For cleaning I take off the clear wide tube and just stick the narrow end near the sand. At first you will suck up a bit of sand with it but soon enough you will get the hang of it and it is much quicker to clean then a gravel bottom since more of the junk just sits on the top of the sand.
I don't stir it up since I have
MTS and plants to keep it clean under the surface. You can get MTS for free btw at any
LFS since they grow like weeds. Mine only come out at night too so you don't see a swarm (maybe 5 at most across the whole 55 gallon tank) durring the day when the lights are on.
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