i use a piece of clear hose i got from lowes, so if something gets clogged in it , which it will , rock snail etc, i can see it and work it thru.............................
i do the top layer of the sand,drag across it, a water /gravel siphon wont work as its designed not to remove substrate but to clean it, you need major suction, i use 5/8" hose..................
then i sift thru the pails and pick any snails i see alive out and drop em back in tank, you have to do a water change after using boyds , so every month i treat the night b4 i do the change, need to keep skimmer off for 24hrs.....
pia but im getting less and less cyano with every month........it takes about 2 weeks to reappear.................
i find it easier to siphon it out than to spend boatloads of cash on cleanup crews that may or may not work...................
at this point im a believer in the dsb debate, ill never do it again , its a phosphate sponge and too much work and money to try to keep it from becoming such
and after all of this my phosphate remover(chaeto) is now starting to grow, i tried it twice b4 and it just shriveled up and died, i think its my fault as i added chaeto to far down the road after i started tank and the phosphates had allready taking hold in dsb.....................now that im removing what has been consuming them my chaeto is finally consuming them b4 they have a chance to sink into the dsb................at least this is my observation....................
