Aquarium Maintenance Question

[trip]

I have a 75 gal tank with pool sand for substrate. I have tried two different sizes of siphon for clenaing the bottom of my tank and here's the problem. Either siphon (the jumbo or the small one) will pick up more sand than waste and other stuff (plant debris etc) that I want to get out of the tank. It seems like I just keep sucking the sand up and the waste stays put. Is it just technique? It's frustrating as hell. Any suggestions? Thanks

[Larry Bugg]

If I want to deep clean the sand then my siphon pulls a column of sand about 3 or 4 inches up the tube but along with the sand it is getting everything else also. I can also carefully get the siphon just skimming the surface of the sand and pull up gunk that is on the surface of the sand without really disturbing the sand.

[zimmjeff]

also if you end up sucking to much sand just pinch the hose and it will all go back in the tank.

[jimg]

I adjust the suction by holding the outlet hose higher or lower.
What debris don't go in the vacuum tube I siphon with another hose carefully

[strawberryblonde]

I had this problem too in my new big tank. It's a very tall tank and I suspect that I just couldn't get the proper amount of suction in order to pick up the gunk as long as there was sand as substrate. I finally decided to remove the sand and bingo, the suction problem was gone for good. (weird I know, but true!)

The other bonus to removing my sand for now is that ALL the waste and gunk now flows neatly to one corner of the tank which makes cleaning a breeze. With sand it was getting stuck everywhere and cleanings took forever.

Once my discus are all adults I'll go back to a sand substrate, but for now barebottom is a lot less work and hassle. All my plants are in pots and I have a couple large pieces of DW in the tank along with some nice river rock so it really doesn't look all that barren and empty.

[walt3]

i do the pinch technique as well. works great.