how does everyone keep their sand clean??

Alright so my tank is pretty well established, i have a 3 gallon picotope tank with dwarf sag, crypt spiralis, red tiger lotus, rotala, and ludwigia. My tank is dirted and is capped with sand. My question is, how does everyone keep their sand aerated and clean? Mine is becoming clumped and well.. mushy in some areas. I try and stir it up but i guess some of the dirt has moved up a bit so when i move the sand i get bits of dirt... any advice?? thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Chris T on October 25, 2011 at 7:23am

this is problem with many who use sand to cap their dirtied tanks, including myself, i eventual and what i suggest is that i had to redo the entire tank and replace the sand with gravel.

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on October 25, 2011 at 8:47am

no sand plz..

i have warn so many others but i guess people don't listen or do their research.

I have email shawn and have heard nothing to change his guide.

Only thing you can do is get MTS snail.

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on October 25, 2011 at 9:16am

I have no problems. Just because others do doesn't mean don't use sand. Is the problem that it is a light colored sand and you can see waste built up? Use a gravel vac, but just hover slightly above the sand to suck it up.

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Permalink Reply by Luis Carrera on October 25, 2011 at 12:48pm

thanks man,

no its more like the sand in certain spots is becoming compacted almost, its clumping together... I do use the gravel vac and that works fine. Maybe I should be stirring the sand up more often to loosen it up?

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Permalink Reply by Nic McNaught on October 25, 2011 at 1:25pm

if you say its compacting are you sure it isn't some algae in the sand? i have had that before...

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Permalink Reply by Luis Carrera on October 25, 2011 at 1:47pm

Im pretty sure it isnt algae, what happened with your tank that the sand compacted?

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on October 25, 2011 at 1:55pm

Get Malaysian Trumpet Snails to aerate the sand or just do it yourself. With a 3 gallon tank it won't be to bad. Note that it's not really a stirring up of the sand that you need to do. Just poke it in spots to release any built up gases.

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Permalink Reply by Luis Carrera on October 25, 2011 at 2:09pm

alright cool man thanks!

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Permalink Reply by 0yuoe0itoxi7u on October 25, 2011 at 5:20pm

I just poke my sand with a ruler just in the sand part, I don't poke it all the way through to the dirt because then the sand will go into the dirt area and make my top layer thinner. It works for me though. : ] I love sand and wouldn't have gravel no matter what!