dirty sand

[DarkSpark]

hi there,
i have a 60L tank with one betta, 4 cardinal tetra, 1 albino(?) shrimp and 4 diamond tetra with sand substrate which is getting pretty dirty, im not sure how to clean it out, ive done water changes and used a net to get as much of the dark deposite out as i could out but its still there, i think if i use one of those vacume things it will just suck all the sand up as well, any ideas of how to clean it would be appriciated

 

[emmanuelchavez]

When you do a water change, vaccuum out the junk. That's how I kept my sand clean when I had it.

 

[DarkSpark]

will it not suck up all my sand too?

 

[emmanuelchavez]

You can just pass over it. All it'll really suck up is the finer grains of sand.

 

[DarkSpark]

okie dokie cheers

 

[TropicAZ]

I have a pretty fine sand myself, and I actually have dug my vac into the sand without the vac sucking up the sand. There isn't enough suction.

And besides, you can always try stirring up the sand, and if the vac sucks it, then ease up a little bit until you're just pulling waste off the top.

 

[simplyfish]

2nd those comments, i have a fairly fine sand, it only really starts to get suked up if the vac makes contat with the sand, if you hold it just above - nice clean sand....

Def only prob with light coloured sand is it shows the muck a lot more, just swapped one of my tanks to a dark gravel, looks cleaner....