Sand!?

[Ghost]

I currently don't have any substrate in my axie tank but I was planning to get some sand. Is sand difficult to clean? I was thinking if I use a tube to siphon out the waste it would suck out alot of the sand aswell. Do you have to keep topping up the sand? How do you guys go about it?

 

[kapo]

You can gently shake the tube to release some of the sand back into the tank. What we do after a waterchange is decant/pour the water into the gardens then scoop the sand back into the tank it came from. It's pretty minimal the amount of sand that gets sucked up. We set our tanks up almost 2 years ago with sand and have yet to "top it up" with the remaining 1/2 bag of sand we have.

 

[Ghost]

Cool. Thanks for the advice. I'll go buy some and give it a go.

 

[Zapher]

By using only 1/4" or 1/2" tubing to siphon sand makes it a lot easier to spot clean while removing as little sand as possible, especially if you hold the siphon as far as possible from the sand while still being able to suck up any waste. If that makes any sense. The downside is that you will have to suck on the end of the tube to get it started but if done correctly its fairly easy to not get any water in your mouth.

 

[MelanieK]

By using only 1/4" or 1/2" tubing to siphon sand makes it a lot easier to spot clean while removing as little sand as possible, especially if you hold the siphon as far as possible from the sand while still being able to suck up any waste. If that makes any sense. The downside is that you will have to suck on the end of the tube to get it started but if done correctly its fairly easy to not get any water in your mouth.

One could probably make something like this
http://www.1cascade.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=7958
and then not have to worry about the water getting into their mouth.