It has been years since I have kept FW tanks but we just set up a 60 gallon planted tank for my daughter. It has a mixture of black sand and plant substrate , which is pretty fine grained. With my reef setups sand bottoms are maintained by the clean-up crews and generally don’t need any maintenance. I have noticed that there is a significant amount of waste collecting but I am unsure what is the best method for cleaning it with the dirt bottom. If I try to use a gravel vacuum, it sucks up the substrate along with the waste. Any suggestions on the best solution would be great.