How often do you guys clean your sandbed?

[EnemyAnenome]

Here's a video of my sandbed, I wanted to know how often you guys clean your's because I don't want to starve my fighting conch and nassarius snails but I also want my sandbed looking nice and white. I thought my conch would do all the work for me lol...

 

[blaxsun]

I never do. That's what the 60 or so odd CUC members are there for.

 

[j.falk]

If you do clean your sand bed, only do half of it at a time...then the next time you clean it, do the other half.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Here's a video of my sandbed, I wanted to know how often you guys clean your's because I don't want to starve my fighting conch and nassarius snails but I also want my sandbed looking nice and white. I thought my conch would do all the work for me lol...

Your tank looks very new. You WILL get ugly stuff on the sand and for the most part, it won't need any intervention. If it's really bothering you, just stir the very top layer to cover up the diatoms and other algae that appears.

But also, your sand will likely not remain "nice and white". It's not like that in nature and unless you can eventually get your flow exactly right, you'll always have some "non-white" stuff somewhere...

 

[flashsmith]

I stir my sand bed every other day when I clean the glass. You either stir/clean or you don't.

 

[EricR]

I personally vacuum a good portion of my sand with a Python gravel vacuum/syphon as my water change but I know many don't and there are reasons you might not want to.

As others mentioned, your sand looks REALLY CLEAN right now so don't expect it to stay that way long term.

 

[get-salty]

Here's a video of my sandbed, I wanted to know how often you guys clean your's because I don't want to starve my fighting conch and nassarius snails but I also want my sandbed looking nice and white. I thought my conch would do all the work for me lol...

i gently syphon the top layer twice a year. you dont want to stir up the sand in a saltwater tank like in fresh water, esp if your tank have had ich.

 

[jrill]

I vacuum a third every week when I water change.

 

[flashsmith]

If you stir from day one you'll never have that toxic buildup everybody worries about.

 

[steveschuerger]

I give the surface a quick vacuum when I do the water change weekly.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Looks very clean, what food do you supplement for your conch to each

 

[Wasabiroot]

I avoid it. I have what could be considered a dsb in a 50g cube (~3in) and that provides plenty of habitat for nassarius snails, bristleworms, and anaerobic bacteria. If you are concerned about keeping the sand white, doing regular water changes will help avoid buildup of dissolved nutrients contributing to algal growth. There are also lots of CUC that really love cleaning sand. Might be best to wait to see how your CUC is doing or how much you need. How old is the tank? If it's new, it will likely not look pristine forever. Corals uptake stuff, sure, but detritus is impossible to completely avoid and so you may need to adjust any approach you have as time goes on.

 

[bushdoc]

What is sandbed?

 

[EnemyAnenome]

Looks very clean, what food do you supplement for your conch to each

he just be eating da poop but lately I think he's been getting lazy

 

[Troylee]

Diamond goby does it daily.. conch and snails get the left overs

 

[Floyd-]

I think im slowly sucking my sand out little by little and getting rid of it and going bare bottom. Shouldnt take too long in a 25 gallon lagoon.

 

[kados]

If you stir from day one you'll never have that toxic buildup everybody worries about.

This above. I siphon sand with the
Python every water change (3 weeks).

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

What is sandbed?

It's like a skimmer but in reverse with a roller mat at the end

 

[bushdoc]

It's like a skimmer but in reverse with a roller mat at the end

Thanks for explanation, now I know. And all that time I was running Bare Bottom, what a waste!

 

[Enderg60]

Diamond goby is the winner here. Sand stars, nass snails and cucumbers take care of the deep mixing.

I have never done any kind of manual cleaning of the sand.