Washing sand

[jack.pe]

Hey,

What is the general opinon on washing sand? I only have a 0.5 centimetre deep sand bed, so about as shallow as you can go really, but it seems to trap a gigantic amount of detritus. When agitated it is incredible to see how much crap comes out of it.

Does anyone syphon sand out during water changes and then rinse the sand in old tank water? I am thinking of doing this and also hoping it will help t to reduce the cyano I have on the sand bed.

Basically just syphon the sand out witht he water change and then swivel small abounts of sand around the bottom of a bucket with tank water, this gets all the crap suspended in the water which can then just be poured out leaving the sand at the bottom.

What do you think?

[Aquarist007]

I would suggest using a turkey baster once a week and lightly basting the surface of the substrate especially when it is only 1/2 inch deep. That way you get all the detrius back into the water column where it can be filtered out and you don't disturb the good bacteria in it

[SWaquariast]

I would get some thing that filters or sturs up the sand. I would get more nassarius, I would at least have one per gallon and get a sand sifting goby.

[davocean]

Actually he's half a centmeter, so hardly anything.
I'd either rinse in clean SW and put right back, or just add some new after siphon.

[jack.pe]

Actually , it's more like a centimetre but still not deep... think i might well just suck it up and rinse it every time I doa water change and see how that goes..