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I have just moved over from gravel to sand for my Corydoras tank and they are very happy fishies. However, how do I vacuum the sand without sucking it up? I always syphoned the gravel before but will loose half my sand if I do that now! Once again I apologise for my ignorance

The idea behind a thin layer of sand is the detritus stays on top so all you have to do is siphon of the stuff on the top. You don't shove the siphon in the sand like you would with gravel. I sometimes will even use a large turkey baster to suck off the detritus as it usually collects in just a few areas.

There are a few options

one - you cold hold the hose a bit higher - so high the sand is not sucked into the hose, whil the debris is

second - you could use a smalle hose. The speed of the water equals the diameter to the third power (my brother, who is an engineer says), so using a 5 mm hose instead of a 10 mm will reduce the speed - and thus the power 2 to the power of 3 = 8 times

third - you could make a plastic bottle or so, increasing the diameter of the waterflow, while further downsteam the same small hose is used. The small hose dictates the water speed, and therefore, a 9 cm diameter bottle connected to a 1.5 cm hose results in a 9/1.5 = 6 times slower moving water - again resulting in suction of the debris while leaving the sand behind

fourth - a slow, lateral flow along the sand would move the debris while leaving the sand alone. A tiny pump might do the trick

fifth - your catfish will stirr up the debris, and it will fall down somewhere. If this is close to the pump - which should not suck form near the bottom, because of sand being bad for the pump - the debris will be sucked away. In the end, all debris will be sucked away

Option 5 is, by far my personal favourite - as is consists of doing nothing, just await what happens

I got 30 tanks with sand on the bottom, su I think option 5 does work

Thanks guys. Appreciate the info.

I'm liking option 5!