siphoning Sand?

[DizzyD]

I've been working with aquariums on and off all my life, but I never used sand substrate, always gravel. I know how to siphon gravel pretty effectively, but how do you clean sand? I have a 5 gallon tank with black sand and I love the color. It really makes Sir Reginald's colors pop, but the color also shows his excrement pretty well too.
I read on the package to hold the siphon over the sand rather than digging down into the sand a pulling up. Does anyone have any experience with this and or do you have tips for me?

[gosquidgo]

I'm using black sand, as well. And you shouldn't dig in because it will get sucked down the tube. So what I've been doing since day 1 is stirring it up to get any muck out (if you do this every time, it doesn't build up over time, so I don't get any ammonia spikes or anything), then siphon the stuff out without touching the sand. Occasionally, though, I do end up siphoning some sand, but not much.

[DizzyD]

What do you mean stirring it up?

[SinX7]

Pretend the siph is like a spoon, and you're stirring a coffee or something. Stir the siph in your tank, so that whatever is under the sand floats up, and get suck by the siph. From what I heard, you're not suppose to dig the siph into the sand.

[Bombalurina]

I stir with my hands or a chopstick so that I can't get stuff sucked up, wait for it to settle, then siphon. :) I have very fine white sand, which is a pain, and I always end up with some in the bucket, but mostly the dirt will just lift off. :)