How do you vacuum a tank with a sandy bottom?

I've wanted for some time now,to add sand to one of my tanks,but am somewhat sceptical because of the potential headache in cleaning(vacuuming)..does anyone have a tank with sand?..and if so,how do you vacuum that tank?

 

You hover your gravel vac tube just high enough over the sand where the waste and not the sand is sucked in. Make sure you also stir your sand when you do maintenance unless you have malaysian trumpet snails to do it for you. You nornally stir gravel in a tank when you clean it with the gravel vac. Since you are now deep cleaning the sand like you do gravel, make sure you stir the sand or have the snails to do it.

 

The debris and junk doesn't get down in the sand like it does the gravel. I just kind of swish the siphon over the top of the sand and pick up what's on the surface. I have Malaysian trumpet snails in all my tanks with sand. They bury themselves by day and come out at night most of the time, by doing this they keep the sand stirred and clean. I really like my tanks with sand.
Carol

 

yeah.. tanks with sand at the bottom looks great.. i've seen it in a couple of LFS. That was a saltwater aquarium...

 

I have sand in three freshwater tanks
Carol

 

what kind do you use, Carol?

 

I have play sand in a 10G, pool filter sand in a 55G and Sahara sand by carib sea in a 30GL shell dweller tank. Play sand and pool filter sand are both a pale beige and out of the two pool filter sand is my favorite. The pool filter sand tends to be larger grained and smoother. The Sahara Sand is black and white.
Carol

 

cool! do you rinse it like gravel before use?

 

Sounds great. Would be glad to see a few of those tanks in photos

 

Yes you have to rinse, rinse, rinse the play sand. The pool filter sand I just poured in and didn't have any dust at all as it has to be really clean to go in pool filters. the Sahara sand was suppose to make the ph higher for my Multis(shell dwellers) but I didn't notice any difference in the ph from my other tanks and yes it had to be rinsed multiple times.
Richard I just realized you said "add" sand. usually if its added to a tank with gravel it eventually winds up on the bottom. It's usually best to have sand alone with some bigger rocks or pebbles for accent.
Carol

 

55 G with pool filter sand:
10 G with play sand:
30 L MultI -Sahara Sand

 

ooh very cool! hard to choose my favorite..did you glue those rocks together in the 55g? I read a post about doing that, and wondered if that was the norm? also, do you have 13 different tanks? (or am I not reading your signature correctly) how long have you been fishkeeping? one more question about the sand...how long can you use it before you need to replace it? years?
okay, I guess I'll quit bugging you now
Denise

 

The rocks were put together with aquarium safe silicone one at a time and allowed to dry before the tank was filled.
actually I have 16 up right now. A 10 G with Cory fry, 10 G with a family of red and white guppys and a 5G with an expectant Red Grass Guppy female. These three are temporary add ons
I have been keep ing fish about five years this time.
The sand doesn't have to be replaced.
Thanks glad you liked the tanks.
Carol

 

Good stuff guys..I've been thinking for a while about replacing gravel in one of our tanks with sand..the potential cleaning head-ache though,left me less than enthused..based on what you've told me however,I may revisit that option soon..thanks again y'all.

 

I just changed my 55G to play sand and it looks great (maybe I'll get pictures up sometime). It took a lot of rinsing, but it was worth it

 

Nice set up in the 55 Carol.
Brian

 

Thanks!! The loaches love it
Carol

 

Oh Carol, your tanks are always so BEAUTIFUL!!!

Rose

 

Thank You Rose!! I really like my sand tanks, they are so easy. The only problem I have had is when I had m big albino pleco in the 55G. He would leave huge ropes of poop and on that cream color sand it looked awful, even when I vacuumed daily. so I moved him and now I like the way it looks and he's happy also because I'm not chasing him with the siphon
Carol

 

You have made my day Carol.. with the beautiful pics of your tanks..

Thanks for the photos

 

We had tried sand (a tan colour) some tiem ago, but became concerned when what I can only discribe as black 'layers' began to show up in the sand.

Does that happen to you or did we not maintain it properly? I remember when we first put it in, it took half the day to settle before we could actually put in any fish. I think we may try the pool sand - that actually sounds and looks pretty cool

Buzz

 

Sounds like maybe it wasn't rinsed good enough,play sand is really dusty. Also sounds like the sand wasn't stirred
Carol

 

Nope, it was NEVER stirred :-[ I am so ashamed ...I won't make that mistake again. If we can get our tanks to look 1/4 as beautiful as yours do, we'd be happy ;D

Buzz

 

Thanks everyone. I keep Malaysian trumpet snails in all my sand tanks, they keep the sand stirred and aereated so I don't have to. They also eat little crumbs of stuff that fall to the bottom.
Carol

 

Would you be able to suggest any other species that burrow and aerate the sand...the pickens are pretty slI'm here at the Trinidad pet stores

Thanks,
Buzz

 

By play sand do you mean like you would buy for a childs sandpit?
I have seen sand at my LFS in hundreds of bright colours but they don't stock them anymore :'(.
Sorry if the above is a really dumb question but I was just wandering...

 

Yes like you would put in a childs sand pit. But you have to buy it fresh to make sure animals haven't been in it. Any of the hardware stores carry it by the bag full for just a couple of dollars. Make sure you rinse it extremely well or it will cloud your tank for a couple of days. The pool filter sand was much easier to use(It doesn't have to be rinsed) but was a little more expensive. I think I paid $6 for a fifty puond bag and one was enough.
Carol

 

I love it-- I love it!! ooooo now I want a sand filled tank-- that first tank with all the rocks is AMAZING!!! your fish must absolutely love it!!! LILA

 

Lila the KulI Loaches in that tank sift sand in through their mouth and out their gills to get all the tiny pieces of dropped food and all the yummy critters growing in it. Its a really funny sight, then when their tummys are full they hang out in the plants(like Christmas tree decorations) our squeeze between rocks and snooze . The sand is also easy on little loachie barbels.
Carol

 

And is sand suitable for all fish? I don't have many (if any) bottom dwellers so will it make that much difference? Sorry for all questions!
Lucy

 

Bottom dwellers especially like sand and I have sand in a guppy tank and it looks great so I would say just any tank would be good with sand. If you don't have snails or some thing to stir it you can use a straw to poke town in the sand all over once a week to prevent anaerobic air pockets.
Carol

 

I have done it and it looks great, only bad thing is how dry my nails are from excessive sand cleaning duties for 30mins again and again.
Will try to put pics up soon, when I work out how...