Do yall vacuum sand with every water change?

[roggy23]

I think I may have to start vacuuming sand

 

[blaxsun]

Nope, that kind of defeats the purpose of having a cleaning crew.

 

[sp1187]

never.

 

[rhdoug]

Almost every time, but only about 25% of my sand is accessible. And my tank has been running for over 20 years, and I am pretty sure my cleanup crew needs some help.

 

[kados]

I think the type of setup may contribute to different approaches.

Yes. I vacuum everytime. In fact my entire 40% - 50% every 3 weeks water changes are done while vacuuming. *Note I have FOWLR tanks and no cleanup crew (aka lunch for my fish).

 

[Timfish]

Usually not. However there are always cycles in any ecosystem and as things change and age and die off and regenerate I may just use a vacume and leave the sand in the tank or might siphon out some and soak it in H2O2.

 

[Arego]

I do it every water change. The only thing we use our sand for is aesthetics.

 

[MillennialReefer]

Nope, I used too. Then I got a Conch and problem solved.

 

[Pico bam]

What sand?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have very little sand but do spot vacuum it to remove any excess detritus.

 

[Yazannreef]

I need no3 and po4 so no to vac the sand!!

 

[BillyW]

I do every other water change, when it’s not the sand it’s the refugium/algae

 

[tigre44]

I water change each week and vacuum as much of the substrate as I can reach. My substrate is only 3/4” deep. I also have cuc including 2 conch but vacuuming always seems pickup quite a bit of “dirt” my tank is 52 gals

 

[Bruce60]

I get why people would do these together, but consider water changes and vacuuming the sand as independent activities.
When I do a water change, I shut down the return pumps, drain the sump, refill with fresh salt water, and restart the return pumps. I would need to change my process to vacuum the sand at the same time. I do clean out any detritus that made it past the filter sock...typically very little.
I have a Eheim self contained vacuum I currently use to clean the sand. It works decently...smaller particles are not caught by its filter...but much gets suspended and goes down the overflow (at least the filter sock is much dirtier after a good sand cleaning).

 

[jda]

Heck no. I want the anoxic areas in the sand to develop and constantly moving it around does not allow this to happen. I only vacuum mine every three or four years.

 

[Crabby48]

Lots of sand sleeping wrasse. Auto sand cleaning but your corals will be upset when covered in sand

 

[BVF]

Yep

 

[GuppyHJD]

Yeah, it's how I do the water change...python sand vacuum to pull the water

 

[Coxey81]

I think I may have to start vacuuming sand

I have, got the tank used at 4 months old. I've vacuumed it every water change I have had it for 2 months.

But I just kind of skim the surface for deitrus. I don't suck up a ton of sand. My sand is only about 1 inch thick.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Always!!! My sandbed looks a lot like the ocean floor. Just the way I like it.