Questions about converting to sand

After much deliberation, I decided to switch to sand as my substrate since I plan on getting some cories. I originally planned on doing half sand and half gravel but the sand was already leeching over to the gravel side. So I want to do all sand.

My questions:
-How deep should the sand be? Is 1 inch enough? I have 15 pounds in there and it's about an inch. It's a 20 gallon High tank. I guess I should also keep extra on hand as some will get sucked up over time.

-Also, in terms of cleaning, I read 2 different things. One was just swirling the siphon over the top but not on the sand is enough. I also read a post saying something about stirring up the sand. I got the feeling you shouldn't stir the sand....

-Final question - I have a HOB filter. the intake tube has an extension on it and there's an intake at the top and bottom. Should I worry about sand being sucked into the filter? Should I remove the extension? I've also seen posts about putting something over the intake to prevent sand intake. Suggestions?

Thanks for the help!

 

1" is fine.

Swirling the vac above is for cleaning. Unless you have very coarse sand, you can't really stick your vac into it because you'll suck it up. And you shouldn't really need to because debris can't 'sink' in due to there being no gaps between grains. Stirring is to release gas pockets before they become hazardous to the fish, and is a separate issue from cleaning. With 1" depth, this shouldn't be a big problem.

I'd keep the filter intake at least 1" away from the sand minimum. Further for fine sand.

 

I agree with tameone that depending on the grain size will determine if you can put your siphon into the sand at all. My sand is very course, so heaver and I can touch the top without it getting sucked up. You will get sand in your filter if its too fine but moving the filter intake up should help. What kind of sand do you have?

 

Thanks. It's a finer sand so I did move the intake up. It's whatever my LFS had in stock. I'll also be careful when I clean. I did notice however that anything that settled to the bottom got sucked up by the filter.

 

I went with a sloping silica sand substrate its about 4 inches at the back and 1 1/2 inch at the front 75 kg in a 450 litre tank ive been told as long as you prod the deeper parts a few times a year the gas shouldnt build up. if you hold the vac just above the sand debris floats up and out, a little sand does go aswell but just a tiny amount