DO YOU GUYS VACUUM YOUR SANDBED??

[PeterB113]

Yeah, the main reason I just stir it is because I have a really fine grain sand and its a pain in the butt to siphon it since it gets picked up so easily.

Yea I have crushed coral as my sand. I chose that knowing it would be much easier to siphon only detritus and not pull up and sand.

 

[olonmv]

I got a pistol shrimp last week and he’s done a fantastic job of moving all my sand. The loose stuff gets kicked around and filtered. Sand bed looks great.

 

[Doreno]

I'm not sure if I'm thinking in the right direction, but maybe it works something like this: bacteria consume all the detritus accumulated in the sand, and after that the detritus may no longer be organic or anything that can cause organic pollution, it becomes just very fine "sand" - silt.

When we stir our sand, we avoid the accumulation of stagnant zones within the sand and help the bacteria to process all the detritus faster.

What do you think?

 

[reddevilant]

@Doreno Yeah I assume the stagnant/anaerobic zones would prevent anything moving in or out so if there's detritus trapped that could end up as a contained source of nitrates and maybe even CO2, ammonia, and nitrites (although I think there is anaerobic nitrifying bacteria). So if you disturb it after a long time it could cause a nutrient spike and maybe drop your pH.

 

[PeterB113]

I got a pistol shrimp last week and he’s done a fantastic job of moving all my sand. The loose stuff gets kicked around and filtered. Sand bed looks great.

Yea my pistol shrimp plows sand all day long

 

[DDenny]

Every two weeks when I do water changes. Easy for me since it’s a 4g pico tank. If I stir the sand bed there is zero clouding of the water. I can move rocks around without worrying.

 

[olonmv]

Yea my pistol shrimp plows sand all day long

At first I was like what the heck! But now I really like the cleanliness of the sand. He even mows down the bryopsis I had going.

 

[Df1577]

I sift with a turkey baster during water changes, but I only do part of the sandbed at a time to avoid spiking nutrients too much.

 

[PeterB113]

I sift with a turkey baster during water changes, but I only do part of the sandbed at a time to avoid spiking nutrients too much.

How would your nutrients spike if your removing nutrients? That's what I'm not understanding .If anything shouldn't they go down?

 

[PeterB113]

At first I was like what the heck! But now I really like the cleanliness of the sand. He even mows down the bryopsis I had going.

I wish he ate my bryopsis lol, I had to dose reef flux

 

[olonmv]

I wish he ate my bryopsis lol, I had to dose reef flux

I’m not sure if it bothered him that it was there but he went ham on it and now it’s gone. He’s a funny little character. It’s fun watching him and my yellow watchman.

 

[Df1577]

How would your nutrients spike if your removing nutrients? That's what I'm not understanding .If anything shouldn't they go down?

I worry about stirring up too much trapped waste and releasing pockets of it into the water that I don't catch with the siphon during my relatively small weekly water changes. I also have a very fine sandbed so I can't just put the siphon into the sand easily.

 

[PeterB113]

I’m not sure if it bothered him that it was there but he went ham on it and now it’s gone. He’s a funny little character. It’s fun watching him and my yellow watchman.

Yea those 2 are everyone's favorite when they come over to check out the tank

 

[PeterB113]

I worry about stirring up too much trapped waste and releasing pockets of it into the water that I don't catch with the siphon during my relatively small weekly water changes. I also have a very fine sandbed so I can't just put the siphon into the sand easily.

Gotcha yea my sand is crushed corals so it's alot easier I guess I never get any waste in the water colum when I siphon.(or at least I don't think I do

 

[Phistergosh]

I basically need to vaccum the sandbed because I want it to look clean.

My tank is still very new. I am sure someone with a very good grasp on the hobby, years of tank maturity, lots of experience, and good biodiversity can easily not vaccum the sandbed and it still look great. I see tons of reef tanks who's sandbed looks like crap though. TONS. So it seems like not vaccuming it leans very heavily to having a messy looking sandbed.

 

[Adamantium]

I vacuum once every week, or every other week. If I don't, my sand bed starts to get darker and darker.

Tons of detritus comes out every time.

It baffles me that people can get away with not siphoning. I've tried both ways, and if I don't, I get a pretty gross looking sandbed in short order.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Used to siphon but I got a team of conch that clean and turn over the sandbed for me now. Alot easier than doing it manually.

 

[PeterB113]

I basically need to vaccum the sandbed because I want it to look clean.

My tank is still very new. I am sure someone with a very good grasp on the hobby, years of tank maturity, lots of experience, and good biodiversity can easily not vaccum the sandbed and it still look great. I see tons of reef tanks who's sandbed looks like crap though. TONS. So it seems like not vaccuming it leans very heavily to having a messy looking sandbed.

Yea I want mine to be bright white at all times lol. Also idk if it's related but I havnt had a Dino or cyanobacteria bloom since I started the tank

 

[PeterB113]

I vacuum once every week, or every other week. If I don't, my sand bed starts to get darker and darker.

Tons of detritus comes out every time.

It baffles me that people can get away with not siphoning. I've tried both ways, and if I don't, I get a pretty gross looking sandbed in short order.

That's exactly what I DONT want lol

 

[PeterB113]

Used to siphon but I got a team of conch that clean and turn over the sandbed for me now. Alot easier than doing it manually.

How big is your tank? I want a conch but my tanks only a 20g long