sunda

Hello Folks,

Can you pease give me some tips & advice on how to maintain tanks filled with some fine sand in the bottom.

I already have a small tank (l*H*B = 2*1.5*1 resp) and am planning for a 3*1.5*1 sized tank. I do have polished chips in my old tank and for the new one am planning to put some sand material as a base in the bottom.

My worry is, when the fish produce waste, if it is gravel, it goes down & using the siphon system, after reducing some water, we can stir in between the gravels using the same siphon tube pipe & all the waste materials fishes produced are taken away or sucked out.....if it is sand will the waste go down under the sand as like gravel or will it be over the sand. In any case if i use the siphon system sucking the waste, won't the sand too travel in the tube....how to maintain and what's the process behind this.....is that required to take all the sand out changing to new dump in which case are we not changing the whole cycle at all ? please clarify...

Sunda.S

sunda

guys, can you pls. help me...

Callum The Cat

Chief_waterchanger

Before you do the waterchange make sure you stir up the sandy substrait. Take your siphon hose and run in a tight 's' pattern through the sand, do half the substrait per waterchange. So stir one half of the tank, do the waterchange, next waterchange you do just repeat with the other side.

Once the sand has settled in a tank you won't lose much when you siphon what has been stirred up. (by settling I mean the cloudyness most people face for the first day or two of having sand in a tank.)

sirdarksol

I have something of a different method of dealing with it.
#1 I have plants that love any of the waste that has settled deeper into the sand.
#2, I have Malaysian trumpet snails that dig into the sand, breaking up any anaerobic pockets that they come across. (Either this or Chief Waterchanger's advice is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, you could end up with a bubble of anaerobic bacteria, which can produce absolutely horrible toxins. Botulism is anaerobic, to give you an example. Then, if anything disturbs that pocket, and something will eventually, it could release a whole bunch of toxin into the water)
#3, I skim the vacuum over the surface of the sand. I don't get very much sand, but I get all of the waste when I do this.

Chief_waterchanger

Sirdarksol has good suggestions also. The Malaysian Trumpet Snails are beautiful little snails that don't eat plants (atleast mine don't), they munch on algae and stir up the sand for you.

sirdarksol

One suggestion with the Malaysian Trumpets, however. Clean your tank of algae before introducing them. I had something of a population explosion because they had so much food available (might have something to do with the temp, too. The tank is a balmy 80+ degrees for the betta living in there)

mlinden84

I'm a little late replying...but I just thought I'd offer advice on how I do it without snails. Twice a week I vacuum, keeping the syphon about 1/2 inch about the sand. The poop and everything else will get sucked up, but not much sand. I've noticed that the poop stays on top of the sand (I have very fine white beach play sand). Every 2 weeks or so I shut off the filter (so the sand doesnt get sucked into it) and stir up the sand.

lovethosefish

But wouldnt all that sand hurt the fish if it is stirred up ? I mean how can they breath if the water is cloudy with sand . I have sand also and have ordered some Asian Clams help me with some of the cleaning of the tank , and i am scared to have a snail explosion so I dont want any of those .
I know the clams cant do it all , so I am in the same dilema about how to clean my sand .
Thats why I love this site , I get so much help . And believe me I really appreciate it since this is all new to me .

angelfish220

So far my sand substate is working out beautifully! It is a coarse sand so after washing it before I put it in the tank it took all the dust out of it so when i stir it it settles right back down. MTS would be great but my LFS dosent have them... I just stir it every weekend, make sure you movethe decorations and stir under them as well and you will do fine with sand.

lovethosefish

Sorry ,but what is MTS ?

miker

According to this discussion/topic - Malaysian Trumpet Snail

(otherwise it is Multiple Tank Syndrome)

sirdarksol

Angelfish, head to a Petsmart if you have one nearby. They usually have Malaysian Trumpet Snails in their tanks (at least around here), and I think they consider them pests, so you could probably snag a couple for free (or really cheap, at least).
I think you can usually find them on Aquabid pretty cheap (I've seen one auction that started at 1.00 for 10 of them.)

lovethosefish

LOL miker , that will be me ( Multiple Tank Syndrome ) if I dont stop buying fish . It almost seems addicting , learning about them , taking care of them , and BUYING them . I find myself @ the lfs @ least once a week to look @ all the fresh waters . Cant look @ the salt waters cause they r so cool I would have to have a salt water tank . LOL

lovethosefish

I am so frustrated with the cloudy water . I have tried everything I can think of to clear it up . I even got some crystal clear and used that last night . Got up this morning and water STILL cloudy . Fish all seem fine , their active and they are eating good . I have some glass cat who are a very delicate fish and they are even doing well . My tube coming from the canister filter even has merkie water in it .
I AM REALLY FRUSTRATED !

sirdarksol

I've posted a response to this in your thread about cloudy water.