Vacuuming a sandbed?

[rustypixel]

I don't know much about vacumming sand, but I was looking into this cleaner and thought that maybe a vacuum once per month would be good. Can anyone tell me if I'll lose a lot of sand using this?http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h200/rustypixel/Cleaner.jpg

Thanks!

 

[Snowboarda42]

its not that you loose sand, its that you upset the biological filter in the sand. Also you suck up alot of organisms that fish eat (i.e. copepods for Dragonets). IMO, i would get a little one and you can use it to suck off the stuff that sits on the top of the sand like detrius. using a little one will not make a big enough suction to get any copepods or sand, but enough to suck up the crap up top. Just be gentle.

 

[rustypixel]

That's exactly what I would like to use it for. I don't want to suck up everything in there, just the stuff that sits at the top that eventually turns to sludge in some corner of the tank. I'll look into a smaller one.

Thanks.

 

[Steverino]

The one in the photo is a battery operated unit that requires you to clean out the filter inside it, etc. You are much better with a Python or a Lees regular siphon. I siphon mine into a bucket and make sure I don't have anything in the bucket that I want, like a small star. then I empty the bucket out in the laundry sink and usually there is a little bit of sand that I can replace into the tank. The best way seems to be to swirl around the sand a little, I make sure there are no "dead" spots, then when the dust settles after a few minutes I will vacuum anything sitting on the top. I turn off all the filters and flow during this time of course.

 

[rustybucket145]

If stuff is settling, vacuuming is just putting a bandaid on the real issue. Kick up your flow some, sounds like you have some 'dead spots' Also a clean up crew does wonders for a sandbed.

Fix the problem and you will NEVER have to vaccum.

 

[dwd5813]

try a turkey baster

 

[drummereef]

The real issue you are having is lack of flow. If you don't have at least 20x turnover in the tank I would assume this is why you are having a detritus buildup on the sandbed. With proper flow and a cleanup crew you shouldn't have much of an issue with this.