cleaning an aquarium with sand bottom

by Sandman1969 Sat Oct 10, 2015 12:59 pm

I have tried the syphon, but it seems that it is not strong enough to suck in the bad stuff that my koi/goldfish leave behind. So any tips & what else to try?

by GaryE Sat Oct 10, 2015 5:17 pm

Try a gravel vacuum. It works off a siphon, but does a fine job.

by Sandman1969 Sat Oct 10, 2015 6:50 pm

That's what I've been using. Doesn't seem strong enough.

by GaryE Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:33 am

It should be, so I suspect you have a lot of sand cleaning ahead - things must have gotten messy in there. You just keep doing it over and over again until it's clean, then you just keep doing it over and over again.

Koi are outdoor, pond fish. There are reasons for that. When I had them and goldies at the school, I would vacuum and repeat "*&*&^&*! goldfish" over and over again. I will never, ever keep a big herbivore like that in a fishtank again. Life is too short to keep manure producing fish correctly, unless you have a pond or a greenhouse like Steve.

I suspect the thread has come full circle, as if the gravel vac ain't doing it, you can see why the algae is flourishing. It's an overload of nutrients in the tank, and no filter or device will handle that. Massive endless water changes and gravel vacuuming are the only way.