Is it normal that sand bed gets cloudy when I stir it?

[Miami Reef]

300 gallon tank here.

I purchased live sand a year ago never rinsed it. I never siphon the sand bed.

should I start siphoning it?

The sand got super dusty and cloudy when I stirred it yesterday.

 

[brandon429]

that's controversial on whether or not you should but I have a neat work thread reference anyway, to at least show what folks with large tanks do who want some sort of sandbed control, versus none:

" MY WHITE SAND METHOD "

I've always talked about this in the fb groups because i get so many questions and compliments on my sand bed ....well here's my method....note: I've never tried this on a tank older than 3 years !!!! I'm well aware of the problems that can occur on older tanks...this is a "DAILY" method i use...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Mical]

That's normal. Lots of folks vac their sand monthly, but cloudy when disturbed is normal. I have a 17 year old female maroon clown that whenever a minor change to the take occurs she throws a fit and I'll have a cloudy tank for about a day.

 

[Aldrinlights]

If the sand was never rinsed then you have tons of fine particles in there. It will take a while to settle down. It's always helpful to put some extra filter floss in your filter socks to help extract it.

 

[Miami Reef]

that's controversial on whether or not you should but I have a neat work thread reference anyway, to at least show what folks with large tanks do who want some sort of sandbed control, versus none:

" MY WHITE SAND METHOD "

I've always talked about this in the fb groups because i get so many questions and compliments on my sand bed ....well here's my method....note: I've never tried this on a tank older than 3 years !!!! I'm well aware of the problems that can occur on older tanks...this is a "DAILY" method i use...

www.reef2reef.com

hey! I like this idea a lot! I noticed some black patches deep inside the bed. I don’t know what they mean so I’m going to take it part by part

 

[ZoWhat]

Time to change the sand bed when your sand turns to this:

 

[Miami Reef]

that's controversial on whether or not you should but I have a neat work thread reference anyway, to at least show what folks with large tanks do who want some sort of sandbed control, versus none:

" MY WHITE SAND METHOD "

I've always talked about this in the fb groups because i get so many questions and compliments on my sand bed ....well here's my method....note: I've never tried this on a tank older than 3 years !!!! I'm well aware of the problems that can occur on older tanks...this is a "DAILY" method i use...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you! I just started and I’m so excited!

 

[brandon429]

Black patches can mean serious business, risk, if this was a smaller reef your safest measure would be surgical takedown cleaning so the sand gets reset cleanly, then stick stirred in the clean condition as preventative

to begin upwelling the bad spots is opposite from that link, they started in the clean condition to prevent black spots, but you’ve got so much dilution for safety it should help. Small sections agreed and depending on how serious you are about risk management I’d still remove the sandbed with takedown cleaning because a sandbed in a 300 gallon reef is a total liability, no benefit, and is nearly inaccessible for care.

look how polar opposite this thread is compared to the one above

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

that’s the only safe technique for removing sandbeds in reefing, we never ever do it when water is in the tank.

 

[count krunk]

I think you should stay vacuuming your sand bed. You use a gravel vacuum just like you would to clean fw gravel. The gunk that comes out will gross you out!

I have started vacuuming my sandbed once a week, my tank is looking much better, the sandbed looks much much better