346]

Originally posted by papagimp
depending on depth of the sandbed, you may not want to be cleaning it. I have around 4-6" of sandbed in two of my reef tanks, don't ever touch the sandbeds at all....EVER. I have clean up crews, sand sifters (nassarius & cerith snails), and plenty of current to handle that.

small nano tank though gets cleaned. I don't have fine sand in it, just larger crushed coral so it's fairly easy to vac when needed.

I agree, dont touch the sand let the snails crabs amd sand sifters do this for you. You dont have to siphon the sand to keep it clean. By doing this you also take out beneficila life out of the sand. Thats the one great thing about reef tanks, you dont have to gravel vac like with fresh water.

[baldomero]

sorry guys i forgot to say i have a90 gallon fowlr tank .