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Best way to clean sand


Halo_003

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I'm redoing my scaping with new rock, will be adding more sand soon as well. What's the best way to get the old sand clean of poop and whatever before the new stuff goes in?

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What type of substrate are you using? The best method is old fashioned siphoning with a hose and attachment. If your substrate is really fine such as sand, you will need to pinch off part of the hose as you go so to not siphon the sand with the waste. Its a tedious process but the best and most functional in my opinion. Good luck! Aquariums look much better with crystal clear white substrate.

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If you are rescaping and can take all of your liverock out, siphon about 80% of the water out, get out a strong stick (like a cut down broomstick, drumstick, or piece of 1/2 PVC) and stir the hell out of the sand for 5 or 10 minutes. The water will turn black if you don't regularly clean it then dump off all of that water and get rid of it before any detritus can settle. I do this sometimes 2 or 3 times with fresh SW until stirring causes no detritus to settle. Put back the 80% you siphoned out and add some new water to fill it back up.

 

I do this every time I move and never got a mini cycle and only had positive effects on the tank from this. I regularly vacuume the entire sandbed at least once a month, but nothing cleans it like that. I've done this with between 1/2" and 3" deep sand.

 

I also do this on my pico every 6 months or so just to make sure there is no detritus build up getting stuck under my rock.

 

Note: If you have a DSB, don't do this.

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Have you seen my video on how to clean a sand bed?

Thanks guys. I got a 1/4" x 10' tube to siphon it with, will give it a shot next time I do a water change.

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Have you seen my video on how to clean a sand bed?

 

No, got a link?

If you are rescaping and can take all of your liverock out, siphon about 80% of the water out, get out a strong stick (like a cut down broomstick, drumstick, or piece of 1/2 PVC) and stir the hell out of the sand for 5 or 10 minutes. The water will turn black if you don't regularly clean it then dump off all of that water and get rid of it before any detritus can settle. I do this sometimes 2 or 3 times with fresh SW until stirring causes no detritus to settle. Put back the 80% you siphoned out and add some new water to fill it back up.

 

I do this every time I move and never got a mini cycle and only had positive effects on the tank from this. I regularly vacuume the entire sandbed at least once a month, but nothing cleans it like that. I've done this with between 1/2" and 3" deep sand.

 

I also do this on my pico every 6 months or so just to make sure there is no detritus build up getting stuck under my rock.

 

Note: If you have a DSB, don't do this.

That is a good idea. May not do it on my tank though lol.

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No, got a link?

That is a good idea. May not do it on my tank though lol.

 

It's SOP for moving a tank, why not rescaping too? There is absolutely no better way of completely cleaning a sandbed short of replacing it or killing it completely. This has been done by thousands of people successfully for many, many years - it isn't something I just made up.

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Thanks, that video definitely helps. I'll need to find a nano sized vacuum at some point.

It's SOP for moving a tank, why not rescaping too? There is absolutely no better way of completely cleaning a sandbed short of replacing it or killing it completely. This has been done by thousands of people successfully for many, many years - it isn't something I just made up.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I probably won't do it because I basically did two months ago when I moved the tank. I essentially did what you described, albeit in a different method. (I rinsed with SW instead of the stirring thing). The tank has been fishless for a month and a half now, so there's not a ton of crap on it. I mainly am trying to get that top 1/16" of settled detritus.

 

Not sure how much of a negative affect it'd have on my tank regardless of whether I actually did a good job washing it, my sandbed is in the range of 1/8"-1/4" or so I'd say. I only used a 10lb bag on a 20L. (Not that I'm going to find out!)

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  • 3 weeks later...
If you are rescaping and can take all of your liverock out, siphon about 80% of the water out, get out a strong stick (like a cut down broomstick, drumstick, or piece of 1/2 PVC) and stir the hell out of the sand for 5 or 10 minutes. The water will turn black if you don't regularly clean it then dump off all of that water and get rid of it before any detritus can settle. I do this sometimes 2 or 3 times with fresh SW until stirring causes no detritus to settle. Put back the 80% you siphoned out and add some new water to fill it back up.

 

I do this every time I move and never got a mini cycle and only had positive effects on the tank from this. I regularly vacuume the entire sandbed at least once a month, but nothing cleans it like that. I've done this with between 1/2" and 3" deep sand.

 

I also do this on my pico every 6 months or so just to make sure there is no detritus build up getting stuck under my rock.

 

Note: If you have a DSB, don't do this.

 

+1, best idea posted so far or take it one step further and remove the sand with your normal kitchen strainer, put in bucket with used tank water, use 1" hose to suck up the rest. Rinse in bucket and just pore off the water, all the crud will be gone. Put back in tank & your done, you may get a small mini cycle but it will not last over 24 hours as mine did on one breakdown & no cycle on another. See thread if you would like some detail.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/349993-dr-fus-innovative-marine-micro-30-build-questions/?p=4805475

 

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on the end of youre gravel vac tape an empty plastic pen to the vac end, that way you it wont actually go into the sand bed but the pen will actually be stirring the sand so it can get sucked up.

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Not sure how much of a negative affect it'd have on my tank regardless of whether I actually did a good job washing it, my sandbed is in the range of 1/8"-1/4" or so I'd say.

Dirty sandbed is probably the biggest source of nutrients in any tank besides actually feeding, followed closely by neglected live rock. Since your sandbed is that shallow, no matter what you do to it, as long you suck out the detritus, you won't be able to start a mini-cycle at all (even if you just stireed it up and left it, you probably wouldn't even get a mini-cycle). With a sandbed that shallow, there is no hypoxic or anoxic zones and you don't have to worry about having anything bad happening by disturbing it.

 

Besides the deep cleaning when I move and rescape, I vac mine every couple of weeks - as long as you kink the hose above the gravel vac with your free hand, you can suck up the sand and then stop the flow when it hits the top of the vac and it'll all drop right back down. With a little practice, I get less than a tablespoon of sand in the bucket after vacuuming my entire 2 sq.ft. sandbed that is about 1/2" deep.

 

You would be surprised how much crap a sandbed picks up in just 2 short months, even without feeding. For the first 6 months I didn't feed my pico and you should have seen the sludge that came out of that thing.

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I have a barebottom tank at the moment but have always prefer the look of a tank with open sandbed. However, the amount of work to clean it seems daunting, especially if its a larger tank.

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In my 20l every week when i do my waterchange i stir up a section of sand with a chopstick as i siphon water out, works good for me, sandbed is only 1/2". Plus my blue spotted watchman goby does a goos job of stirring up my sand every day

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i use a cheap gravel vac and suck up the sand on my tank every time I do a water change. I regulate the speed by pinching the tube so the fine sand doesnt get siphoned out. This way I would get a very minimal sand storm in my tank and whatever I stirred up will be siphoned out of the tank instead of recirculating inside the tank.

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I have a barebottom tank at the moment but have always prefer the look of a tank with open sandbed. However, the amount of work to clean it seems daunting, especially if its a larger tank.

Honestly, I feel like a BB tank is more work than a sandbed. My Acro QT/Frag tank has a bare bottom and it more work to keep it clean - even though it is only half the size of my DT and has maybe 1/8th the amount of rock. It takes 5 minutes tops to vacuume the entire sandbed and you only have to do it once every month or so. The first few times you do it you will probably make a mess, but after a few times you get the hang of it and it is incredibly simple.

 

Plus, with a sandbed any cyano I get ends up on the sandbed - in my BB tank the cyano ends up on the rocks where it is much harder to remove :)

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