Cleaning sand bed in display tank

[Slarti]

Did my normal water run this weekend and was talking to the guy at the LFS and he asked me how often I clean the sand bed in my tank and I said never! He then suggested I start doing that with every water change! Now in theory it may sound good but it just seems like a very messy job and can lead to many other issues. So the question today is if people do clean their substrate in the main tank and if so how do you do it? Fairly light cleaning or all out disturbance of everything to get the 'nasties' out.

I have to add that he suggested a much larger water change (50%) than what I am currently doing. Also, we talking nano (29 gallon) tanks here...

 

[brett_schn]

I use a turkey Baster in my 10g tank.

 

[xjiang7]

Nassarius snails really help, plus they also eat fish food so no worries getting too many so they starve

 

[brett_schn]

Or a sand sifting goby

 

[Michael Cronmiller]

50% is a bit excessive..10- 15% will keep things in check

 

[Water Dog]

I vacuum my entire sandbed (1-1/2" in a Biocube 29) with every weekly 5 gallon waterchange. The stuff that comes out of the sandbed is pretty gross. I'm considering going with a black starboard bare bottom for my next build.

 

[Mr. Bill]

It depends on your sandbed. If you have a DSB, never, ever disturb it. You can add a fighting conch or a couple nassarius snails that will gently clean it for you. With a shallow bed, yes you can vacuum it- I usually do roughly 1/3 in my 29H. As for water changes, if what you're doing is keeping nutrients down, there's no need to increase amount or frequency. I only change 10% weekly and have no issues.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

 

[Slarti]

I had a couple of Nassarius snails that I thought did a good job. Started with 4 of which one moved on to better hunting grounds soon after. The remaining three lasted a long time but all moved on in the last couple of months as well. Also got a fighting conch doing well. I may just replace the nassarius snails and keep the status quo then. As for the 50% water changes, working at the store I assume he gets the water for free or a very much reduced rate so easy enough to do. I am currently doing 10% weekly, may increase to 20% for a couple of weeks and see if there is any benefit.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I tried vacuming but the suction isn't strong enough doing a water change or pulls up the sand. So I use a turkey baster and stir the sand that way. I do between 10 and 20 percent wc weekly. Also have 6 narsarious snails and a gold head sand sifting goby.

 

[cloudisback1997]

Turkey Baster is how I do it also. It brings all the nasty to the top of the sand bed, also allows you to get behind your rocks. Then after it settles I syphon. However I would not recommend you do this If you never clean ur sand bed. It works great if you stir regularly.

 

[Paul B]

Once a year I stir up my "gravel" where I can reach with a diatom filter and suck it out.

 

[BlennyKravitz]

Once a year I stir up my "gravel" where I can reach with a diatom filter and suck it out.

What is a diatom filter?! I think I need this.

 

[Billdogg]

A diatom filter (mine is a Vortex XL) uses diatomaceous earth (ground up diatoms) to filter things as small as 1 micron. Many freshwater systems use them full time. In a marine tank, because they are so incredibly efficient using one for more than a few hours on an occasional basis can actually be detrimental to the system.

That being said, I cannot imagine not having one. For the annual BIG CLEAN they are an invaluable tool to polish the water after you have mucked it all up.

As for sandbed cleaning - I use a python siphon every water change. I cannot imagine doing a water change any other way. I can clean a portion of the sandbed and remove water to a nearby drain without every schlepping a bucket anywhere.

 

[Paul B]

What he said'

 

[DaveMorris]

I never vacuum my sandbed. Yes you will suck out gunk that you do not necessarily want in there, but unfortunately you will be sucking out beneficial critters as well. I like to use animals to clean up after animals. Cucumbers, starfish, snails, crabs, conchs, etc. all do a great job of sifting sand and cleaning it. My diamond goby worked full time cleaning my sandbed. Some of these animals eat the good critters too, but that is all part of nature.

 

[Karie]

I have a 90 gallon with a decent sand bed 2-3". I vacuum it at least half if not all every water change. I try to do WC once a week at about 15%. Nasty, nasty stuff always comes out and I have noticed that if I neglect the vacuuming, my corals suffer. (no SPS for me) Honestly, I would rather vacuum than clean the glass. It takes less elbow grease and I feel better knowing that crap is out of the aquarium. I have noticed that afterwards, some of my corals that like nutrients perk up for a couple hours.
I also have a 50 with very thin sand bed. This one I don't have to vacuum as much because just stirring it around brings everything up and out.

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

We can take apart any reef, do whatever we want to a sandbed, then force a skip cycle setup over and over. Reef tanks have controllable cycles and mini cycles, and it's 100% detritus related. Without detritus waste in the new or cleaned setup, no cycle will occur.

No detritus, no cycle or mini cycle. Bacteria tolerate whatever we want, including hot tap water rinses since they're brief and tap water cannot sterilize anything involving active surface area and bioslicks.