Detritus Removal

I'm wondering if anyone has devised any tricks or ingenious methods with which to dispense of detritus.

I have a large device, store bought consisting of 3" cylinder with a broad elipse at the end with a hose attached which was really made for gravel. This device lifts sand out of the aquarium while leaving the detritus to fall back down the cylinder.

I then purchased a similar item on a smaller scale. The cylinder is 1". The hose attached is about 3/8". This doesn't take anything solid out of the aquarium.

I simply want to suck the loose detritus off the sand while keeping the sand pretty much undisturbed.

I hope someone has found the perfect weapon to accomplish this, or has designed something smart and can share that design with me.

Thanks all!!

 

Dragon goby!

I've tried all the different gravel vacs too, none of them really seem to work but a good goby will keep sand spotless

Only problem I've found with mine is they love to dig and get sand out from under rocks, so you have to make sure you have a really stable foundation for your rockwork before you add one
also they end up making little piles all over the tank since they seem to roam around and get sand to sift then go back to the same spot and sift it down to the bottom

 

Thanks, but I'm looking for a mechanical, non-living method. I don't wish to have my sand sifted to the extent we're talking about with a goby.

 

What about a turkey baster?

 

It would be too cumbersome over time. I have a 90G tank, and it's a bit on the deep side. I'd like to keep my hands out of it if possible.

Any other ideas out there?

 

im looking for the same magic device, just got some super tonga nas. snails in hopes they will help out.

also this thing looks pretty cool, might try this if i get some extra cash. Aquarium Gravel Cleaner: Eheim Sludge Extractor

 

I know this would be a bit messy for a short time but have you tried to use a power head to get it floating into the water so that it could possibly make it to your filtration system?

 

BluePhish, that's designed for gravel. This means that it will suck up sand along with the detritus, so that's unfortunately not a contender.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't use mechanical filtration. I have no floss anywhere in my system. I let my Vortech and Koralia push the detritus into the small areas they do, and I suck it out; sort of "spot clean."

Thing is, I can't seem to find a device that will simply suck the detritus off the sand without leaving the latter undisturbed!!

Is there nobody out there who has solved this problem? :-/

 

try using a sock or something like that at the end of the hose, I normally cut the larger cylindrical part some what shorter, to have a greater suction effect
and the sock to keep the sand from going in the bucket.