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I'm thinking of setting up a shell dweller tank, but have no idea how to care for a sand substrate.

Do you vacuum it like you vacuum gravel?

1. Rinse rise rinse, and rinse again 20 times. Any particles that dont' get removed prior to placing in the tank will jam your filter

2. Cover your intake, see above about jamming of filter parts .

3. Keep it shallow. Anerobic bacteria won't form if it's shallow and the light can penetrate to the bottom.

4. Use a powerhead to increase water circulation. Again any light particles that hadn't been removed prior to placing it in the tank will be easily picked up by the powerhead (as well as the poo that you want to be picked up) then pulled into the filter.

5. Get some Malaysian Trumpet Snails (MTS) they rock!....well not really but they'll do the work of keeping the sand stirred for you to keep from getting the pockets. If you dont have them after doing regular maintence by sweeping over the surface you'll need to run something thru the sand to keep it stirred.

^_^
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its a shelly tank u want lotsa sand as they lovce to dig n bury shells they NEED deeper sand dont worry theyll rearrange ur tank over nite every nite (if only i had there motivation ) yes u can vac it like gravel but jsut keep the vac above the sand as notto pick to much of it up i vac myn once a week
with shellies use a sponge filter or a hob filter with a shallow intake saves more fry that way n less likely theyll fill it with sand
btw more shells the better

Is a sponge filter preferable to a HOB? In its last incarnation, the tank had a biowheel, so the hood already has a cut-out for that. I was thinking of using the biowheel again -- just keeping the intake vent well above the sand. But I can certainly get a sponge filter if that's better.