clean sand
- Thread starter ahsmneimneh
- Start date
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cdness
2006 - Present
There are a few different ways you can clean the sand. Different ways depend on the type of sand you have.
- Fine sand can be stirred up to mix in the dirty parts of the sand and let the sand dwelling creatures clean it up.
- Larger grain sand can be vacuumed out as it is heavy enough to not be sucked up the siphon tube.
- Another option is to manually pick the stuff out of the sand. This is tedious but works well if the above methods don't work well.
- Get a diamond goby. They keep the sand sparkly clean, but can cause issues with corals on the sand
- Replace parts of the sand regularly. I have heard of someone doing this to keep the sand spotless in their tanks. I always wondered how they did it until they mentioned they switch it all out occasionally. This happens especially before photos so it looks flawless at all times.
- Fine sand can be stirred up to mix in the dirty parts of the sand and let the sand dwelling creatures clean it up.
- Larger grain sand can be vacuumed out as it is heavy enough to not be sucked up the siphon tube.
- Another option is to manually pick the stuff out of the sand. This is tedious but works well if the above methods don't work well.
- Get a diamond goby. They keep the sand sparkly clean, but can cause issues with corals on the sand
- Replace parts of the sand regularly. I have heard of someone doing this to keep the sand spotless in their tanks. I always wondered how they did it until they mentioned they switch it all out occasionally. This happens especially before photos so it looks flawless at all times.
wakeboardgeek
Active Member
Get a conch snail and some nassarius snails.
Greg@LionfishLair
Community Member
FWIW, I don't recommend stirring the sandbed up ever...there are compounds in the anoxic layers of even a shallow substrate that you do NOT want in your water column. I've had folks wonder why their tanks crashed, and it has often been caused by disturbing the sandbed in this manner. You can gently push your fingers into it to keep it loose, but do not turn it over.
Sandsifters will work until they deplete the sandbed of its valuable microfauna (they're eating when they sift), after which if they don't eat prepared foods (many won't), they'll starve.
Your best bet is to gently siphon the surface of the substrate to remove detritus. As mentioned, Nassarius snails, small conchs, etc. do a nice job of popping in and out of the substrate. If you want a critter to clean your sandbed, get a Holothuria sp. cuke...they take in dirty sand in one end and poop clean sand out the other end, but you're still dealing with losing your sandbed's microfauna.
HTH
Sandsifters will work until they deplete the sandbed of its valuable microfauna (they're eating when they sift), after which if they don't eat prepared foods (many won't), they'll starve.
Your best bet is to gently siphon the surface of the substrate to remove detritus. As mentioned, Nassarius snails, small conchs, etc. do a nice job of popping in and out of the substrate. If you want a critter to clean your sandbed, get a Holothuria sp. cuke...they take in dirty sand in one end and poop clean sand out the other end, but you're still dealing with losing your sandbed's microfauna.
HTH
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