tips on cleaning very fine cichlid sand substrate!?

Ordinary gravel vacuum, but strap a bit of wood on the nozzle so it remains a fixed distance from the substrate. Different models have different suction, so you have to experiment to get the length right.

Stir the gravel with the stick and the lighter crap gets sucked up, but the sand stays put.

AH....another sand user!! Love it.

For maintenance:

1) when siphoning (the normal siphon bought from the store), dont dig the siphon into the sand, because it will pick up the sand, just siphon 1/2 - 1 inch away from the surface. this would pick up the debre but not the sand.

2) last important thing to remember is possible gas trapped within the sand. So when you are doing maintenance, either use a stick or a finger to gentally move the sand around to release any trapped gas (which will be harmful to the fish).

So its really easy, and equipment wise, you need to get yourself a siphon and thats it.

Best of luck

Cleaning Sand:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/cleaning_sand....

I use a vacuum that has a skinny hose on it. That way, it's less force being sucked up. It takes longer to fill a bucket, but it stops you from having to put sand back into the tank all the time.