Sand Cleaning

gone over to sand but having trouble cleaning it, have a Python and a Eheim Quick Vac which i use with bottom section taken off, but when i hold them above the sand it lifts the muck which swirls around the bottom of the cleaner then most drops back down, is there something better don't want it as a water changer just a cleaner.

I use a wine/beer making siphon tube, which is narrower than both a fish siphon tube and a hose pipe. I find that lifts the muck of quite well.

(I use the rigid plastic tube that comes with the siphon but with the end cap removed, and I have inserted the other end into a length of fish siphon tube to make it longer)