How does everyone vaccum there sand bed??

[Dragonreef202]

I just use a power head to blow debris off rocks and sand bed before doing water changes. I don't stir up the sand too much

 

[brandon429]

Mine is a disassembly cleaning, the DSB has been neglected a good few mos now so rocks and coral out, shrimp out, take out DSB rinse with hot tap water until 100% clean

Burn inside of glass clean with strong peroxide not normal dilution

Reassemble entire tank within 20 mins or so, no clouding, skip cycle and the rocks run all the bioload just fine without help from the sand. Looks like brand new reef tank instantly

Bacteria in the sand are not required, theyre optional, the rocks do more than enough...bare bottom keepers get by without sand. No transition time needed, I have three pounds of live rock per gallon that's plenty active surface area. Have done several cleanings this way, the tank is blasted clean.

 

[WhiskeyCoffee]

For those of you with sugar sand - how do you stop too much sand from getting sucked out of the aquarium?

 

[Playa-1]

I just use a siphon sand vac too. I have a Diamond Goby so I don't have the need all that often.

 

[brandon429]

Corals in a dish, the pico reef with six inch dsb is getting jacked right now, storm effect but with no stress to them. Will be put back in pristine detritus free system, it's taken apart to clean down to the bare empty tank

Skip cycling allowed for instant rebuild every time

Corals out, then rocks, then sandbed flip and rinse back to pure clean.

 

[Albz]

Im having troube with my siphon, it seems like it doesnt have enough power to pull the poop always through into the bucket! is there a trick to make it suck more lol

 

[|sCRIBe|]

I don't vacuum the sand bed

 

[fragit]

I don't vacuum mine either. I just stir it up every once in a while. 1 1/2" deep in the DT. DSB in my 40 breeder refugium.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Im having troube with my siphon, it seems like it doesnt have enough power to pull the poop always through into the bucket! is there a trick to make it suck more lol

time to get a bigger tube!

 

[|sCRIBe|]

time to get a bigger tube!

You could try more critters that might eat that crap too

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You could try more critters that might eat that crap too

still stays in the tank.

 

[HiddenUser]

I dont, my flow and my Golden Header Sleeper Goby do all the work for me.

 

[|sCRIBe|]

still stays in the tank.

I know what you mean. It's stuck to the gravel so vacuuming doesn't remove it it just turns the gravel over. I don't think it's possible to keep prestine sand just like it's out of the bag. Someone should correct me if I'm wrong on that.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I know what you mean. It's stuck to the gravel so vacuuming doesn't remove it it just turns the gravel over. I don't think it's possible to keep prestine sand just like it's out of the bag. Someone should correct me if I'm wrong on that.

your right. you wont get it all and id never chase white sand. But with so many nutrient and algae help and now abandoning sand for bare bottom threads, plus my own past experiences, id clean my shallow sand.
to each their own of course.

 

[Rick.45cal]

You can vacuum your sand every week with water changes and stir it everyday and it will be white, and virtually detritus free.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Simple fix. Remove sand and add a marinepure brick. No sand = no worries. I stirred my sand daily and siphoned it weekly. For some weird reason, my corals declined in health. @brandon429 recommended that I might remove my sand bed. I did. Everything bounced back better than before. But that's just me and my experience. Plenty of good reefers out there that do the above described techniques and have good results. Just throwing out another option.

 

[brandon429]

Hi John! Based on the details we saw over two mos in your tank before/after bed i wouldn't use sand in a larger tank w fish I may get one day

I'd miss the look of it but not the work. Agreed that cleaning and stirring before it builds up waste works but it was preventing you from power feeding and after seeing your removal nitrate tests drop that locks it in for me. I keep a dsb in my nano only because it's so easy to rip clean

Ms saltwater fishes thread in the general forum about her tank move was also a good testament to that which a maintained dsb still stores up and is accessed only when the tank is parted out. Even the top level cleaners aren't getting to the bottom, proteins are still sinking there... Her huge reef clean/move thread was a nice interval to see what's collected down low

 

[Paul B]

You can vacuum your sand every week with water changes and stir it everyday and it will be white, and virtually detritus free.

That's why I don't do it to often. I like detritus even though you can't see any of it in my tank. But my system needs some detritus to operate and I actually think detritus is a good thing especially if you have corals. In moderate amounts of course, lets not get crazy but I feel a sterile tank is an unhealthy tank. Just my opinion of course.

 

[stevo01]

I dont. I have a diamond goby that takes care of that

 

[stevo01]

If you dont like how a goby can blow sand around you can try a walking dendro. The peanut worm living in my walking dendro keeps very busy cleaning the sand bed. Larger tanks would require several.