Sasukii

I was wondering if you can use a gravel vac in a tank with sand... Right now I have purple gravel in my tank, and was thinking about adding some sand in the bottom. I love how easy it is to use my gravel vac, but was curious if it would just suck the sand out when cleaning. If so, then no sand... I'll get another kind of rock, maybe even some river rock, as i saw some cool stones at LFS... I also want to get more plants and some more decorations... but everyone else here thinks the tank already looks 'so full' and 'can't hold any more'. I would like the environment to be as interesting as possible for the fish, some places for them to swim through, and places to hide. More live plants too, as these fake ones are blah blah blah. I love the live plant I have.

mathas

Yes, you can.

Rather than plunge the vac into the sand, just hover it above the surface. Since the waste mater doesn't fall through sand like it can through gravel, vacuuming the surface will do the job.

edit: it's not a bad idea to stir the sand every once in a while to remove any gaseous pockets that may be developing, but if you use your gravel vac for this, make sure the suction is off

Sasukii

well, as my gravel vac is basically a syphon, and that's it... I can't turn the suction off, I'm still deliberating on the sand, I bet I just go for rocks instead to just keep it easy Thanks though!