Best way to clean live sand?

What do you guys do to clean your live sand? I have a newer (3 months) tank running and I am starting to get a little algae growth on the sand and I want to clean it up but not sure the best way to do so. When I use my syphon during water changes I feel like I am sucking up a lot of sand that I end up throwing away with the bad water. I didn't really have any issue with my first tank as I used crushed coral instead of live sand. Are you supposed to get some sand sucked up when cleaning or am I doing it wrong? :-/
Thanks for any advice!

 

I vac' the crap out of it (literally). You are going to lose a little sand so I wouldn't do it every water change. I was getting a ton of cyano and diatoms on my sand bed. Yesterday, I vac'd it really good and today....No growth.

 

Thanks for the quick reply! I am also getting a bunch of cyano and diatoms just in the past two days. Would you suggest a real good vac' or let it run its course for a little while??

 

ummmmm generally I've found that when the stuff is building on the sand, it's the sand that's leeching phosphates. You need to vac it or I would anyways

 

That was my experience as well, I got a little sand when I vacuumed but not a ton. It does depend somewhat on your grain size. How deep is your sand bed? If it's deeper than 3 inches, you may want to be cautious in how deep you vacuum....disturbing a deeper sand bed can release some toxins into the water column. I never vacuumed my sand bed for quite some time but it was only about 2 inches deep and it was full of life but when I tried to lower my nitrates, I did vacuum sections during each water change instead of the whole thing at once. I finally ended up replacing it (long story )- I now have a combination of medium grain and crushed coral and vacuum sections during each water change because there is definitely more detritrus and it's less alive than my previous sand bed....

Sorry about the ramble. One more thing, I think at the age of your tank, getting some algae and diatoms is a normal part of the maturing process.

 

The sand bed is around 2 inches. I took a few pics so you can see what it looks like.. the right side of the tank seems to be more brownish while the left side is more purple/red (I am colorblind so it might not be that color-haha) I really like the clean white look, so should I vac' this stuff up???

 

IMO, I'd just let it run its course and use up all the nasty that is causing it to grow. That way it shouldn't be a problem for as long. And I use an assortment of snails, hermits and fish to stir up my sandbed.

 

+1 this is what I do

 

+2 to this. I have never vacuumed my sand and my tanks over a year old with no problems.

 

+3 with salt I tend to feel vacuuming is a bad idea. As mentioned in deeper beds you can release toxins the sand soaked up. Get yourself a cuc, reefbreeders is by far the best source online from what I've heard. They will stir it up and eat it.