Is substrate siphoning really necessary?
- Thread starter LardLad
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if you did not remove that stuff, and it compiled, how much would you allow it to build up before removing> it seems it must be removed in some way, nothing in the tank removes the detritus
vs partial removals, what about just rip cleaning the whole sandbed to total perfection like I did below
then add all the stuff back. stays clean months, and no cloud, by doing it all at once vs partials.
as soon as dinos or cyano or other invasions like GHA set in, they feed off that cloud. you will find it very rare that a nano reef doesnt cloud when the bed is disturbed like that above...even when seemingly kept clean/reach in and grab some/if it clouds anyway, animals are just cleaning top layers only and that food/waste material is compounding.
a clean bed can pass a disturbance test. The reason people are going bare bottom nowadays has to do with what you are seeing. the clouding you see is a bell curve, and nothing is wrong with it until downslope time, and that time varies setting to setting and tank to tank. usually within 24 mos of total hands off on your sized nano.
that vase is now 14 yrs old/same corals due to constantly intercepting the bell curve at the good part heh. timing did it
vs partial removals, what about just rip cleaning the whole sandbed to total perfection like I did below
then add all the stuff back. stays clean months, and no cloud, by doing it all at once vs partials.
as soon as dinos or cyano or other invasions like GHA set in, they feed off that cloud. you will find it very rare that a nano reef doesnt cloud when the bed is disturbed like that above...even when seemingly kept clean/reach in and grab some/if it clouds anyway, animals are just cleaning top layers only and that food/waste material is compounding.
a clean bed can pass a disturbance test. The reason people are going bare bottom nowadays has to do with what you are seeing. the clouding you see is a bell curve, and nothing is wrong with it until downslope time, and that time varies setting to setting and tank to tank. usually within 24 mos of total hands off on your sized nano.
that vase is now 14 yrs old/same corals due to constantly intercepting the bell curve at the good part heh. timing did it
Last edited:
W1ngz
Failed Padawan
Don't put a sand sifter in a tank that small, it will clean out the sand and die, probably within a couple of months.
I siphon my sand fairly regularly in my big tank at home and whenever I can in the evo I have in my office at work. If you don't like to see it cloudy, do it just before lights out. It will clear up by morning. The cloud itself won't hurt anything.
To answer your specific question, no, it's not strictly necessary, but long term it's better.
I siphon my sand fairly regularly in my big tank at home and whenever I can in the evo I have in my office at work. If you don't like to see it cloudy, do it just before lights out. It will clear up by morning. The cloud itself won't hurt anything.
To answer your specific question, no, it's not strictly necessary, but long term it's better.
Robert_Popa_918
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I have the exact same tank as yours and I never siphon the substrate. I personally don’t do that because I’ve done the mistake of purchasing sand with a very small grain size. Therefore, the sand gets sucked up the siphon and down the drain. My recommendation is to purchase a conch. My orange lipped conch does an excellent job at keeping my sand bed nice and clean from any debris
Sir,
I am revisiting this now because it took me several months to realize the importance of what you were saying. But since I've been following whenever your other threads I know get it. And I thank you. So sorry for this delayed response.
LW
I have a tiger pistol shrimp in my 40 and it keeps 90% of the sand bed stirred up. I'm sure if you put a pistol shrimp in there it would turn over the whole sand bed on a regular basis. You wouldn't be able to put small frags on the sand unless they're glued to a rock large enough for the shrimp to not run off with them though.
