# Cleaning Eco-Complete Ciclid sand



## thunderbolt (Nov 14, 2008)

Question--- How to clean Eco-Complete sand without loosing all of it when suction cleaning the bottom of the tank? The tank is 24 inches tall. The cleaning tube is 30 inches long. I will not have any substrate left if this keeps up. I really like it because I needed it to buffer my ph which it did excellant. Before it it was 6.8. After adding it it came to 7.8. It is where I need it for the Malawi Cichlids I am ready to order this weekend. I also have it in my quarantine tank to keep both of them the same ph If I need it, which I know I will especially with fry. All suggestions welcome. I do not want to change substrate if at all possible. Thanks


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

There is a video showing how to clean sand without sucking it all up in the Library.


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## Ed_209 (Dec 22, 2004)

I clean my eco-complete cichlid sand once per month. I suck it all into a couple of 5 gallon pails and rinse it until clean. After I put it back,I do a waterchange.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I'm going to do this soon as well Ed_209. I have one question though. I noticed that there are little black particles of waste when I stir up my sand I mean I try my best and darndest to get this when I clean along the surface of the sand with my cleaning tube. Do you think these black particles will be removed easily with the way you describe?


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## Ed_209 (Dec 22, 2004)

I imagine if you rinse it good enough,you'll get all the waste.
I use straight tap water so my sand is very clean. (I'm not too concerned about the beneficial bacteria in the sand). Some would disagree,but this works for me.
Even if you use tank water to rinse,it'll still be pretty clean.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

K thanks I'll give it a try soon. I've had my sand in my tank for 3 months now. I stir it up and use siphon tube to clean it, tilting at a 45 degree angle. I haven't removed the sand and rinsed it as you described but I'm sure it would do wonders.


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## Ed_209 (Dec 22, 2004)

I use an old gravel cleaner hose and a piece of pvc pipe stuck on the end to make it reach the bottom.
Try not to drop the end out of the bucket,it makes a **** of a mess. Expensive sand and water everywhere. lol


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks for the tip and I can only imagine lol.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

that's so much more work than needed, you just need to run the cleaner over the top of the sand, the waste is light so it should come right up, if sand starts to run up the line, then kink the line with your hand, the sand should fall out


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Oh I like the trick to kink the line!

I agree, a lot of us would quit if we had to remove and rinse the substrate weekly.


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## Ed_209 (Dec 22, 2004)

I do it once per month,maybe 6 weeks sometimes. Not too much waste collects under the sand in a week.


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

I've had eco-complete sand in my 90 gallon for over a year. I have never removed and rinsed it. I have a 2 foot long length of acrylic tubing that has the same OD as the ID of my python tubing. I suck the waste off the top of the sand weekly with it. If I get it too close to the sand it will suck a little sand up but not much (I lose maybe a table spoon worth a week). Once I get all that is visible up I use the tube as a stirrer in the water and it lifts what little is left off the top of the sand and I can suck that up. I also have a lot of rocks in my tank and at first I'd remove the rocks monthly but that was WAY too much work. Now I use a water pump with a section of tubing and blow the waste out from under the rocks and let it settle on the sand and then suck it up. I stir the sand some every week to level it off and fill the holes the fish dig and then monthly I make sure to stir the sand up well. I'm able to do all this while I'm removing the water for the water change (50%). My nitrates stay under 10ppm and all my fish are healthy and happy.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Steve that sounds basically like what the video shows, and sounds like a good maintenance plan for thunderbolt to consider.


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

Yep, just watched the video and that's pretty much what I do - http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/cleaning_sand.php . The only things I didn't see him mention was using the tubing as a stirrer and I use a length of hard tubing rather than just using the hose. Makes it easier with a 2 foot deep tank to get down to the bottom and clean. With the eco complete sand being salt and pepper looking it's a little harder to see the waste than on just sand.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I'm doing all that Steve mentioned now. I just thought it would be better to fully clean the sand and even throughly go through it and rinse it just like you put it the tank originally.


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## thunderbolt (Nov 14, 2008)

Thank you Steve St. Laurent for the suggestion on cleaning Eco-Complete sand. I made a copy for my files. Like DJRansome said it answered all my questions on cleaning it. I also drain my suction hose into a 5 gallon white bucket. If need be I can recover any that is sucked up if I need to. So far none to worry about. Thanks


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