sand siffter

Hey guys how's it going I heard from a friend that instead of trying to syphone clean a sand tank that he sifts it like looking for shells at the beach then just does a water change without a vacuum anyone do this.

Seems to me that that would just stir everything up and isint fish waste and uneaten food or what ever just as fine as sand so what is it that he's sifting. When I clean the gravel in my other tanks its more of a cloud in the tube that I'm getting not solid waste.

How do you guys clean the sand in your tank I watched some youtube videos but they suck out so much sand.

Thanks guys

 

I totally agree with you; decomposing poop particles are smaller than sand. Maybe rather than trying to remove the poop from the sand, he removes the sand from the poop? If that makes sense. If you sift the sand over a bucket, then the dirty water drains out and you theoretically have clean sand remaining.

The only sand tank I have is small, so I just use a turkey baster to spot-clean and suck up the poops, then use the hose to siphon out water. However if the diameter of the tube is large enough, then you don't really need to worry about sand being removed.

 

Ok then I gess ill just have to learn by doing the tube is large its a aquaion water changer plus the sand ill be useing is prob just play sand from home depot so I think it'll be cheap if I have to replace it .

 

Be sure not to dump sand down your drain.

 

Not sure about play sand, but the nozzle on my water changer does not pick up pool filter sand more than about a half an inch before it floats back down. It does pick up all the yucky stuff though. The only thing I wish it would pick up that it doesn't is slivers of driftwood. It makes the sand look dirty even when it isn't. Might depend on your water pressure though.

 

Good morning,

The link (w/video) below gives a good demonstration:


Allow a minute for the video to load, then hit play.

Ken

 

As you'll see in that video, you can put a bucket under the downspout of the water changer to catch any sand you get accidentally, then just add it back to the tank. I typically only pick up about a 1/4 cup during a cleaning in my 55g; about a tablespoon in the 10 g.

 

thanks ken very good video

 

ok now what is this guy doing cleaning sand that's already beenin the tank of cleaning new sand instead of useing a bucket cause if so I might do it this way with a 3 litter bottle looks like it works great